Cutlery Services designed by Albert Mayer & made by WMF
Albert Mayer was a sculptor & designer & director of the WMF Art Studio from 1894 to 1914
These cutlery sets are extremely rare & very few complete examples exist of a nunmber are in the
CS 2
A rare WMF Silver plated cutlery service for 12, in the original cabinet with silver plated stylised mounts.
Circa 1900.
£POA.
The set consists of :-
12 large knives & 12 large forks.
12 smaller knives & 12 smaller forks.
12 large spoons & 12 smaller spoons.
12 Tea spoons.
10 knife rests.
1 carving knife & 1 carving fork.
1 large soup ladle.
1 large dessert serving spoon.
1 salad serving spoon.
1 salad serving spoon with forked spoon end.
See Grotkamp-Schepers, Barbara and Sanger, Reinhard W. ‘Art Nouveau Knives, Forks and Spoons’ Stuttgart 20001.
See also Sotheby’s ‘Fine Decorative Arts from 1870’, 5th October 2004, Lot 67, hammer price £13,200 for a fitted canteen box for twelve place settings which is at the bottom of this page..
Click on pictures for larger version


CS 3
A Stunning extremely rare WMF cutlery service for 12 persons in original stylised secessionist oak cabinet with single drawer, lower shelf & stylised silver plated mounts & handles, the lower plaque with space for engraving has never been engraved & it has it's original keys.
Height 58", Width 21 1/2", Depth 17 1/2". Circa 1900.
£POA.
The set consists of :-
11 large knives & 12 large forks.
11 smaller knives & 10 smaller forks.
12 large spoons & 12 smaller spoons.
12 Fish knives & 12 Fish forks.
10 teaspoons & 1 sugar sifting spoon.
12 knife rests.
2 salts with liner & 2 salt spoons.
1 carving knife & 1 carving fork.
1 large soup ladle & 1 gravy ladle.
1 large serving fish knife & 1 large serving fish fork.
1 large dessert serving spoon.
1 salad serving spoon with ebony spoon end
1 salad serving spoon with forked ebony spoon end.
See Grotkamp-Schepers, Barbara and Sanger, Reinhard W. ‘Art Nouveau Knives, Forks and Spoons’ Stuttgart 20001.p. 101, item 105 for this pattern.
See also Sotheby’s ‘Fine Decorative Arts from 1870’, 5th October 2004, Lot 67, hammer price £13,200 for a fitted canteen box for twelve place settings which is at the bottom of this page.
Click on pictures for larger version


CS 4
A stunning WMF silver plated cutlery set totally complete consisting of a 156 pieces in mint original condition with fantastic secessionist/Glasgow School style cutlery, the oak case with ebony & chequer string inlays & wonderful silver plated handles & the sweetest heart shaped escutcheons.
Circa 1900.
£POA.
The set consists of :-
12 large knives & 12 large forks.
12 smaller knives & 12 smaller forks.
12 large spoons & 12 smaller spoons.
12 fish knives & 12 fish forks.
1 large serving fish knife & 1 large serving fish fork.
4 pickle forks & a palette knife & fish palate knife.
12 knife rests.
12 teaspoons & 1 sugar sifting spoon.
12 small fruit spoons & matching serving spoon
12 smaller spoons
A set of sugar tongs
2 salts with liners & 2 salt spoons
1 large soup ladle & 1 gravy ladle.
1 carving knife & 1 carving fork.
1 large dessert serving spoon.
1 salad serving spoon with ivorene spoon end
1 salad serving fork with ivorene fork end.
See Grotkamp-Schepers, Barbara and Sanger, Reinhard W. ‘Art Nouveau Knives, Forks and Spoons’ Stuttgart 20001.
See also Sotheby’s ‘Fine Decorative Arts from 1870’, 5th October 2004, Lot 67, hammer price £13,200 for a fitted canteen box for twelve place settings which is at the bottom of this page.
Click on pictures for larger version


CS 5
An extremely rare WMF Silver plated cutlery set for 24 persons in the most wonderful original Art Nouveau cabinet with silver plated organic stylised mounts & the complete original Art Nouveau cutlery service it even has a crumb tray & it's brush. The last image is the original advert from the WMF catalogue, almost certainly the most extravagant Art Nouveau service produced by the company at that time.
Circa 1900.
£POA.
The set consists of 334 pieces :-
24 large knives & 24 large forks.
24 smaller knives & 24 smaller forks.
24 large spoons & 24 smaller spoons.
24 fish knives & 24 fish forks.
2 large serving fish knives & 2 large serving fish forks.
2 large serving fish spoons.
4 palette knives.
18 knife rests.
24 teaspoons & 2 sugar sifting spoons.
24 small fruit spoons.
24 smaller spoons.
18 asparagus tongs.
6 salts with liners & 6 salt spoons.
2 large soup ladles & 2 gravy ladles.
2 carving knives & 2 carving forks.
2 salad serving spoons with ivorene spoon ends.
2 salad serving forks with ivorene fork ends.
See Grotkamp-Schepers, Barbara and Sanger, Reinhard W. ‘Art Nouveau Knives, Forks and Spoons’ Stuttgart 20001, p. 87, item 82 for this pattern.
See also Sotheby’s ‘Fine Decorative Arts from 1870’, 5th October 2004, Lot 67, hammer price £13,200 for a fitted canteen box for twelve place settings which is at the bottom of this page..
Click on pictures for larger version


CS 6
A rare WMF Silver plated cutlery service for 12 the most sort after & hardest to find Evy pattern, in the original cabinet with silver plated stylised mounts.
Circa 1900.
£POA.
12 large knives & 12 large forks.
12 smaller knives & 12 smaller forks.
12 large spoons & 12 smaller spoons.
12 cakespoons.
12 teaspoons.
2 salts with liners & 2 salt spoons
1 large soup ladle & 1 gravy ladle.
1 large carving knife & 1 large carving fork.
1 large dessert serving spoon.
1 salad serving spoon with ivorene spoon end.
1 salad serving fork with ivorene fork end.
2 smaller serving spoons.
2 smaller serving knives.
1 menu holder.
See Grotkamp-Schepers, Barbara and Sanger, Reinhard W. ‘Art Nouveau Knives, Forks and Spoons’ Stuttgart 20001, p. 68, item 47 for this pattern.
See also Sotheby’s ‘Fine Decorative Arts from 1870’, 5th October 2004, Lot 67, hammer price £13,200 for a fitted canteen box for twelve place settings which is at the bottom of this page.
Click on pictures for larger version


CS 7
A rare WMF Silver plated cutlery service for 12, in the original cabinet with silver plated stylised mounts.
Circa 1900.
Sold at Sotheby's 5th October 2004, Fine Decorative Arts from 1870’, Lot 67, hammer price £13,200
Click on pictures for larger version


CS 8
A rare WMF Art - Deco Silver plated cutlery service for 12, in the original cabinet with revolving bottle holder with an unusual square bottle holder & 6 further bottle holders to the bottom cupboard.
Circa 1920.
£SOLD.
Click on pictures for larger version



THE HISTORY OF WMF.

1880 was the Beginning of WMF, Straub & Sohn & "Ritter & Co.", merged to form 'Wurttembergische Metallwarenfabrik'.
In 1883 the glassworks were built on the Geislingen factory site to enable the company to produce its own glass inserts for tea glasses, vases & centre pieces.
In 1890 WMF tookover Galvanoplastischen Kunstanstalt (Galvanoplasty Art Institute) in Munich, the production facilities of which were moved to Geislingen in 1894 & stayed there until 1950. Their range included ornamental statues for the home, decorative objects for architecture, & replicas of works of art, particularly from the Renaissance period, & ancient archaeological finds. The most famous piece is the reproduction of the portal to the Baptistery in Florence. The "Gate of Paradise" by Lorenzo Ghiberti, which is on display at WMF's Headquarters in Geislingen.
In 1892 saw the development of a special technique for silver plating cutlery, whereby the silver is distributed in a way that, at the points of the cutlery most exposed to wear, the coating is double the thickness & is Known as "Perfect Hard Silver plating" the technique is still unique to WMF.
At the turn of the century the factory in Geislingen employed over 3,000 workers & by 1910 this number had grown to over 4,000, & WMF was the biggest company in Wurttemberg at this time. Sales catalogues were produced in twelve different languages, & they had outlets in London, Vienna & Warsaw.
In 1905 under the direction of Albert Mayer the WMF studio was steered more towards the art nouveau style, & an array of new pieces were designed & produced. In 1905 WMF bought the majority share holding of Orivit AG, in Cologne who were manufacturing products from "Orivit", a tin alloy.
In 1925 NKA was set up under the direction of Hugo Debach to establish the name of WMF amongst clients interested in artistic designs producing the special "Ikora" finish. The "Ikora" range was a specific method of treating the surface of the metal, coating layers were applied in a partly chemical & partly heated process.
In 1927 WMF gained the rights to use the special V2A steel, developed by Krupp, & launched the "Cromargan" cookware range at the Leipzig Trade Fair in 1927, & in 1930 launched the first Cromargan cutlery sets. By the end of the 1930's WMF's retail outlets grew from 24 to 150.
In 1935 the Ceramic Workshops were formed.
At the end of the war in 1945 the company began to rebuild itself using the remaining factories. As production grew so did their network of retail outlets in the USA, Canada, Switzerland, Austria, Italy & Holland.
From the 1950's through to the 1960's the Geislingen factory outgrew itself employing almost 6000 workers so two new factories were built "Riedlingen" & "Hayingen".
In 2003 WMF celebrates 150 years.
DESIGNERS AT WMF.
Between 1900 & 1907 was the main period of production of art nouveau designs, some by well known designers like Albert Mayer & Peter Behrens. Albert Mayer, was the artistic director. The international & economic success saw the company grow very quickly in this period. Hugo Debach became director in 1904 & also formed the "Neue kunstgewerbliche Abteilung" (NKA) in 1925. In 1935 a ceramic studio was formed & Hugo Debach also brought in Richard Riemerschmid, Karl Wiedmann & ceramics expert Gerda Conitz to WMF. During this time Prof. Fritz August Breuhaus de Groot, Prof. & Prof. Paul Haustein were working as freelance designers for the WMF, & in the 1950s Prof. Wilhelm Wagenfeld also designed for WMF.


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