Gerold Porzellan
A website dedicated to the fine porcelain collectibles
produced from 1909 - 1997 in

Tettau, Bavaria, West Germany

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Gerold Porzellan Marks

During their brief years of manufacturing, Gerold Porzellan has had a number of different markings. They've used a variety of colors, such as green, blue, black, and gold inks. At first I thought perhaps the color may have designated a change in the manufacturing ownership or a particular time period, but according to Christopher-Simon Marshall, a German manufacturers marks expert, the color used was whatever was available at the time of firing.

Some of the wording in the Gerold marks has changed slightly, as well. Some are marked, "Tettau, Bavaria" while others are marked simply, "Bavaria". Bavaria is a region in Germany where many porcelain manufacturers were located. In the nineteenth century, the mark often included the word Bavaria. After 1871, the words Bavaria, Germany, were used.

The "Made in Germany" mark was introduced in the years following the McKinley Tariff Act from 1890, but...

"With the founding of the German Democratic Republic in October 1949, the new East German Government started to instruct companies to replace the capitalist marking 'Made in Germany' with 'Made in GDR' or 'Made in German Democratic Republic'. The West German manufacturers took up the challenge and started to mark their products with 'Made in W. Germany' or 'Made in West Germany', distancing themselves from the now state owned companies of the GDR. After the fall of the Wall in November of 1989 and the official German reunification on October 3rd 1990, all companies instantly used 'Made in Germany' again. The exact proceedings had been formed into a law by the West German Government some time before. Therefore you can be sure that a product marked 'Made in West Germany' or 'Made in German Democratic Republic' can only gave been made between 1950 and 1990. On the other hand one should hold in mind that some East German companies continued to use 'Made in Germany' even after the founding of the German Democratic Republic; some even used it up until 1972. so an item claimed to have been made before 1949 could also have been made much later, a dating is only possible when knowing more about the marking procedures of the company." Resource: www.porcelainmarksandmore.com

Therefore, the Gerold's that have "Made in Germany" were manufactured from between 1937 and October 1949, while the marks, "Made in Western Germany" and "Made in W. Germany" were used after the founding of the German Democratic Republic (October 1949) and used through October 1989.

Gerold's that are marked, "Gerold & Co" were used for exporting into communist countries as all West German products were banned. Many companies used this tactic to get around the bans.

The molds were used over and over throughout their years of manufacturing so that even though many items may have the same model number, they could have been produced years apart. Take for example, the photos of these vases of model # 6384 provided by Tim Fitzpatrick:

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig.3

Fig. 4

Fig. 5

All three vases look alike (Fig. 1), yet each has a slightly different mark indicating they have been produced at different times, which I believe to be between 1949 and 1989 (Fig. 2-5).

Note To ebayers !
The content on this website is copyrighted to me and therefore I request that you ASK MY PERMISSION before quoting any of this information in your item description.

Shown below are the marks I have come across:

Gerold-Tettau
Bavaria
Seit 1904
Made in Germany
Handgefertigt (Handmade)

Used with Permission
copyright © J.L. Starken
1937 - 1949 mark

Gerold & Co Tettau
Bavaria

Gerold Porzellan
Bavaria
Made in W. Germany

Gerold Porzellan
Tettau Bavaria
Made in West Germany

Gerold Porzellan
Bavaria

Gerold Porzellan
Bavaria
Made in Western-Germany

Gold Mark (usually a souvenir item)

Old Vienna
Souvenir from Austria
Gerold Porzellan
Handmade

Export mark for Austria

Used with Permission
Anonymous

Some products were decorated in the U.S. as indicated by this mark:

Hand Decorated in the U.S.A.

Paper Seals

Made in Germany

75 Years
Gerold Porzellan
Bavaria

Blue Seal

Golden Crown
E & R
Western Germany

Black Seal

This is the seal used by Ebeling and Reuss Importers located in Pennsylvania, which is still in business today. In the 1950's they were the largest suppliers of high quality giftware, including porcelain products, in North Eastern United States. The original owners, John E. F. Zeh, Frederick Ebeling and Theodore Reuss started out in Philadelphia, but settled in Allentown. Today they are owned by the Strathmore Corporation of Pennsylvania.

More information can be found at www.porcelainmarksandmore.com

No history on this label

Other Gerold Porzellan Trademarks

The word Porzellam is not misspelled, but is a trademark used by Gerold Porzellan. The "Blue Pageant" was a special unmarked (no Gerold mark) export series produced before 1960. One distributor was "Clarkson Table Appointments" in Canada.
Information copyright 2004 Christopher-Simon Marshall. Used with permission. http://www.porcelainmarksandmore.com

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