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Used between 1882 and 1918, four-leaved clover "C.S. Prussia" mark, blue version.
The small town of Mäbendorf bei Suhl has long become a part of the city of Suhl, hence it is today called Suhl-Mäbendorf.
What has really confused collectors and dealers for quite some time is the fact that there were so many Schlegelmilch factories. Although the different firm owners had the same surname, they represented the production efforts of two distinctly un-related families. These facts have been known since 1984, the year that Bernd Hartwich published his results after intensive research on the matter. But this information was not available in America until the English translation was published in the United States in 1993. The historical research by Ron Capers shows there was no blood relationship between Leonhard and Reinhold.
The facts are actually quite simple. The first factory was owned by Reinhold and the other factory was owned by Leonhard, who had named his firm after his father, Erdmann. These two operations were in direct competition with each other. The factory owned by Reinhold was subsequently run with his two sons, Ehrhard and Arnold. The latter took over an existing porcelain factory in Tillowitz in 1894, and continued to run it as part of the Reinhold Schlegelmilch enterprise until he died in 1934.
The firm owned by Leonhard was later on led by Oscar, Julius Martin, and Carl. Carl opened his own factory in 1882 and Oscar started his own factory in Langenwiesen during 1892. Julius Martin eventually took over the ownership of the Erdmann factory in 1899 after Leonhard died.
After learning the trade at the Erdmann Schlegelmilch factory belonging to his father Leonhard, Carl Schlegelmilch decided to open up his own factory and produced many high quality pieces that do not have to fear comparison with items from other Schlegelmilch facilities even if his works were not produced in such large numbers and are not as well known even if his main market was the export to North America. Carl finally sold the factory during the last months of 1918 and retired.
The new owner of the factory was the company of Matthes & Ebel, which continued to produce transferware almost exclusivey for export under the direction of Emil Ebel. During the next years all went well until Matthes suddenly broke partnership with Ebel in 1929 who was forced to sell the factory to the brothers Max and Josef Heim. The brothers did not only keep the company name but also employed Ebel as manager, however the factory had lived on Matthes and his visions. Subsequently, the company started to lose vital customers and after an avoided liquidation in 1932 the factory finally closed in 1935.
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Used between 1882 and 1918, four-leaved clover "C.S. Prussia" mark, blue version.
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Used between 1882 and 1918, four-leaved clover "C.S. Prussia" mark, green version.
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Used between 1882 and 1918, four-leaved clover "C.S. Prussia" mark, green version with "hand-painted" addition.
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Used between 1882 and 1918, four-leaved clover "C.S. Prussia" mark, green version with "Bridal Rose" series name addition.
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Used between 1982 amd 1918, four-leaved clover "C.S. Germany" mark. Green version, but also found in blue.
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Used between 1905 amd 1915 on items for Great Britain, curved "Made in Germany" above four-leaved clover, stem flanked by the initials.
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Used between 1919 and 1929, "Mäbendorf" in script.
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Used between 1929 and 1935, "Mäbendorf 1882" in an oval with inner wreath, registered at the RWZR under №·402·046 on April 29th 1929.
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Used between 1929 and 1935, writing states Mäbendorf 1882". This mark version was registered at the RWZR under №·405·516 on July 7th 1929.
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Used between 1929 and 1935, the additional writing next to the sword reads "alea iacta est".
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