The following treasure is from the living estate of Ailene & Buddy Ford; noted dealers and lifelong collectors of exceptional antique & vintage heirlooms. The Ford estate presents highly valuable items from a diverse group of genres, 95% + in excellent condition. This exquisite estate has something for every eclectic collector! xxxxxxxxxxx. The AEAA is very pleased to present this 1930s giant Bavarian hexagonal dished & well reticulated, brilliant transfer fruit bowl, we believe by Rudolf Wachter. The center contains apples, peaches, grapes and raspberries. The exceptional floral rim is reminiscent of some of the classic R.S. Prussia patterns. This great server sits 13 inches in diameter x 3 inches deep, weighing 3#, and in VG condition. xxxxxxxxxx. Porzellanmanufaktur Rudolf Wächter was established in 1917, lasting until 1974. On January 2nd 1919 Franz Schaller joined the company, and after a short time he became the authorized signatory, and on October 2nd 1919 he married Ruldofs daughter Elly Wächter. The factory was not affected by the great porcelain strikes following October 10th 1921. The socialist politician Wächter had always treated his workers with great respect and also had houses built for them, in other words he generally did not treat his workers like other factories did at that time. And his social engagement went even further: during the inflation period Kirchlamitz had a population of 2,500 and Wächter offered the local bakers an enormous amount of his own money as a loan without interest to keep the prices of bread down for a period of 14 days - the amount of money was equivalent to 6,000 1 kg. loaves of bread. Finally, Wachters began porcelain production in 1925 and up until the late 1920's Wächter produced very fine luster-ware that was mainly exported to the U.S. and Italy. In 1930, Franz Schaller became director of the firm and his ideas and initiatives were the base for further economic upturns during the following years. He became joint owner of the company during 1938 and Wächter, who didn't have a son, was very proud of his son-in-law. The plant remained open through WW II, but Rudolf Wachter would not see the end, as he passed in 1942. The company was now owned by Franz Schaller and the widow Fanny Wächter. Up until 1944 the workforce had grown to 125 people and included two French prisoners of war. During the advance of the U.S. troops, Kirchenlamitz was intensively shelled; as the factory itself was not hit the company eventually even housed the savings bank owned by the town of Kirchenlamitz during the period between May and November 1945. In July and August of the same year the company was allowed to continue production. At that time the borders to Czechoslovakia, Saxony and Thuringia were closed and many decorators had either been killed or were still prisoners of war; of the about 40 former decorators only six to eight qualified workers (the number varies depending on source) remained.As business was finally running normal again the old coal-fired glazing ovens were replaced with electric versions in 1950 and in 1955 the Wächter company introduced a pension fund for all of their workers. Upon the passing of fanny Wachter on January 1st 1962 the factory saw Franz Schaller as single owner. His only change was that he cut back slightly on own porcelain production and instead concentrated on pure decorations once more. To commemorate the 75th company anniversary and the 50th anniversary of Schaller being in the company, four special porcelain present series were released. One was a combination of real cobalt and high polished gold decoration, one had a baroque design and the two others were exceptionally modern designs. But as so often things do not always work out as they should and right from the beginning of 1971 the business had financial problems that led to dismissals. On November 30th 1973 Franz Schaller informed the works council chairman that he intended to close the factory at the end of the year. After much discussion, in February 1974 the factory was finally closed, and Franz Schaller himself passed on April 12th 1977 in a hospital in Selb.

XW - Very Good to Excellent condition - minor gild wear - shallow chip under rim