Wagner & Zetsche

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Wagner & Zetsche ( W & Z , W and Z, or WZ ) was in the 19th century in Thuringia founded dolls - manufacturer based in Ilmenau , Obertorstraße fifth

history

The company, founded by the merchants Richard Wagner and Richard Zetzsche in 1875, was, together with Fischer, Naumann & Co., one of the major Ilmenau toy manufacturers . Doll bodies were made from fabric, leather, paper mache and artificial leather .

The company offered their - clothed - bodies up to around 1916 with heads mounted on them from the Heubach Brothers porcelain factory , which, in addition to the Heubach company trademark, also had the artfully intertwined initials W. u. Z of the client were engraved on the back of the head. After Wagner & Zetsche had acquired the patent "[...] for the production of a composition material" called Haralit - a plastic-like, neither flammable nor fragile mass - from the inventor PR Zierow or Richard Zierow from Berlin in 1914 , the company was able to sell In 1915 it was used to cast heads for his character dolls. The models for this were Richard Zetsche's grandchildren of the same name, who had the company molded by Harald from 1915 , Inge from 1916 and Hansi from 1925 . The Baerbele model became less well known .

In addition to the W&Z brand , the number 1875 is known on labels for the year of foundation . The signature Wag Wag , on the other hand, was placed on the soles of the dolls' feet.

After the Second World War and the founding of the GDR , Ingeborg Knefeli , née Zetsche ("Inge)", was the owner of Wagner & Zetsche until 1960. In 1960 her husband Heinrich Knefeli took over the management until the family business was forcibly sold to the state after Heinrich Knefeli's death in 1977 and thus nationalized : "[...] The company [then] became part of the Sonni Doll and Plush Toys Combine Gehren, VEB plush and stuffed toys, affiliated ”. After completing her degree in toy design in Sonneberg , Knefeli's daughter Ingrid was able to manage the former company Wagner & Zetsche under changed conditions until 1982 , before she left the GDR a little later.

For a special exhibition on Ilmenau's industrial history planned for 2012 , the director of the Goethe City Museum Ilmenau , Kathrin Kunze , was able to win support from “Inge Knefeli, a witness of the century ” and her daughter Ingrid .

Media coverage

literature

  • Jean Bach: International Handbook of Doll Brands. A doll identification book , English original title: The main street dictionary of doll marks , translated by Wolfgang Hartmann, Munich: Laterna Magica, 1989, ISBN 3-87467-389-8 ; P. 135; contents
  • Jürgen Cieslik , Marianne Cieslik : Cieslik's Lexicon of the German Doll Industry. Brands, data, facts , 2nd, revised edition, Hamburg: Marquardt & Wellhausen; Jülich: Cieslik, 1989, ISBN 978-3-939806-20-2 (Wellhausen & Marquardt) and ISBN 3-921844-20-7 (Cieslik)

Archival material

Archival material by and about Wagner & Zetsche can be found, for example

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Jean Bach: International handbook of doll brands. A doll identification book , English original title: The main street dictionary of doll marks , translated by Wolfgang Hartmann, Munich: Laterna Magica, 1989, ISBN 3-87467-389-8 ; P. 135
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Gerd-Michael Seeber (responsible): Special exhibition / Made in Germany - Toys from Ilmenau from November 9, 2014 to March 15, 2015 on the ilmenau.de website , last accessed on April 4 , 2015 . September 2016
  3. ↑ a b c d e Karl-Heinz Veit: Karl-Heinz Veit spoke with Inge Knefeli, a witness of the centuries, on the Thüringer Allgemeine website on January 9, 2012, last accessed on September 4, 2016

Coordinates: 50 ° 41 ′ 16.2 ″  N , 10 ° 54 ′ 48 ″  E