Amberger Zinnblechhandelsgesellschaft
The Amberger Zinnblechhandelsgesellschaft was set up at the instigation of Count Palatine Friedrich , then governor in the Upper Palatinate and later Elector in the Rhine Palatinate , and existed from 1533 to 1631.
background
The tin- plating of metal sheets is an invention that was made in the northern part of the Gau at the end of the 13th century . Whether this happened for the first time in Nuremberg or in Wunsiedel cannot be clarified, in any case, in the new order of tin tin to Wunsiedel of February 2, 1544, it says, "Citizens and masters of the famous craft and trade of tin tin ... that with their old and originated and started before other nations ”.
The prerequisite was also the occurrence of tin , whereby the areas in the Fichtelgebirge and in the Ore Mountains are still today possible deposits worth exploiting, e.g. B. in Altenberg or Pöhla .
The raw material for the sheets to be tinned was Deuchel- dikes or iron, which on heating of the race iron accumulated in the well stove. Between the stove and the hammering, “freshening” was usually added, a repeated heating of the pig iron in order to reduce the excessively high carbon content through oxidation processes. The “dike”, a tough, soft iron that was the starting product for sheet metal production, dripped off. To save costs, the hammers also used sinter , a by-product of iron production.
Foundation and development of the Amberg tinplate trading company
The Amberger Zinnblechhandelsgesellschaft was established in 1533 on the initiative of Count Palatine Friedrich; he was a fan of mercantilism and wanted Amberg to become a major trading town. In the same year, the Nuremberg tin tinning company Hans Graf was recruited, who set up the first tinning pan in Amberg.
Until then, the Upper Palatinate black sheets were mainly tinned in Wunsiedel and Nuremberg and only a few Amberg citizens took part in their production. Count Palatine Friedrich now granted the Amberg tinplate trading company the sole right to tinplate the sheets produced in the Upper Palatinate. All sheet metal hammer masters were ordered to put their sheets in the tin pans in Amberg when threatened with punishment. However, some continued to deliver to Nuremberg and Wunsiedel because older contracts existed and higher profits could be achieved there. This led to many lawsuits for “secretly dragging the sheet metal out of the country”, which resulted in heavy fines or imprisonment for the accused. Tinplate production was also to begin in Sulzbach in 1533 and 1547, but the Ambergers were able to ward off this for the time being by allowing the Sulzbachers to participate in the Amberg company with 3000 fl. It was not until 1579 that the Sulzbachers established their own production facilities, which were also recognized by the hammer cleaning company .
Nuremberg's Zinnblechhandelsgesellschaft had its own trading post . The city of Nuremberg was not very enthusiastic about the damage to its business, but attempts to participate financially in the Amberg company were rejected by the Ambergers. Ultimately, the Nuremberg tin-tinning mills had to be closed because they were no longer supplied with Upper Palatinate black sheets. Some Nuremberg tin dealers then went to Saxony and built up the Saxon tinplate industry there, which achieved great importance in Europe. One of these emigrants was Andreas Blau , who set up his own tinplate industry in Saxony and recruited hammer workers from Upper Palatinate through high wages and bribes. When the Upper Palatinate hammer and tinsmiths working in Saxony came to visit the Upper Palatinate, they were picked up, interrogated and locked up. The court records also show that tin hammers were set up in Bohemia with the help of the Upper Palatinate experts.
The Amberger Gesellschaft's share capital was 25,000 guilders, and it also took out deposits between 10,000 and 20,000 guilders. The company was built on a stock corporation law basis. Every citizen of Amberg and Sulzbach, the Upper Palatinate cities, the hammer masters of the Upper Palatinate hammer cleaning and the courtiers had the right to enter. A resignation could take place at any time after a one-year notice period. The deposits had a fixed interest rate and could be sold by the company after quarterly notice. Two to three “factors” ran the company and received a fixed salary. The latter was related to the fact that the tin plate trading company consisted of two parts: the "Society of the black sheet metal" and the "Society of the white sheet metal". The shareholders could also sell their shares. The supreme supervision had the "decrees of the tin trade", who also accepted the bill and made important decisions.
The products of the Amberg company were sold all over Europe, named France, the Netherlands, Italy, Turkey and the islands (= Greece) and the company achieved high profits. In a letter to Friedrich II. It was mentioned that the sheet metal trade brought in at least 6000 fl at each fair. The annual dividends between 1581 and 1617 were between 15 and 20%. At the beginning of the Thirty Years' War the dividends even rose to 50 (1620/21) and 188% (1621/22), but then fell considerably (1628/29: 11%).
A decisive setback for the company's profits was the closure of the Hamburg Stahlhof by the English Queen Elisabeth . In addition, sales fell because other regions had also learned the skill of tin-plating and were now competing with the Ambergers. Then there was the inflation as a result of the Thirty Years' War . In 1629 the company's debts had risen to 20,000 fl. The hammer masters received no more money and could no longer repay their own debts. The company owed Georg Gumpelshaimer, a citizen of Regensburg, for example, 5000 florins since 1606. In 1631 the tinplate trading company was therefore dissolved and a new establishment (the so-called 2nd Amberg tinplate trading company) was unsuccessful.
literature
- Franz Michael Ress (1950). History and economic importance of the Upper Palatinate iron industry from the beginning up to the time of the 30-year war. Regensburg: Publishing house of the historical association of Upper Palatinate and Regensburg.
- Franz Michael Ress (1951). The iron trade of the Upper Palatinate in ancient times. Munich: Oldenbourg.
Web links
- Werner Rother: Mining and processing of iron ore in Sulzbach and Amberg. Fernuniversität Hagen, WS 2006/07
- Amberger Zinnblechgesellschaft first German AG? - Found clues during research. Press information City of Amberg