Silesia / Waldenburg (today Wałbrzych):

[1] : Krister Porzellan-Manufaktur (1831 until 1920)

The first factory in the town of Waldenburg was founded by C.S. Rausch in 1820 and even if the business only had a single kiln it was still fairly successful. Attracted by the local possibilities a second facility was opened by the businessman Traugott Hayn in 1829. These two facilities had a quite interesting fate as a decorator from Thuringia at the Rausch facility changed to Hayn and took over the business in 1831; this worker was of course no other than Carl Franz Krister who in 1833 also bought the company from Rausch for an amount of 15500 Taler. It can only be speculated on how Krister actually was able to pay for all this but it appears that before he even started to work for Rausch he already owned a kaolin deposit near the city of Meißen in Saxony which he then used as source for raw material, the required quartz was delivered from a quarry in Schreiberhau (today Szklarska Poręba).

Straight from the start Krister tried to catch customers by imitating the base mark of the 'Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur' (KPM) in Berlin and being very cautious he decided to use a simple vertical bar instead of a sceptre. When KPM Berlin shortly afterwards added the initials 'KPM' to their mark, Krister also added these letters and successfully defended the addition (standing for 'Krister Porzellan Manufaktur') even after the KPM Berlin tried to stop him through a court decision. From the end of 1844 onwards the KPM Berlin changed the strategy and introduced the imperial eagle with sceptre and orb over the initials 'KPM' and Krister introduced an own version of the mark by simply omitting the scepter and orb.

But Krister would not have been successful by only relying on copying the famous 'KPM' mark. The quality of his products was exceptionally good and he soon had lots of wealthy customers with their own requirements and over time his business became quite well known and further recognition was achieved through the medals his products earned at the Paris exhibition during 1867. But Carl Krister died the same year at the age of 65 and the business fell to the Haenschke heirs. It should be noted that at the time he died the former small business had developed into one of the largest firms led by a single person next to the factory of Carl Tielsch in Altwasser. Anyway, the Haenschke family further improved the factory that employed 800 workers in 1913 and it remained in their hands until they decided to change it into a limited corporation in the year 1920.

[2] : Krister Porzellan-Manufaktur A.G. (1920 until 1952)

In 1921 the company was one of the few manufacturers that produced replacement currency in the form of porcelain coins as the German Mint was not able to produce enough money to follow the very high inflation rates. Proceedings were based on a special law that allowed a few supervised companies to produce so-called 'Notgeld'. The same year also saw the Rosenthal group achieve majority holding but the traditional name was kept until 1945 when Soviet troops occupied Waldenburg. As soon as the war ended it was clear that the area would in future belong to Polish territory and all German citizens with exception of the skilled workers from the factory had to leave the area; the remaining workers were forced to stay until they had re-educated the Polish immigrants. The factory itself was instantly nationalized but the name was left unchanged until 1952 when the facility was finally renamed to 'Fabryka Porcelany Krzysztof'.

As to compensate the loss of production capacity the Rosenthal group during 1952/53 built a replacement facility in Landstuhl (Rhineland-Palatinate) which used the name 'Krister Porzellan-Manufaktur A.G.' and continued to use the mark listed in the 'Marks' section of this document. During 1965 the firm moved to Marktredwitz in Bavaria but the name of the great Silesian enterprise was discontinued in 1971 due to (as they called it) 'organizational reasons' and in the year 2004 Rosenthal finally had the trademark registration of the Krister marks revoked.

Silesia / Waldenburg (Wałbrzych):

[3] : Fabryka Porcelany Krzysztof (1952 until 1995)

The nationalized factory introduced the 'Wawel' mark which in a modernized version is still in use today and soon advanced to the most vital production facility in Poland. It constantly expanded and was modernized on a regular basis, resulting in a first class factory with a world wide reputation. In 1994 it was decided to slowly reprivatize the business and after initiating the privatization process in May 1995 the factory started to issue employee shares.

[4] : Fabryka Porcelany Krzysztof S.A. (1995 until today)

The privatization process ended successfully in September 1999 and today the factory is one of the largest companies in Poland, covering the whole range of items from cheap stapleware through to high-end tableware.

Mark Comments:

Next to the marks shown, the Krister company also owned various registered trademarks. 'Obelisk' was registered at the RWZR as file number '60 161' on May 11th 1903; 'Supradur' was registered at the RWZR as file number '465 008' on April 13th 1934. In both cases there is no indication on how long on on what kind of products they were used.

Silesia / Waldenburg (today Wałbrzych):

Marks

[1] : Very basic mark used around 1835.

[1] : Used between 1840 and 1895, registered late at the 'Königliches Amtsgericht Waldenburg' under file number '29' on October 26th 1885.

[1] : Used between 1840 and 1895, green version.

[1] : Used between 1840 and 1895, blue version.

[1] : Used between 1845 and 1870, this type was often affected by blurring.

[1] : Used between 1845 and 1870, shows how blurred some of these marks are.
(Picture by Robert Trenkler)

[1] : Used around 1850 in blue underglaze, simply the initials 'WPM' for 'Waldenburger Porzellan Manufaktur'.

[1] : Round 'donut' shape mark used between 1860 and 1895.

[1] : Used between 1885 and 1905, registered at the 'Königliches Amtsgericht Waldenburg' under file number '30' on October 26th 1885.

Silesia / Waldenburg (today Wałbrzych):

Marks

[1] : Used between 1896 and 1905 and from 1922 onwards, this mark was registered in 1896, deleted in 1905 and re-registered in 1922.

[1] : Used between 1897 and 1905.

[1] : Used between 1897 and 1905, 'K' over 'WPM' for 'Krister, Waldenburger Porzellan-Manufaktur'.

[1] : Used between 1897 and 1905, registered at the R.W.Z.R. under file number '21 974' on February 5th 1897.

[1] : Used between 1902 and 1905, 'KPF' (for 'Krister Porzellan-Fabrik') in a stylized letter 'W' for 'Waldenburg'.

[1] : Used between 1903 and 1905, note that this version also reads 'KPF' for 'Krister Porzellan-Fabrik'.

[1] : Used between 1903 and 1905, nice example of the 'KPF' mark.

[1] : Used between 1903 and 1910, the 'CKW' stands for 'Carl Krister, Waldenburg'.

[1] : Used between 1904 and 1927, this time with 'KPM' for 'Krister Porzellan-Manufaktur'.

Silesia / Waldenburg (today Wałbrzych):

Marks

[1] : Used between 1904 and 1927, blue version.

[1] : Used between 1904 and 1927, green version.

[1] : Also used between 1904 and 1927, same as before over 'SILESIA'.

[1] : And another one used between 1904 and 1927, here over 'GERMANY'.

[1] : Used between 1905 and 1920, the first version with a bulbous crown.

[2] : Used between 1925 and 1945, here the 'empty' version.

[2] : Used between 1925 and 1945, sometimes found with small variations as seen here. Others have an 'I', a 'W' or a 'P' in the crown.

[2] : Used between 1925 and 1945. The two dots stand for second grade quality.
(Picture by Lewis Wood)

[2] : 100 years anniversary mark which was used from 1931 until 1933 only.

Silesia / Waldenburg (today Wałbrzych):

Marks

[2] : No date known but could be from around 1934.

[2] : Used between 1934 and 1945, note the 'A.D.1831' showing the founding date.

[2] : Used between 1934 and 1945, here on an item with 'FRIEDERIKE' pattern.

[2] : Mark used between 1934 and 1945, here with an additional mark applied by a decorator studio from Austria.

[2] : Used between 1935 and 1940, here with MDASDA 'seal of approval'.

[2] : Another version used between 1935 and 1940 with 'ECHT UNTERGLASUR' (real underglaze) addition.
(Picture by David Via)

[2] : Used between 1935 and 1940 on products intended for the German navy (the 'M' stands for 'Marine').

[2] : Used between May 1945 and 1952, note the 'MADE IN POLAND'.

[2] : Example of the mark used between May 1945 and 1952 in green.

Silesia / Waldenburg (today Wałbrzych):

Marks

[2] : Used between May 1945 and 1952 for the 'ROYAL IVORY' product range.

[3] : Used from 1952 onwards.

[3] : Used from 1952 onwards.

[3] : No dates known.

[3] : No date known, but note the very confusing 'A.D. 1845' founding date addition.

[4] : The 'Wawel' mark used as company logo today.