While surfing ebay for china I found three companies that had the same design of porcelain. The Pattern was white, scalloped, embossed with gold trim. The name of the pattern was not always the same but these three manufactures had the same design. The logos were Wawel, Walbrzych and Royal Kent Collection Poland. I knew they somehow had to be connected.
In my research Idiscovered that in 1831 the founder, Carl Franz Krister, bought two small stoneware plants in Waldenburg, Silesia Germany (this area is now part of Poland) and started producing porcelain tableware. Initially, Krister imitated the Royal Porcelain Factory KPM mark on his Porcelain. However, his plant soon became a leader for the area in production and employment. His products were sold in Europe and North America. This company won industry exhibitions in Wroclaw in 1852 and again in 1857. They alsowon an exhibition in Paris in 1861. Carl Krister died in1869. The company remained a family business until 1920 when it was changed to a limited corporation.
World War I caused many difficulties for the company and in 1921 the company became a part of the Rosenthal Porcelain Group. During this time the factory name was Krister Porzellan Manufakur AG.
After World War II Russian troups occupied Waldenburg. All German Citizens were ordered to leave except the skilled workers from the porcelain factory. They were forced to stay until they trained thePolish imigrants. The Factory became the property of the Polish government. The government changed the name of Waldenburg to Walbrzych and changed the name of the porcelain factory to Porcelain Factory "Kister" and today the nameis Fabryka Porcelany "Krysztof" S.A. They acquired another factory started by Carl Tielsch and that factory was renamed Fabryka Porcelany "Walbrzych". Since 1953 the "Krysztof" factory uses "W-Wawell" as their logo. The "Walbryzch" factory uses a logo that has a modified crown with fine china written above it, a curvy W in the circle of the crownand Walbryzch poland A. D. 1845 under the crown.. (1845 was when Carl Tielsch startedhis factory)
The company is still in existance and since 1993 they havebeen privatized. As a result, the company is now a joint stock company and the workersown shares. Both of these companies have web sites. Today they are one of the largest companies in that area of Poland.
Another factory started by Carl Tielch was in Altwasser a town 6 kilometers from Waldenburg. Altwasser had its name changed to "Stary Mlyn" about the same time Waldenburg was changed to Walbrzych. The current name of this company is Zaklady Porcelany Stolowej Walbrzych S.A. This company has two families that are the main shareholders. 15% still belongs to the state. They do not have a web page.
In 1952/53 the Rosenthal Group built a replacement factory in Landstuhl, Western Germany. They named that plant Krister Porsellan Manufaktor A.G. Rosenthal discontinued this name in 1971. In 2004 Rosenthal had the trademark registration for the Krister marks erased.
As yet, I still don't know exactly how Royal Kent Poland fits into all this. However, on ebay from time to time the ads say "hand crafted by experts in Walbrzych Poland"or occassionally the ads say Wawel poland.I am sure that this company made the Royal Kent Collection Poland porcelain. I know for a fact that at least one design has been used by all three companies.
Porcelain/China
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