S-W, Sy-Wagner? Newby question...

[Robert P.]

I'm a novice 1914 collector as you all know, trying to get up and running. I've been fortunate enough to find both a 'WS' and an 'S-W' EKI recently. Can someone please explain who 'Sy' was? Maybe a partner of Wagner's?

Robert

[gregM]

Robert,
I don't think anyone knows for sure what connection
there was -- if any.

[streptile]

S-W, Sy-Wagner? Newby question...

Hi Robert,

S-W and W&S were totally separate concerns.

I think maybe Sascha knows something about the relationship. I know that S-W bought Hossauer, the foremost maker of Prussian orders and decorations in the pre-1870 period (the "Godet of an earlier time," so to speak) so they were heirs to that grand tradition.

Nevertheless Wagner & Sohn is the company that really found royal favor as the most important manufacturer of award-type "Probem******228;******223;ig" pieces. Why they disappeared (pretty much) in the Third Reich is a mystery to me, as they were the biggest of the big, the creme de la creme, before 1914.

[speedytop]

Wikipedia (Hossauer):

"Da Hossauer ohne männlichen Erben blieb, gab er seine Firma 1858 auf und übertrug sie ab 1859 dem Hofgoldschmied Emil August Albert Wagner, der bei ihm von 1842 bis 1846 das Goldschmiedehandwerk gelernt hatte, und dem Kaufmann Francois Louis Jeremie Sy. Die Firma Hossauer firmierte daraufhin bis 1933 unter dem Namen Sy & Wagner"

Wagner is the goldsmith, Sy is the businessman.

Uwe

[Robert P.]

Thanks Trevor,

It's confusing to me to see so many Wagner maker marks, i.e., S-W, S-W 950, W, Wa, WS, W&S, Wu-S. I'm assuming the same cores or frames have been found in crosses bearing one of these stamps, and thus thought to be one of Wagner's creations/products.

Robert

Oh, thank you, Uwe!