Schafer & Vater Porcelains
The Schafer and Vater factory was established in 1890 at Rudolstadt, Thuringia and produced many decorative pieces in hard paste porcelain. Six years later the business prospering enough to purchase the List Porcelain Factory at Neuhaus.
By 1910 Sears Roebuck & Company had begun to import and distribute Schafer & Vater pottery into the United States bring their porcelains to a much wider market. Beginning in this year Schafer and Vater also began to number most of their wares. The firm was well known for their comical and figural items, including jugs, creamers, bottles, match strikers, and planters. The were most often marked with a backstamp impressed with an Imperial crown and starburst enclosing an ‘R’. After 1914, ‘Made in Germany’ was sometimes stamped in black.
All records of the company ceased in 1962. It is said that the East German Communist government assumed control of the factory and destroyed all the existing molds and production records.