Buschow & Beck

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The Buschow & Beck company was a German toy manufacturer based in Reichenbach in the Eulengebirge ( Silesia ), from 1896 in Nossen ( Saxony ). The company was best known for its MINERVA brand toy dolls .

history

Foundation and history

In 1890 Wilhelm Buschow (technical manager) and Friedrich Beck (commercial management) took over the Max Dittrich & Schön company in Reichenbach (Eulengebirge), which specialized in the manufacture of metal dolls' heads. Buschow was previously the owner of a doll factory in Magdeburg . He was passively involved in the new company and left after just a few months. However, the name Buschow & Beck was retained. Until 1895 doll heads were made from sheet metal in various sizes and designs.

Move to Nossen

The company moved its headquarters to Nossen in 1896 and grew there rapidly. From 1900, under the trademark Minerva , it produced, in particular, doll heads made of sheet metal , which were coated with a specially developed celluloid layer. The celluloid was initially obtained from the Thuringian company Schildkröt . After Buschow & Beck had further developed and improved the recipe, Schildkröt stopped deliveries in 1903 due to the competitive situation. From then on, after short-term bottlenecks, the celluloid was produced in-house. With the production of dolls made entirely from this material from 1907, the Nossen company became one of the biggest competitors of the well-known doll manufacturer.

Even before the First World War, dolls with sleeping eyes and with celluloid heads were made. Several patents were acquired for this, including for an “enamel coating for celluloid doll body parts”, a “locking device for sleeping eyes” and a “ball joint, especially for celluloid dolls”. The importance of the company at that time is demonstrated by its inclusion in the historical-biographical sheets of the Biographische Verlag Berlin ( The Kingdom of Saxony - Culture, Industry, Trade and Commerce ) in 1911. While the dolls were being manufactured in the company's production halls in Nossen, this was done Sewing of the dolls clothing mostly at home.

Since during the First World War celluloid was considered a raw material essential to the war effort and was no longer available in sufficient quantities for the manufacture of dolls, metal doll heads were temporarily used again as a replacement. After the end of the war, people returned to traditional celluloid dolls. In 1920 Buschow & Beck employed around 250 “civil servants and workers”, plus around 600 home workers from Nossen and the surrounding area. The dolls were sold worldwide, with sample warehouses being set up for distribution in larger cities at home and abroad. The company's products have been honored with gold and silver medals at trade fairs and exhibitions, including in Antwerp, Barcelona, ​​Brussels, London, Lübeck and Dresden. In 1922 Friedrich Beck left the company. His son Kurt Beck and the sons of Adam Beck, Fritz and Friedrich Beck become new partners. In the twenties, primarily baby dolls as well as small and dollhouse dolls were created.

Development after 1945

The company, which continued after the Second World War, produced celluloid dolls as well as table tennis balls, swimming aids and similar small toys made of celluloid until it closed. Until the 1960s, some workers were also involved in the production of padlocks. Since the highly flammable raw material celluloid could no longer be used for the manufacture of toys since the 1970s, doll production was discontinued in 1972. The state-owned company VEB Präcitronic then used the building and manufactured electronic components and test devices here.

trademark

The so-called “brand” or the company's trademark was a stylized antique helmet and the MINERVA logo , named after the Roman goddess of wisdom of the same name . It was often stamped on the breastplate of dolls' heads, usually with a number for the size of the toy and the addition Germany . In the course of time the appearance of the brand was changed slightly and was also used with the addition of a trademark . The Minerva trademark was only deleted in September 1950 .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Information at Europeana.eu (web archive) ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ^ Document for the Nossen location in 1903 based on a patent specification
  3. ↑ Buschow and Beck company. In: Traudels-Puppenstube.de. Archived from the original on October 20, 2014 ; accessed on February 10, 2016 .
  4. ↑ a b c Sylvia Wentzlau: Manufacturers of antique dolls and their markings: Buschow & Beck (Minerva), Reichenbach. In: Sylvias-Puppenhaus.de. Retrieved January 1, 2015 .
  5. ↑ Object of the month November 2011. Elmshorn Industrial Museum , accessed on January 1, 2015 .
  6. ↑ Klaus Bartusch: Nossen's former craftsmen, shops and businesses - Part 9: The “Buschow & Beck” doll factory . In: Nossner Rundschau . No. 273 , March 2012, p. 29 ( online view ).
  7. ↑ Klaus Bartusch: Nossen's former craftsmen, shops and businesses - Part 10: The “Buschow & Beck” doll factory . In: Nossner Rundschau . No. 274 , April 2012, p. 26 .
  8. ↑ Compare "Marks" . In: puppenmarken.de. Retrieved January 1, 2015 .

Coordinates: 51 ° 3 ′ 39.2 ″  N , 13 ° 17 ′ 54.9 ″  E