Dating Louis Kuppenheim,Pforzheim

[AG2012]

Set of marks on a trompe-l'œil shagreen tobacco case made by Louis Kuppenheim.
Marks used 1901-1910.
Austria-Hungary Empire import mark 1901-1921 (letter C for Prague).
Koninkrijk der Nederlanden V script ``vreemd`` mark after 1906.

[dognose]

Hi AG2012,

Thanks for making and adding this useful resource.

Trev.

[Goldstein]

Hi AG2012 -
a Louis Kuppenheim cigarette case imported to Riga


Goldstein

[oel]

Cigarette case made by the firm of Louis Kuppenheim between 1924-1929, with import marks for Finland.





Sizes; 9 cm x 5,2 cm x 1 cm, weight 128 gram


Right side image; LK for the firm of Louis Kuppenheim (1857-1939) of Pforzheim, and a worn version of the German crown & half-moon used 1924-1930 followed by the 900 fineness mark. 


Importer's mark H.Gr for; Hugo Grün.The Finnish state import mark a crown. The fineness,in thousandths (here obliterated), followed by "H" (Hopeaa = "Silver") The city mark open boat of Helsinki. The date code Z5 = 1929


Monogram FS crowned ( Finnish ordinary nobleman’s crown )

To Frideborg from your friend.WT
Frideborg Ruth Helena Elisabeth Stjernwall born 24.10.1911, maiden name Ingberg. Married 1935 to Nils Göran Edvard Stjernwall, widow 1943. Finnish nobility family, Finnish House of the Nobility  entry # 117 Stjernwall (Starwall), crest colors; blue and silver. 


Company History - Louis Kuppenheim.

-1854: Lehmann Sr. (Louis Kuppenheim, 1824-1889) founded together with Heinrich Witzemann a manufactory. Location of the company is the market Pforzheim.
-1857: Kuppenheim founded the company Louis Kuppenheim, as we know it without his previous partners.
- This was followed by a move to the Old Town street in Pforzheim.
-1872: Company building in the Durlacher Straße 1, Pforzheim.
-1889: Louis Kuppenheim sen. died. 3 of his 6 children (Albert, Hugo and Moritz) jointedly run the company.
-1900: At the Universal Exhibition in Paris Kuppenheim won a gold medal for a paper knife. In the same year, the company opened the first store in the Rue de Richelieu 67 in Paris.
- In the 1900s Hans Christiansen designed some silver parts and pieces of jewelery, which were made by the Manufacture Kuppenheim. Christiansen was an important Art Nouveau painter and a member of the Darmstadt artists' colony.
-1906: Albert, Hugo and Moritz convert the inherited jewelery factory into a modern gold and silverware fabrication.
-1907: Relocation to the newly built company building in the Durlacher Street 69th
-1911: Relocation of the Paris branch in the Rue de Petits-Champs 77 and later in the Rue Volney.
-1920: Albert's son Louis Kuppenheim enters the company.
-1924: Albert Kuppenheim resigns from the company and the company establishes "mechanical workshops, gold & silverware factory, machinery, wire and metal processing machines.". From this company later a jewelery factory expanded in Pforzheim-Brötzingen, Church Street 45 .
-1925: Death of Albert Kuppenheim. Ludwig took over the company in Brötzingen.
-1928: Ludwig opened a new import and export company for jewelry, watches and parts in Paris. In memory of the name of his grandfather, the company named Louis Kuppenheim.
-1933: Expansion with establishing a smaller company in the Wilferdinger road 20th
-1936: sale of the factory in the Durlacher Straße 69 to a secondhand and car dealer. Headquarters of the company are now the smaller building in the Wilferdinger road 20th
-1938: 9–10 November Night of Broken Glass, Reichspogromnacht, a pogrom against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and Austria. The violence was instigated primarily by Nazi Party officials and members of the SA (Sturmabteilungen: literally Assault Detachments, but commonly known as Storm Troopers) and Hitler Youth.
-1938: Last reported residence of Hugo Kuppenheim is the Wilferdinger road 20th
-1939: The liquidations ends the 82-year history of the company.

During the heyday of the company at least 200 people were employed by Louis Kuppenheim; the silverware factory was thus one of the most important employers in the jewelery city of Pforzheim. Initially, the company operated as GmbH, was then converted into a stock corporation and later brought back as a GmbH. Besides Enamel masters the company employed /hired gold- and silversmiths, engravers and chasers.

In the more than eighty years of production some 100,000 pieces left the company. Kuppenheim made many items in small series, for example, boxes, and minaudières ( women's fashion accessory, generally considered a jewelry piece, intended to substitute for an evening bag. A case with compartments, it allows storage for several items in a small space, such as a makeup compact, lipstick, watch, reading glasses, or keys) and compacts and cigarette cases were made in different sizes and shapes. Many hundreds of different styles and a unique variety of shapes are evidence of the creative mind of this designer.

The silverware were usually cut by machine, engraved and soldered together by hand. An elaborately crafted vanity case consists of up to twenty items. Many fashion pieces at that time were decorated accordingly, engine turned with enamels. The Kuppenheimer enamel, because of the high quality obtained worldwide fame. Products were exported to England, France, the United States and to South America.

Additionally Kuppenheim produced 'raw materials' for various silversmiths. Presumably Kuppenheim enameled also for other silversmith/traders. This is not clearly documented, but numerous pieces of other manufacturers have the same enamel and the same engraving and pattern as those parts which have been refined in the "Silbermanufaktur Kuppenheim". As these other companies also come from Pforzheim it is reasonable to conclude that the company Kuppenheim executed Enamel commissions.

Enamel is a complex process, in which the individual enamel layers are applied in different phases. Each enamel paint has a different melting point and must be individually baked sequentially. The more colors, the more individual operations are needed. Some pieces are also hand painted the so-called enamel painting. Some of the gems was provided with an artist's monogram because the sophisticated technology could only be done by experienced masters.


Peter.


Gratitude; The Louis Kuppenheim Connection