}`HPLASErJ+}.mt 10 .hm 3 .h1Grayson Enterprises Ltd. First NA Serial Rights .h2Page #. Copyright 1990  .h3 h„   „   „Œ   „   „”   „   „œ   „     „€   „(#  1,457 words .LS2          ALL THINGS BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL THE STORY OF ROYAL BAYREUTH PORCELAIN   Written by June Grayson  Photographed by Richard and June Grayson     Midwestern collectors of Royal Bayreuth porcelain had a   special treat in 1990 when Woody Auction of Douglass, Kansas,  sold the Mr. and Mrs. Willard Mauermann collection of fine porce  lain in a St. Louis auction. Almost six hundred pieces of Royal   Bayreuth - as well as many pieces of R. S. Germany, R. S. Prus  sia, and Old Ivory - changed hands that hot August weekend.  π03  Š The Royal Bayreuth figurals sold better than anyone had   anticipated with the rare, brown kangaroo creamer going for   $1,000. Relatively speaking, the scenics seemed modestly priced   while the tapestry pieces and the Sunbonnet babies brought higher   prices than expected. A tapestry pitcher listed at fifty cents in a pre-World War   I catalog might have been one of those tapestry pitchers that   brought $200 at the Woody auction. Not bad for an investment   that could have brought daily joy to its owners for the last   eighty years.  Royal Bayreuth is the oldest Bavarian porcelain company   still under private ownership today. Founded in 1794 in Tettau,   Germany, the company has survived great wars, financial debacles,   numerous changes in ownership and management, and - probably the   most traumatic - a great fire in 1897 which destroyed all of its   past records and original molds.  In spite of these continuing challenges, for two hundred   years this company has been noted for exquisite dinnerware,   figurines, vases, and collector plates of pure white porcelain. However, those collectibles from the late 1800s to World War I   hold the greatest appeal today. They can be classified as   follows:  1. Babies and nursery rhyme items. The best-loved and most   famous of these are the Sunbonnet babies, an adaptation in porce  π0- Šlain of the drawings of an American artist, Bertha Corbett. Ms.   Corbett never drew faces but hid them under big hats. She pic  tured the Sunbonnet babies cheerfully doing their daily tasks.   Among collectors, the Sunbonnet line will forever be associated   with Royal Bayreuth. Forms in this series include creamers,   sugar bowls, dishes, pitchers, plates, jars, candle holders, and   teapots. Coffee pots, baskets, and bells are rarer items. Royal   Bayreuth reissued a series of Sunbonnet baby plates in the 1970s,   which became as popular as the originals. The beach babies and snow babies - as well as nursery rhyme   characters such as Jack and Jill and Little Miss Muffet - are   just as appealing but were made in smaller quantities so they are   also hard to find.   „„  2. Corinthian. Classical figures and designs in solid   colors decorate assorted items such as pitchers and vases.  „„    „„  3. Devil and cards. A group of playing cards form a shape   such as a pitcher or tray with a red devil providing adornment as   a handle. Because this series was originally so popular, the   company reissued a few pieces in the 1970s as an advertising   item. You either like this design or you hate it.   „„  4. The figurals. To some people, Royal Bayreuth and figu  rals are synonymous. They come in an almost infinite number of   forms, colors, and sizes. Tomato and lobster pieces are plenti  ful and relatively cheap.   π0-  Š Poppies and pansies are the most common of the flower figu  rals, although sunflowers, roses, mums, tulips, and irises were   also made. The fruit figurals - oranges, lemons, apples, straw  berries, grapes - look almost real. Animals of all kinds are   represented, from dogs to monkeys to insects and to lobsters   sometimes entwined around iridescent shells.  People figurals delight the eye. Collectors crave the   Santas, especially in the rare colors such as green, yellow, or   pearl instead of the ubiquitous red. The bell ringer, coachman,   clown, toby, Art Nouveau lady, milkmaid, and monk are also great   finds.  Even though the vast majority of figurals were made in one   or more of the four sizes of pitchers (creamer, milk, water,   and lemonade), other forms such as boxes, jars, ashtrays, dresser   trays, and candlesticks abound.  5. Mother of pearl. This finish comes in a variety of   shadings on the grape, shell, leaf, pansy, and poppy molds. It   is especially beautiful on the Art Nouveau lady series and   is similar to some of the R. S. Prussia finishes of the same   period.  6. Scenics. Bucolic country scenes with farmyard animals,   workers, hunters, and even Victorian ladies entrance us. The   color green often predominates. Even the smallest animals have   different facial expressions.   π0-  Š 6. Rose tapestry. Probably the most expensive series for   collectors today. The tapestry effect was produced by applying a   burlap cloth to the molded piece before firing. The cloth burned   away but the unusual rough "tapestry" finish remained. The all-  over painted rose design was usually pink, but white and three   color (white, pink, and yellow) designs can also be found. Rarer   and still more precious are the items in orange tapestry and   sterling tapestry - a silver gray produced in very limited quan  tities.  Royal Bayreuth has used many marks during the last two   hundred years: the Old Tettau mark, the blue mark, and the green   mark which is generally referred to as the Export Trade Mark.   Many pieces are not marked but an advanced collector can recog  nize the real Royal Bayreuth and pinpoint the approximate date of   production.  Fortunately, few fakes exist. According to Virginia Salley,   one writer on Royal Bayreuth, these figurals were designed to be   sold as inexpensive souvenir merchandise on which the Royal Bay  reuth mark conferred no status or value. She says, "It seems   ludicrous to suggest that other companies were attempting to fool   the public by reproducing something of no value."  However, a beginning Royal Bayreuth collector might well be   fooled by later reproductions made in Japan after World War II.   Similar fruit, vegetable, and lobster and shell items are pic  π0- Štured in Gene Florence's four books on the Collectibles of Occu  pied Japan. (See book 3, pgs 29 and 115, and book 4, pgs 89 and   105). Although some of these trinkets have a certain charm to   collectors who have never seen the original Royal Bayreuth figu  rals, all you need to do is to place the two products side by   side to become an instant expert. The Oriental porcelain is not   as good as the German, and the lines and workmanship are much   cruder in every respect.  No one article can hope to document the hundreds of varia  tions in which these appealing treasures are found. To stand   before an advanced collection of Royal Bayreuth for the first   time and try to take it all in, is only to marvel at the uncommon   creativity of the unknown and unsung artists who first conceived   and designed them in all their ramifications.  Until 1982, Kern Collectibles distributed the Royal Bayreuth   Christmas and Mother's Day plates in the United States. Accord  ing to Michael Price of the H. Wittur Company of Evanston, Illi  nois, the present American representative of Royal Tettau, Royal   Bayreuth trademark is still owned by its parent company, Royal   Tettau, but is not in use at this time. Presently, none of their   products are being imported into the United States because cur  rency exchange rates make prices prohibitive. A five-piece place   setting of dinnerware would have to sell for $300 now in the   United States, which is not economically competitive. However,   π0- ŠRoyal Tettau still make a highly regarded line of dinnerware and   giftware line that sells throughout Europe.  My mother, born in 1900 and raised on an Iowa farm, marvels   that I would pay so much to collect something so commonplace to   her. "We had these animal pitchers in our kitchen and used them   all the time. Everyone did then. We never valued them highly.   Dad would bring them home as a treat for us children when he went   to town with the horse and buggy," she remembers.  No one knows how many people have their Royal Bayreuth   treasures locked up in their best curio cabinet. The one place   you will no longer find them is on the children's kitchen table. FOR YOUR INFORMATION Every yearly antique price guide devotes several col  umns to Royal Bayreuth collectibles. In addition, three books   have been published about them. All of the books are out of   print. Virginia S. and George H. Salley wrote ROYAL BAYREUTH   CHINA, published in 1969 after they made a special trip to Tettau   in 1968 to visit the factory. Joan and Marvin Raines published   two books including price guides on ROYAL BAYREUTH FIGURALS in   the 1970s. Eric Sidman, who specializes in Royal Bayreuth as the   proprietor of Eric's Antiques in Newton, Massachusetts, wrote THE   VARIETY OF ROYAL BAYREUTH, a definitive article published in   December, 1986, in the New England Antiques Journal (Vol V., No.   6). #####  π0-  Š Thanks to the following experts who shared their knowledge   of Royal Bayreuth with me for this article: Dee Hooks,   Illinois,member of the Advisory Board for Schroeder's Antiques   Price Guide; Dorothy Kliebhan, collector and dealer at Antique   Market III, St. Charles, Illinois; and Mary McCaslin of McCas  lin's Antiques, Indiana.  #####