Waldershof Bavaria porcelain marks

About Waldershof — Franz Neukirchner

The Bavaria concern of Franz Neukirchner operated at Waldershof in northern Bavaria. Its familiar marks belong to the period beginning in 1925 and continuing into the 1970s. It decorated porcelain tablewares and ornamental pieces, including coffee services, vases, bowls and small dishes. Its range included floral and figure decoration, gold embellishment, cobalt blue grounds and silver overlay.

Neukirchner’s business was separate from Johann Haviland’s porcelain factory in the same town. Decoration firms could use blanks supplied by other manufacturers, so a finished piece can carry both a body maker’s mark and a later decoration mark. Neukirchner’s devices include an F/N beehive, several crowned N designs and a Bavarian heraldic shield.

The company was part of Waldershof’s postwar industrial community. Along with Haviland, it provided houses for employees in the settlement developed after 1946–1947. It also temporarily provided two rooms for the displaced porcelain decorator Josef Dutz before he established a workshop in Wiesau in 1948. Later wares often combine the Waldershof name with statements about hand decoration and gold. The operation continued into the 1970s.