(pronunciation: shah-fer and vah-ter, rhymes with water)
Location: Germany
Schafer and Vater started producing a German version of the jasperware made by Wedgwood in the 19th century. The designs are similar with white figures or decoration on a bisque body of some color. These include a medium green, one of Wedgwood’s most popular colors, and a strong pink. Additional glazes are used as well, so S&V products are sometimes more colorful than Wedgwood’s. While leaves and floral swags may be reminiscent of classical motifs, the figures on S&V wares are more Romantic and not from Ancient Greece or Rome, or from mythology. Some products even use an Art Nouveau style.
As far as I know, the only marks on S&V products is a mold number. When a maker’s mark is included, it is a capital “R” inside a nine-pointed star, with a crown above the star. Sometimes the words “Made in Germany” or “Germany” are also included in the company’s mark.
To see listings on eBay, go to my Squidoo lens on the subject.
My opinion: Usually less costly than Wedgwood jasper ware, and less classical in the subjects depicted. I like a lot of the Schafer and Vater I see on eBay and elsewhere.
Product lines:
Decorative items, some jasper ware and some in regular glazed porcelain. I have not seen dinnerware from this company.
Prices:
This firm is relatively little known and the prices are reasonable.
Collector’s Society: None.
The official company site is: None. No longer in production. To see examples of their production, go to http://www.schafer-vater.com/
History
The Schafer and Vater Porcelain Company was established in 1890 in Volksted Rudolstad, in Thurniga, Germany. The founding partners wanted to make porcelain doll’s heads and figurines. By 1910 their production was such that Sears, Roebuck and Co. imported their wares for sale in their stores, catalogs or both. The Great Depression brought on the German Giveaways, funny figural bottles filled with liquor and given to attendees at dances and fairs, and to patrons of liquor stores and bars. Schafer and Vater were involved in this trade, shipping empty bottles with their customer’s name and address embossed on the bottle, or without this data, which was added on a paper label when the bottle was filled. Between these funny bottles, similar teapots, jugs, match strikers and planters, and the jasperware, Schafer and Vater enjoyed considerable success. The firm closed its doors in 1962, and the East German government destroyed the company records and molds a decade later. No after-close production is known of.
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