Image 011221-01-01
Used between 1792 and around 1800, introduced by Friedrich Christian Nonne as the first mark for this factory.
The businessman Christian Zacharias Gräbner founded a small manufactory on June 18th 1777 after receiving authorization by Duke Karl August and had financial problems right from the start. Gräbner still managed to employ the designer Senff (also named 'Senfft') as well as Johann Lorenz Rienck from the town of Eisfeld in 1781 who actually worked in the factory until 1800, however the financial problems increased and it was obvious that Gräbner was unable to pay back the loan he had received from Karl August. The Duke in 1782 took over the small business and put it under the leadership of his private secretary Friedrich Johann Justin Bertuch who managed to solve some of the financial problems but reported that the factory was doomed if they were not able to find an expert in porcelain production.
So the Duke employed a porcelain expert with the name of Franz Josef Weber from the town of Höchst in 1784 and after just one firing the new director was able to present much better results after having changed the clay and improving the glaze. Soon the small factory was fully optimized and able to produce items in continuous quality so the Duke then rented the factory to Gotthilf Greiner in 1786 who put the small business in the hands of porcelain expert and decorator Johann Siegel. After being successful for some time the factory was in 1792 rented by Friedrich Christian Nonne who also rented the factory in Volkstedt from 1767 until 1797. For the Ilmenau factory, the period from 1792 until 1808 can only be described as the most successful period as they produced items similar to Wedgwoods so-called Jasperware which sold extremely well.
Around 1807 Nonne finally decided to take over the factory completely and so he teamed up with his son-in-law Roesch and the newly-founded company bought the factory from the Duke in 1808. The success soon faded however after Nonne died in 1813 but Roesch managed to continue until he was finally forced to sell the business in 1836.
Over the next years the factory often changed proprietors and never really was able to regain its former status; in fact it was short before bankruptcy in 1870 until advisor of the chamber of commerce Stücke finally invested the enormous amount of 450,000 Reichsmark in a newly founded stock corporation. He also introduced a new director with the name of Gottlob Morgenroth who run the company until 1874 when he was replaced by Hering who specialized on brocade decorations that proved so successful that the company had to open a subsidiary in the former weaving mill of Schmidt & Reinhard in the 'Stadtilm' part of Ilmenau; the whole factory employed a workforce of around 500 people in the year 1900.
Hering remained director until 1902 and was then replaced by Theodor Albrecht who in 1910 introduced the complete electrification of the factory after installing an own power station. The year 1912 then saw the factory close for six weeks as the workers demanded a pay increase. The war years propably were the reason for the cutback in employees because the number of 500 workers employed in 1913 dropped to a mere 250 in 1916 and the factory was massively modernized in the years 1919 and 1920; around that time the first "IPM" marks including a hen (more on that later) were introduced. But after the US stock market crash in 1929 the business was confronted with various problems and this resulted in the complete closure of the factory in 1930, making all 350 employees redundant even if the board of directors still remained operational and held nearly all assets.
Various discussions followed and after a few members of the board resigned it was decided to continue under a new name and leadership. It should be noted that the name Graf von Henneberg (Duke of Henneberg) was chosen for historic reasons: the town of Ilmenau had formerly been part of the ducy Henneberg and the previous company had already started to use the hen as part of their mark. There was no Henneberg family member involved as is confusingly claimed by some sources, their information is probably based on the mix-up of facts and dates regarding the Porzellanfabrik Henneberg & Co. located in Gotha that was run by Henneberg family members.
Anyway, even if work continued with a massively reduced workforce it still took the members of the board until 1934 before they finally decided that Emil Lentner would be the new director. Under his management the company slowly recovered and in 1937 already employed 250 people again; nearly the same number of employees remained after the war as the records show that a total of 255 people worked for the company in 1949.
Shortly after nationalization the factory advanced to a so-called "Vorzeigekombinat", a showpiece of socialist productivity that supplied the state with high-quality goods. For example the parliament of the former German Democratic Republic had its seat in the infamous 'Palast der Republik'; the whole complex included various smaller restaurants and of course had a special set for foreign visitors. All tableware used in the building was supplied by the VEB Henneberg Porzellan and each restaurant had its own unique design.
As the leading VEB in the combine, the factory was also responsible for the various smaller combine members, like the VEB Ilmenauer Zier- und Werbeporzellan. Of course this meant that the main office and archive had to be a little larger than others as it had to cope with the additional correspondence. Even if the factory had been constantly modernized over the years it soon became obvious that the premises were far too small and in 1970 a new factory was planned in the Eichicht part of town that was then taken into operation in 1973. The new factory was known as the Neues Porzellanwerk Ilmenau ("NPI") and also operated as supervisory office of the VEB Kunstporzellan Ilmenau until the Kunstporzellanwerk closed in 1976. Last information for the year 1980 showed that around 3000 people worked for Henneberg at the time.
After German reunification many people became unemployed which had drastic consequences for the social structure in Ilmenau. The factory was modernized between 1991 and 1993; this was followed by a second modernization step between 1996 and 1997 and as the financial situation was not so good, the company had applied for restructuring aid from the European Union (file number C36/2000) which was granted. On 28 August 1998, the factory was sold to Rolf Frowein, a former manager of the Thuringia Industriebeteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, but problems arose with the loan from the European Union.
In September 2001 the second main creditor represented by the Thüringer Aufbaubank canceled their loan and the company had to pay back over 5.9 million Euro; the bad news was then followed by a letter regarding the fact that with date of October 30th 2001 the restructuring aid from the European Union had also been canceled. That was too much for the Graf von Henneberg Porzellan GmbH and the company had to file for insolvency. Proceedings were opened on November 1st 2001 and even after an investor from Austria in February 2002 still showed interest in the factory, the whole company was liquidated.
It seemed that Dipl.-Ing. Rolf H. Frowein did not want to give up easily. He founded the Neue Porzellanfabrik Ilmenau GmbH and took over the Graf von Henneberg name and assets, completely re-structuring the factory. Large parts of the factory were offered for sale or rent, but production continued with around 50 workers. On May 1st 2002 Mrs. Heike Simon founded the HERO Design company in the Thuringian Forest; this business was declared the "privatized factory outlet" for Graf von Henneberg products. This was further pushed by the fact that trying to open the Graf von Henneberg website automatically relocated visitors to the HERO Design website. Last content update was in 2007; shortly afterward the business and website closed down. The Neue Porzellanfabrik Ilmenau GmbH itself in 2005 officially became part of the Eschenbach Porcelain Group owned by Frowein.
For further information on why the town name is sometimes written as "Jlmenau" even if it actually is "Ilmenau" (or why some marks read "JPM" and others "IPM"), please take a look at the vocabulary entry consonants and vowels.
Dating the marks showing the full Henneberg coat of arms is very difficult and a small help is the fact that those versions with the peculiar shift in the spacing of the letters "LM" in "Jlmenau" are the older ones. However, one can not be sure about the periods in which the company used "Germany" or "Made in Democratic Republic" as they sometimes simply used the "(Made in) Germany" addition even between 1949 and 1990. In a few cases an original yellow-gold or plain gold sticker is still present, stating either "Germany (East)", later "East Germany", these were used around 1950 to 1955.
Image 011221-01-01
Used between 1792 and around 1800, introduced by Friedrich Christian Nonne as the first mark for this factory.
Image 011221-01-02
Used between 1792 and around 1800.
Image 011221-01-03
Used between 1792 and around 1800.
Image 011221-01-04
Used between 1792 and around 1800.
Image 011221-01-05
Used between around 1800 and 1808, initials for Friedrich Nonne, Ilmenau.
Image 011221-02-01
Used between 1808 and 1836, mark of Nonne & Roesch.
Image 011221-03/04-01
This special version is claimed to have been used between 1871 and 1947.
Image 011221-03-01
Used around 1903, was only stamped in red.
Image 011221-03-02
Used between 1903 and 1930, registered at the RWZR under №·65·260 on December 15th 1903.
Image 011221-03-03
Used between 1903 and 1930, "JPF" with "Germany" found either above or underneath it.
(Picture: Jen Edmondson)
Image 011221-03-04
Used between 1903 and 1930, "IPF" with "Germany" found either above or underneath it.
Image 011221-03-06
Used between 1905 and around 1929, plain "Jlmenau" and "1777" in a circle.
(Picture: Angelo Daniello)
Image 011221-03-07
Used from 1907 onwards, only "Velvet China" in a circle, registered at the RWZR under №·96·979 on April 25th 1907.
Image 011221-03-08
No date known, first mark with the hen and "JPM". These were hand-painted and differ greatly in style and detail.
Image 011221-03-09
No date known, first mark with the hen and "IPM". These were hand-painted and differ greatly in style and detail.
Image 011221-04-01
Used between 1931 and 1938, first mark with the Henneberg coat of arms, registered at the RWZR under №·429·100 on February 12th 1931.
Image 011221-04-02
Complete Henneberg coat of arms, registered at the RWZR under №·470·127 on October 25th 1934. Note the peculiar 'LM' in 'ILMENAU'.
Image 011221-04-03
Used between 1934 and 1949, an example of that mark.
Image 011221-04-04
Used between 1934 and 1949, for cobalt decorated pieces.
(Picture: David Zuckermann)
Image 011221-04-05
Used between 1934 and 1949, filled version.
Image 011221-04-06
Used between 1934 and 1949, with "Germany" on its own.
Image 011221-04-07
Used between 1934 and 1949. Same on cobalt items, here series "Christian".
Image 011221-05-01
Used after 1949, still with interlocking "LM" in Ilmenau but already with "Made in Germany".
Image 011221-05-02
Used after 1949, interlocking "LM" in Ilmenau, "Made in Germany", and "Germany (East)" sticker.
Image 011221-05-03
Used before 1973, interlocking "LM" in Ilmenau, "Made in Germany", and "VEB" in crown base.
(Picture: Rodney Lovell)
Image 011221-05-04
Used before 1973, interlocking "LM" in Ilmenau, "Made in Germany", and "VEB" in crown base.
(Picture: Petra Watzka)
Image 011221-05-05
Used after 1949, interlocking "LM" in Ilmenau, "Made in Germany", nothing in crown base, "Echt Kobalt".
Image 011221-05-06
Used after 1949, interlocking "LM" in Ilmenau, "Made in Germany", nothing in crown base, cyrillic "Product of GDR".
(Picture: Ivan Golsky)
Image 011221-05-07
Used after 1949, regular placed "LM" in Ilmenau and "Made in Germany" addition. Here with series name "Tosca".
Image 011221-05-08
Used after 1973, regular "LM", etc., "Made in German Democratic Republic" addition.
Image 011221-05-09
Used after 1973, regular "LM", etc., "Made in German Democratic Republic", "Echt Kobalt".
(Picture: Irene Bishop)
Image 011221-05-10
Used after 1973, regular "LM", etc., "Made in German Democratic Republic", "dishwasher safe"
(Picture: Dietmar Polaczek)
Image 011221-05-11
Used between 1977 and 1980, the 200-year-anniversary mark.
Image 011221-05-12
Used between 1977 and 1990, modern hen, founding year, "Henneberg Porzellan", "Made in German Democratic Republic".
Image 011221-05-13
Used between 1977 and 1990, modern hen, founding year, "Henneberg Porzellan", "Made in GDR", sometimes with series name.
Image 011221-05-14
Used between 1980 and 1990, plain version with "Made in GDR"; some with "Dishwasher Safe" addition.
(Picture: Shari Robitaille)
Image 011221-06-01
Used from 1991 onward on certain designer editions. Note the '1777' directly under the crown.
Image 011221-06-02
Used from 1994 onwards, no additions at all.
Image 011221-06-03
Used from 1994 onwards, on some items only.
Image 011221-06-04
Used from 1998 onwards.
Image 011221-00-01
No dates known. Double marking including "Dresdner Hof-Form" and "Alt-Nürnberg".
(Picture: Jakub Żabko)
Image 011221-00-02
No dates known. Golden oval including "Anno 1777".
(Picture: Kathy Holbrook)
Image 011221-00-03
No dates known. Standard "LM" mark version including "Atelier Weimar".
© 2004-2024 C.S.Marshall, all rights reserved