AH flatware

[Coltsnsox07]

Here's an interesting photo(I scanned from a book), it's a year before his 50th birthday so it shouldn't be the formal pattern we all know right?. I don't think the Greek key and AH & eagle are there, it's hard to tell but they look Bruckmann shaped
http://

[Eric Von Rader]

This is interesting! Looks like the formal pattern silverware to me!

[Br. James]

Yes, it is interesting...and I seem to recall seeing this photo somewhere at some point in the past...but cannot remember where. It's not in Dr. Griffith's Revised Edition. I do agree with Eric that the handles on these pieces appear to be shaped more like the Formal Pattern than the Informal Pattern of Bruckmann silverware. But the photo is overexposed and any detail of relief or handle design has been lost to the ages. (Indeed, shouldn't there be eagles-and-swastikas etched onto the glassware? Can't see anything there, either!)

It's possible that this photo is mis-captioned. I can see nothing in the photo that tells me that that photo was taken as described, as an example of "Gerdy Troost's design of the Führer's table setting..." And if it was so taken, the caption gives the impression that this was Troost's idea of what the Führer's table setting might look like...

We can be sure that at least the AH Formal Pattern silverware was created by Troost with Hitler's approval of design, and probably that the Informal Pattern was, as well. Just as we know that the Kehlsteinhaus was presented to Hitler by Bormann as a gift for Hitler's 50th birthday -- though Hitler certainly knew about this massive building project in his 'back yard' years in advance and probably approved of construction details and maybe even contributed designs for the building itself -- it is not too much of a jump to assume that he also knew about all of the furnishing designs for the Kehlsteinhaus, for in his own mind he was always the artist first, then the politician and statesman. So, not only did the building material and the workmen show up well in advance of April 20, 1939 -- Hitler's birthday -- but decisions and the work on the furnishings -- the lighting fixtures, the furniture, the dishes and glassware and silverware, the draperies, the woodwork, which artworks to hang...you name it...all had to begin a long time prior to the date of his 50th birthday. (While the propaganda was widely circulated that the New Reichschancellery in Berlin was 'a miracle of National Socialist construction' and built in only one year, that time period represented the actual construction itself, which went on 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for a year. But all of the designs and the furnishings had to be worked on beginning years earlier than January of 1939, and the purchasing of the Voss Strasse properties; the razing and clearing of all those buildings there; the massive sewer, electrical and water connections needed to support that huge site; the order and designs for the stonework cutting; etc. were all underway years before the building was actually opened in 1939.)

Just some thoughts on this Feast of Saint Stephen!

Br. James

[Coltsnsox07]

Hmm, here's a quote from the book referring to the picture.
"The china was designed by Gerdy Troost and executed by the Nymphenburg Porcelain Manufactory...the dishes were decorated with an interwoven pattern, colored orange and gold that resembled basketwork. The stylized folkish motif and color choice suggest that the pattern was designed for the Berghof, and a color image by Walter Frentz of a formal table laid out in the dining confirms this.

THE SILVERWARE, PRODUCED BY THE FIRM F.H. WANDINGER, BORE HITLER'S MONOGRAM AND THE NATIONAL EMBLEM OF THE EAGLE CLUTCHING A SWASTIKA.

The glassware was crafted by the Franz Steigerwalds Neffe firm and the Glass School in Zwiesel."
F.H. Wandinger?

[Br. James]

Hi Coltsnsox,

Indeed Prof. Gerdy Troost's firm produced designs for many articles created for both the Berghof and the New Reichschancellery -- everything from tableware and dishes to lighting fixtures, furniture of all sorts, and probably the window draperies, too! We've seen the name "F.H.Wandinger" before, a form of which appeared on the well-publicized inventory sheet for silverware sold to Prof. Roderick Fick -- Gerdy's partner in the design firm who contributed much in the way of architectural designs for the Berghof and the Kehlstein Haus. This inventory sheet bears the name of "F.H. Wani, Goldschmiede" of Munich/Dorfen, and lists 750 pieces of silverware sold by the retailer -- Wani, or the brothers Franz and Hermann Wandinger -- to Prof. Fick in July of 1938. So we see here that the AH Formal Pattern, and by association, the Informal Pattern too, were not sold directly by the manufacturer -- the prestigious firm of P. Bruckmann & Söhne of Heilbronn in Württemberg -- but had to be ordered by the designer -- Atelier Troost -- through the retailer -- the Wandinger brothers -- who placed the designs with the Bruckmann firm. And when the job was complete, it was the retailer -- Wandinger -- who actually sold the ordered lot to Roderick Fick and delivered it to Hitler's new "Teehaus Kehlstein." A great story, and from it we get a glimpse of the process of how countless articles like chinaware, furniture and all kinds of other hardware were designed and then placed with a host of manufacturers who actually created the pieces.

Cheers, and thanks again,

Br. James

[Berghof]

Keeping the thread alive. Here's my collection.

Oyster fork, Gravy Ladle, Aspic Server, Dinner Knife, Dinner Fork and Dinner Spoon.

[Br. James]

A great collection! Congrats!!

Is that the dinner bell I hear?!

Cheers,

Br. James

[CPB]

Congrats indeed, wonderful pieces.

[Berghof]

Thank you!

[Eric Von Rader]

Great items, now your hooked

[Berghof]

Great items, now your hooked

Oh, and I know you're not kidding! Is there rehab for this stuff?

[Br. James]

"Is there rehab for this stuff?"

I hope not! I enjoy it too much to give it up!!

Br. James

[Brent Smith]

Nice collection of AH Formal Pattern

Nice collection. You are on your way

[Thorsten B.]

Hmm, here's a quote from the book referring to the picture.
"The china was designed by Gerdy Troost and executed by the Nymphenburg Porcelain Manufactory...the dishes were decorated with an interwoven pattern, colored orange and gold that resembled basketwork. The stylized folkish motif and color choice suggest that the pattern was designed for the Berghof, and a color image by Walter Frentz of a formal table laid out in the dining confirms this.

THE SILVERWARE, PRODUCED BY THE FIRM F.H. WANDINGER, BORE HITLER'S MONOGRAM AND THE NATIONAL EMBLEM OF THE EAGLE CLUTCHING A SWASTIKA.

The glassware was crafted by the Franz Steigerwalds Neffe firm and the Glass School in Zwiesel."
F.H. Wandinger?

That is out of an article within the art Journal Innendekoration.

[Jon Fish]

Picked a couple of pieces up at SOS from a walk in ...
Plus the cut down piece I think I've shown before.