Vintage Johann Seltmann Vohenstrauss Porcelain Flower Vase

This is a vintage Johann Seltmann Vohenstraub Bavaria Fine Porcelain China Floral Pansy Spray vase with gold band trim. The piece is in good condition with no chips or cracks and little if any wear to the gold trim.  The stamp indicates that this piece was manufactured between 1917 and 1932. The vase stands approximately 8 1/2″ tall and 7 1/2″ at its widest point.

Johann Seltmann was born in 1856 in the town of Schlottenhof, Germany. In 1901 Johann along with his youngest brother, Christian Wilhelm Seltmann,  decided to open their own business.  Business was going well but in 1909 Johann and Christian had different ideas on how the company should move forward which resulted in various disagreements and eventually Christian formed his own factory in the city of Weiden in 1910.  Johann Seltmann continued with his factory but died in 1921 at the age of 65 leaving the business to his sons, Robert and Christian.  They expanded the business and continued to thrive.  During WWII the factory sustained damage and had to close for repairs but they re-opened and continued to expand with modern equipment.   In the early 1970’s German businesses started to decline and there was competition, cheaper goods from other countries, the board decided to take on partners.  They changed the company structure and name to “Porzellanfabrik Johann Seltmann G.m.b.H., Vohenstrauß”.  By the middle of the 1980’s business was very bad, in part due to the German reunification, and they faced even stronger competition from East German companies.  Still facing loses, in 1993 the three medium-sized West German manufacturing companies Schirnding A.G. (Schirnding), J. Kronester G.m.b.H. (Schwarzenbach) and Johann Seltmann G.m.b.H. (Vohenstrauß) merged under the name “SKV-Porzellan-Union G.m.b.H.” to increase their chances of survival. Spin-offs from this union continued for a time but the Johann Seltmann name was never used again.  Not long after, on October 27th 1995, the SKV-Porzellan-Union G.m.b.H. declared the closure of the facility for economic reasons.  

Full Disclosure: This piece is in very good condition with no chips.  There is some wear on the gold rim.