AUGUST WELLNER & SONS, SILVER PLATING FOUNDRY IN AUE, SAXONY

Introduction

The information about the August Wellner company in the English (or American) literature is extremely scarce. The internet sites ebay.com and ebay.co.uk, while selling Wellner pieces, advertise this firm mostly as a supplier of silver pieces for the "German 3rd Reich High Command" or "Hitler and the Nazi Party". Very often the usual silver-plated Wellner pieces made for the transatlantic passengers in the beginning of XXth century are passed off as being issued for Hitler troops. For example, the wide-spread logo HAL which means Holland-America Line (by other sources, Hamburg-America Line or Hamburg-Amerika Linie) is transformed by careless sellers to LAH (Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler). It is needless to say that the prices for such "historical" silver-plated items are in the order of hundreds of dollars. Therefore, one of my primary goals while writing this paper (and the accompanying one on Wellner marks) was to give a more correct picture of this nearly forgotten company.

Closing the introduction, I wish to remind readers of a few important facts regarding the 160 year long history of the Wellner company. The factory August Wellner & Sons was always one of Germany's largest manufacturers of cutlery and hotel tableware dating back to imperial times. Its products were world-renowned for their high quality and beautiful styles. In 1911, the factory August Wellner & Sons became one of the greatest silver-plating enterprises in the world, yearly producing 3 million dozen of cutlery [1]. In 1913 the company employed 5000 people [2]. The firm supplied many European luxury hotels, among them Grand Hotel in Lido in Venice, Baur au Lac in Zurich, Hotel Kempinski in Berlin, Kurhaus in Davos, Maloja Palace Hotel in St. Moritz, to name but a few. The great passenger liners, such as Titanic (UK), Imperator (Germany), Saturnia and Vulcania (Italy), used Wellner cutlery in their restaurants.
 

Alpacca alloy and silver plating

The famous August Wellner metal goods factory was founded by August Wellner's father, Christian Gottlieb Wellner, in the small town of Aue (Saxony, Germany), embedded in the wooded hills of the Erzgebirge (which translates in English to Ore Mountains). This part of Germany was traditionally involved in the smelting business. As early as 1663 a tin foundry was established in Aue (which means "flood plain"), which was in operation until 1803. Fifty years after closure the factory buildings were used as a starting point for the August Wellner metal goods factory. However, before this happened, an important invention was made in the neighbouring city of Schneeberg ("snow mountain"). In 1823, the German chemist Dr. Ernst August Geitner (1783-1852) [3] developed a new alloy, very similar in its appearance to silver, but significantly cheaper. Therefore, he called this alloy "Argentan". It consisted of 20% nickel, 55% copper and 25% zinc. Later, in 1829, Dr. Geitner established his Argentan foundry in the Aue suburb of Auerhammer.

Portrait of Dr. Ernst August Geitner, inventor of Neusilber [4].

The new silver-imitating alloy soon became very popular. The foundry Henninger Brothers (Gebruder Henninger) in Berlin proposed a similar alloy (5-30% nickel, 45-70% copper and 8-45% zinc with trace amounts of lead, tin and iron) in 1854 [3], which was called "Neusilber". Later both Argentan and Neusilber were used in Germany and Austria-Hungary under the trade name of Alpacca which corresponds to the name of the animal pasturing on South American Andes of Chile, Bolivia and Peru, Alpaca in English.

As this new alloy was quite similar in appearance to genuine silver, some people got the idea of using it as a base metal for future plating with a thin silver layer. Such silver-plating could be done by different methods but the high-voltage electrical deposition enjoyed wide application. By doing this two goals were immediately reached: 1) the cost of the final silver-plated product was decreased by 5-7 times due to the much lower amount of silver used for plating; 2) the appearance of the objects was as perfect as a silver one and did not change significantly with the wearing away of the silver layer. As a result, numerous silver-plating enterprises were founded in the mid XIX century, among them the famous Hermann Krupp & Alexander von Schoeller, Berndorf, Austria-Hungary (1843), Charles Christofle, Paris, France (1844), Axel Gabriel Dufva, Stockholm, Sweden (1847), Christian Gottlieb Wellner, Aue, Saxony (1854).
 

Carl August Wellner

The founder of the Aue metal factory Christian Gottlieb Wellner (1795-1857) [5] started his career very early at the age of 15. First he worked as a miner, then as a forester, later he joined Geitner's Argentanfabrik. He had six children, amongst them two brothers, the elder one, Carl August (1824-1909, later another transcription of his name, Karl August, was also used) [6] and the younger one, Christian Gottlieb junior, who was born in 1831. Both became silver plate manufacturers and settled in Aue, but Carl was much more succesful. He attended school in Aue, did an apprenticeship as a carpenter and acquired his master degree in 1854. After the death of his father he inherited a part of Argentanfabrik in Auerhammer. In 1858 Carl August returned back home after three years of wandering (a kind of pilgrimage mixed with probation) and took this foundry under his management. In 1862, he visited the Berlin Neusilberfabrik of Henninger brothers to acquire specialised knowledge about the further processing of Argentan into sheets and finished products. On 13th July 1851 Karl August married Karoline Schott from Bärenwalde ("bear forests"). In the following years he fathered five sons: Ernst Emil (1853-1911), Albin Ernst (1858-1925), Gustav Emil (1860-1929), Hermann (1862-1890), Richard Paul (1866-1925) and a daughter Ida Marie (1864-1943).

Carl August continuously struggled for the expansion and technical innovation of his business. The starting point of Wellner's world class machinery was the acquisition of a spoon roller mill and a new spindle press. In 1870 he acquired the building of "alte Langmühle" (old long mill) in Aue for 9000 Talers (German currency at that time), in order to exploit hydro-power (water power) for more energy independence [7]. However, all his plans were difficult to put into the practice due to dry summers and the war between Germany and France, which caused an increase in metal prices. His hardest stroke of fate was in 1872 when he lost his beloved wife Karoline due to a tragic accident at the plant. Karoline was actively involved in the shaping of spoons, got caught in one of the cog wheels of the press gear box and was killed. After that, in 1874, Carl sold this ill-fated Langmühle to the weaver Geissler for 18000 Talers [7]. He however stayed as a tenant in Langmühle for another ten years before he acquired a meadow of 5700 square meters below the Schmelzhütte (smelter), which became the central site of his enormous (by that time) factory. Plans for the new factory building included a new roller mill and wire drawing plants as well as high power steam engines [7].

Carl August Wellner was a very talented craftsman and inventor and was always very supportive of other smaller Aue companies such as the machine factory Schorler & Steubler, the tin manufacture Karl Fischer, the fabric factory Simon Brothers, to name a few. They worked under his auspices and Wellner encouraged them to found independent business solutions and become self-employed. August Wellner liked to work as a cabinetmaker, especially for the production of so-called Vienna chairs, hence he kept a joint venture with chair manufacturer Christian Becher [7]. Later the two partners separated, because Wellner was concerned with chair quality and Becher with their quantity. After his wife's tragic death, August Wellner passed on his chair and furniture manufacture to his favourite son Ernst. Ernst's company was officially independent but unofficially was always supported by the metal works of his father. August Wellner was very committed to helping the chair manufacture which partly used the new site (newly acquired meadow) for this purpose. He built a new plant for wood machining with three reciprocating saws. In contrast the new silver ware manufacture was first housed in a somewhat unimpressive building complex with only a few hand presses and metal sanding-polishing machines [7].

If August Wellner had put all his efforts from the very beginning into "Edelwarenfabrikation" (silver metal works), rather than into supporting other activities, e.g. wood machining, he would have become a famous entrepreneur much earlier. Despite the continuous advancements of his company since 1860 the scale of the company's turnover remained relatively modest due to the lack of trading skills in business. The reason for this was the complete neglect of the commercial side of its operation. Indeed, although August Wellner was a top-class craftsman, he was a rather poor businessman. For example, he was strongly against employing accountants; as a result this part of work dealing with business/trading/accounting had to be done on the side by his fourth son Hermann and his daughter Marie (during their leisure-time!).

In 1887 the "full-time" tradesman Karl Krause from Leipzig was hired as a sole distributor of the entire new-silver production [7]. Formally a branch of August Wellner's company was founded in Leipzig, which was headed by Krause. In practice, however, this was a "one-sided treaty". Wellner delivered all his products to Krause at fixed prices and Krause sold the products at arbitrary prices. In retrospect, notwithstanding the fact that Krause was a serious and distinguished businessman, highly rated by Wellner, he should have paid higher prices to Wellner to help him to expand his silver production. Certainly, both sides could have benefited from it. When Krause joined the company there were 18 employees and 35 children (school pupils) working in the factory, when Krause died (in 1892), there were 50 full-time employees [7]. In 1891 the annual wages were 50,000 Marks (German currency of that time), the turnover that year was 180,000 Marks [7].

Photograph of August Wellner, taken from [4]. Under the photograph there is an inscription: Karl August Wellner, pioneer of German cutlery industry, 2 May 1824 - 25 May 1909.

In 1892, Karl August Wellner formally transferred the management of his factory to two sons: Albin and Paul, and daughter Marie, but still retained his personal guidance until 1895 [7]. Two years before his death in 1909, he was able to see his life achievement, his famous plant, being finished.

August Wellner's gravestone in Aue cemetery. Below the portrait of August Wellner there is a contour of a new factory building built in 1897-1907 (see below). The photograph was taken by Angela Monika Arnold in 2009 [8].

The achievements of Karl August Wellner are well known and widely recognised. In compiling this paper, I wanted to pay tribute to his much less known successor, Paul Gaedt, who played a major role in the succesful continuation of the factory business after the retirement of August Wellner in 1895.
 

Paul Gaedt

The family of Peter Paul Gaedt (1867-1948) [9] originated from the Rostock area. His grandfather and father kept a tannery in Gerberbruch. Because of the decline in the tannery business, their son/grandson graduated after completing a training school for plumbers. Looking for a job after two years of wandering, Paul Gaedt came to Aue on 2 January 1890. Here he found work in the sheet metal and metal goods factory Max Boehme, and later became acquainted with two sons of Carl August Wellner, Ernst and Hermann. That led to a relationship with Carl August's daughter Ida Marie. Soon Paul Gaedt gave up his position at the Max Boehme and began working with Wellner.

After his engagement to Ida Marie in 1890, on behalf of his future father-in-law, Gaedt continued his pilgrimage to acquire additional skills, especially belt-making. He came via Carlsbad and Prague to Vienna. A relative of Paul Gaedt gave him a job in the famous Artur Krupp factory in Berndorf [9]. He became acquainted with the modern cutlery manufacturing process and to improve these skills went further to the Christofle foundry in Paris. However, later that year Karl August Wellner called him back to Aue, because his son Hermann had died of blood poisoning. Hermann Wellner fulfilled accounting and administrative functions in the Wellner company and these were now transferred to Gaedt. In 1891 Paul married Ida Marie Wellner and became co-owner of the thriving cutlery factory and later the president of the August Wellner & Sons company.

At the beginning of his career, Paul Gaedt efficiently eliminated the economic difficulties which had threatened the company through the existing exclusive contract with Karl Krause. On 20th October 1892, Gaedt erased the previous name of the firm August Wellner from the Register and instead registered Saxon Metal Goods Factory August Wellner & Sons as a start-up company [7]. Thus this "one-sided" contract became invalid, which was extremely important for the survival and further economic development of the company. Paul Gaedt received the full trading rights for the company Wellner. Under Gaedt's leadership, a new factory building was created (in 1897-1907 [7,8]), necessary machinery and implements were purchased and product distribution was extended throughout Europe. In 1913 Gaedt accomplished the conversion of the former private company into a stock corporation Sächsische Metallwarenfabrik August Wellner Söhne Aktiengesellschaft (AG), or Saxon Metal Goods Factory August Wellner and Sons joint-stock company.

Building of August Wellner & Sons' Saxony Metal Goods Factory in Aue, erected in 1897-1907. Note the elephant bas-relief on the pediment of a corner building. The photograph was taken by Angela Monika Arnold in 2008 [8].

The cupola of the building of Saxony Metal Goods Factory August Wellner & Sons in Aue. The photograph was taken by Angela Monika Arnold in 2008 [8].

The entrance to the building of Saxony Metal Goods Factory August Wellner & Sons in Aue. Under the left bas-relief there is a stone with a date 1907, which probably relates to the accomplishment of the building This is a fragment of the photograph which was taken by Angela Monika Arnold in 2008 [8].

The marvellous Art Nouveau 1000 Mark share of Saxon Metal Goods Factory August Wellner and Sons, printed by the renowned E.A. Brockhaus Publishing House in Leipzig, Germany. This share is dated 23rd September 1913. Note two cornucopias (horns of plenty) with cutlery and hollowware coming out. In the oval, the sketch of a new factory building in Aue is placed. Below, there are three portraits of August Wellner and his sons Albin and Paul. Above the oval, there is a portrait of Paul Gaedt.

The 60th Gaedt birthday in 1927 was celebrated with a big party. In subsequent years of the world economic crisis Gaedt organised a number of loans from large banks to ensure the survival of the factory. In 1936 Paul Gaedt transferred the management of the company to the former chairman Francis Cramer. Gaedt retired and soon had to accept that the cutlery factory Wellner partially produced war products and therefore was expropriated by the end of the Second World War. His house in Aue and that of his daughter were seized by the Soviet occupying power. After that this highly-respectable retired boss was forced to settle in his garden shed, but later moved to the house of his daughter&s family in Glauchau where he died in 1948. He is buried in the family tomb in Glauchau-Reinhold grove.

After the end of World War II the Aue factory continued to operate and soon became the largest cutlery producer in GDR, employing over a thousand people; however, the name of the company was changed again in 1958 to VEB Auer Besteckund Silberwarenwerke (ABS) or in English "Aue Cutlery and Silver Items Company". The company held this name until 1992 [10], when it was changed back to Wellner Bestecke und Silberwaren, GmbH, Aue (Wellner Cutlery and Silver Items, Ltd., Aue). After the reunification of Germany (in 1989) the company passed through a number of mergers and bankruptcy. The silver-plating factory in Aue was closed in 2001, but manufacturing of cutlery under the Wellner mark is still continuing in neighbouring Schneeberg. The new name of the company is Wellner/ABS GmbH (Wellner/ABS Ltd.) [11].

 

Silver content standards used for cutlery

August Wellner & Sons pioneered also in the standardisation of silver content in their silver-plated cutlery products. Before 1911 the following standards for silver content were introduced:
1) WS grade or "Wellner Silber" (Wellner Silver), the highest quality standard, which corresponds to 100 grams of silver being used for the plating of two dozen pieces of cutlery;
2) ES grade or "Extra Stark versilbert" (Extra Strong silvering), which corresponds to 90 grams of silver being used for the plating of two dozen pieces of cutlery;
3) I grade (First Grade), which corresponds to 60 grams of silver being used for the plating of two dozen pieces of cutlery;
4) II grade (Second Grade), which corresponds to 48 grams of silver being used for the plating of two dozen pieces of cutlery;
5) Pure Alpacca, which means that no silver was used for plating.
The most expensive was of course "Wellner Silver", which was advertised by the factory as "a perfect surrogate for genuine silver" with a 20 year guarantee [2]. According to [1], in 1910 one dozen pieces of silver-plated cutlery made by August Wellner & Sons and covered with WS grade plating cost 32 marks. At the same time the same amount of cutlery plated with ES grade coating cost 30 marks, with I grade coating 26 marks, with II grade coating 22.80 marks and the dozen pieces of cutlery made of pure Alpacca (uncoated) cost only 11 marks.

 

Heraldry of the August Wellner & Sons factory

In the interim between the XIXth and XXth centuries it was common practice for jewellery companies to introduce some specific elements into the firm mark and use these elements in the catalogues and for advertisements. For example, Austria-Hungarian foundry Artur Krupp Berndorf used in its marks the profile of the bear, the French company Widow Charles Halphen - the image of the goat head, while German Württemberg Metal Factory applied the profile of the running ostrich. August Wellner & Sons firm used a number of such elements in their heraldry, first of all the image of the elephant embodying the strength of silver coating and the dice image symbolizing luck and diversity. The first element was used mainly on cutlery while the second mainly on table hollow ware products. Another Wellner logo, the combination of the three letters "AWS" (August Wellner Sohne which means August Wellner & Sons) was introduced before 1914. Later, this logo was used together with a contour of a saucepan placed behind. Finally, in the twenties, the image of three elves bearing a knife, fork and spoon was introduced. Now, I will give examples of the use of these elements by the August Wellner & Sons company.

 

Heraldry in architecture

In 1907 the new factory building in Aue was completed. The upper part of the corner (see photo above) is decorated with a bas-relief of the elephant stepping on a dice. The entrance (see photo above) possesses two bas-reliefs of man figures ("atlantes") carrying the "Wellner dice" (left figure) or the elephant (right figure). It should be noted that the dice is always fixed in one and the same position: one pip is visible from the top, two pips and four pips are visible from the side view, finally six pips are visible from the bottom.

The bas-relief of the elephant stepping on the dice on the pediment of corner building of Aue Metal Goods Factory. The fragment of the photograph taken by Angela Monika Arnold in 2008 [8].

The bas-reliefs of the dice and the elephant on the entrance of Aue Metal Goods Factory. The fragments of the photographs taken by Angela Monika Arnold in 2008 [8].

Heraldry in silver-plated advertisement items

Recently, at an ebay auction, a gorgeous silver-plated elephant figurine treading on the dice was offered. On the pedestal of this figurine, the following four inscriptions could be seen: "Sächs. Metallwaren Fabrik", "August Wellner Söhne", "Aue i./Sa.", and "Glückauf 1912". The first three letterings mean Saxon Metal Factory August Wellner and Sons, Aue in Saxony. The forth lettering is the typical greeting for German miners, finishing work and leaving the mine, which means "Happy reaching the upper level!" or "Happy finishing the work!" If we remember that Aue is situated in the Ore Mountains, then it is natural to presume that this figurine was probably used to commemorate the achievements of the Wellner foundry in 1912. A similar elephant in the other ebay auction bears two letterings: "Wellner Silber" (Wellner Silver) and "Weltmarke Wellner ist unübertrefflich" (The worldrenowned Wellner brand is unbeatable!).

Silver-plated Wellner elephant figurines.

In my collection, there is a silver-plated knife for paper cutting and/or envelope opening. Photographs of this knife handle are given below. The inscriptions on this handle correspond well to the inscriptions on the first elephant figurine discussed above. This makes it possible to refer this knife to same period, i.e. 1910-1915.

Inscriptions on the handle of Wellner silver-plated paper knife.

Finally, some fragments of silver-plated ash-trays produced by Wellner and used for the purpose of advertising are given below. You can see the logo with three elves, the AWS logo and the elephant silhouette.

Fragments of Original Wellner ash-trays used for advertisement.

Heraldry in advertising

The Wellner company also actively used its symbols in ads. At my disposal there is an advertisement of Wellner products, published in a local Saxony magazine in March 1925 [4]. Interestingly, here all four characteristic elements of Wellner heraldry are used simultaneously.

Public advertisment of August Wellner & Sons company published in 1925. The inscription in the upper two lines means "Wellner silver is the best surrogate for genuine silver!" The inscription in the next three lines means "Cutlery, Hotel- and Tableware with unbeatable design and quality preferable everywhere". Below, the number of working force, 4000 workers, is mentioned.

Heraldry in the marks of silver-plated items

Of course, all the characteristic elements of Wellner heraldry: the dice, the elephant, the AWS logo and the three elves, mentioned above, were widely used in the marks of August Wellner & Sons factory. My accompanying article in Member's Window of the same issue of ASCAS Newsletter thoroughly discusses all known marks of silver-plated hollowware used by this company. Here I would like to draw your attention to the beautiful cutlery mark found on the Art Nouveau Wellner ladle, issued in the beginning of XXth century.

Fragments of a Wellner cutlery mark found on the Art Nouveau ladle. In the real mark, the inscription WELLNER SILBER is placed between the AWS logo and the elephant image. The length of the inscription is 11.2 mm, the size of the rectangle with the AWS logo is 2.1 mm x 3.3 mm, and the size of the oval with the elephant image is 2.7 mm x 3.7 mm.

Wellner hollow ware items from my collection

The hollow ware silver-plated products issued by the August Wellner & Sons company are notable for their excellent long-lasting quality which is due to the thickness of the silver layer and the thorough respect of plating technology. Concluding the article, I wish to present some remarkable items from my collection, made about 110, 100, 90 and 80 year ago.

Early Wellner pieces from my collection: a) a silver-plated sugar bowl, produced before 1892; b) a small silver-plated coffee-tray, made circa 1892; c) an Art Nouveau style bowl, made in 1907-1914; d) a decorative Art Nouveau ash-tray, produced in 1907-1914.

Wellner silver-plated pieces from my collection: a) a gravy boat with the logo "HAPAG" (Hamburg-America Line), issued in 1911; b) a 35 cl milk-can with the logo "HAPAG" (Hamburg-America Line), marked by 1912; c) a 140 cl vegetable dish with the cover and the logo "EE", produced in 1914; d) a gravy boat with a very characteristic "Wellner" shape of the handle and the logo "HAL" (Holland-America Line) dated by 1914.

Wellner silver-plated pieces from my collection: a) a finger-bowl with the logo "DOAL-HAMBURG" (German East Africa Line - Hamburg), issued between 1915 and 1918; b) a 140 cl coffee-pot with a very elaborated modern design, made circa 1920; c) a 75 cl coffee-pot, issued circa 1915; d) a small 12 cl creamer with the inscription Café Corso Frankfurt am Main produced around 1920.

Wellner silver-plated pieces from my collection: a) a small sauce-pan with the cover and the inscription Harmonie, issued in 1926-1927; b) a small 12 cl gravy boat with the logo "HSDG" (Hamburg South-America Steamship Joint-Stock Company), made circa 1920; c) a finger-bowl with the logo of North German Lloyd Company, issued in 1929; d) a tray with the Blackwood handles made around 1935.

I am grateful to Dr. Albert A. Ruth for his invaluable help in the translation of German sources and to Ms. Irene Horne for her careful reading of my manuscript. My e-mail address is niko@phys.ucc.ie. Any comments, questions or letters with additional information are very welcome. However, please do not send any requests for valuation and/or expertise, such letters will be ignored.

LITERATURE

[1] Reinhard W. Sänger, Das Deutsche Silber-Besteck, Stuttgart, Arnoldsche, 1991, 1-286, (in German). English translation of the title: German Silver Cutlery.

[2] Dedo von Kerssenbrock-Krosigk, Claudia Kanowski, Modern Art of Metallwork. Berlin, Bröhan Museum, 2001, 1-598.

[3] Wikipedia, Die freie Enzyklopädie. "Ernst August Geitner". http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_August_Geitner, 2011 (in German).

[4] Glückauf! Zeitschrift des Erzgebirgsvereins, vol.45, No.3, pp.43-66, 1925 (in German). English translation of the title: Glückauf! Journal of Ore Mountains Association.

[5] Wikipedia, Die freie Enzyklopädie. "Christian Gottlieb Wellner". http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Gottlieb_Wellner, 2011 (in German).

[6] Wikipedia, Die freie Enzyklopädie. "Carl August Wellner". http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_August_Wellner, 2011 (in German).

[7] Dr. Dietrich von Nathusius, Deutsche Besteck-Industrie, Aue, Auer Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft M.B.H., 1924, 1-40 (in German). English translation of the title: German Cutlery Industry.

[8] Wikimedia Commons. "Wellner". http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wellner, 2009 (in German).

[9] Wikipedia, Die freie Enzyklopädie. "Peter Paul Gaedt". http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Paul_Gaedt, 2011 (in German).

[10] Wikipedia, Die freie Enzyklopädie. "Wellner". http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellner, 2012 (in German).

[11] Wellner/ABS GmbH aus Schneeberg. http://www.original-wellner.de/, 2012 (in German).

Dr. David N. Nikogosyan
- 2012 -

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