J.G. Escher & Son – More than hones

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04-30-2013, 04:26 PM
hatzicho

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J.G. Escher & Son – More than hones

The Escher family in Sonneberg, Thuringia was a trading company for more than just hones. In the 19^th and beginning 20^th century Escher had a toy store in Sonneberg, which was his main line of business for a long time.

In the late 19^th and the beginning of 20th century Escher also began to produce toys.

He uses plastic material to fabricate dolls and got quite famous with this.
The following information shows an example. Also it states that the company trades under the name J.G. Escher and sons from the year 1906 on.

Attachment 129043

Means that also the hones labeled Escher & Sohn might be sold after 1906. I am not really sure about the exact date (other sources indicate an earlier use of the company name Escher & son instead of Escher & Co), but this might give a rough estimate for dating the Escher&son labelled hones.

In the 1920^th when the company name changed to JGES the company produced also small toy-cars made of plastics that are quite rare and sought-after today – as you will see on this auction:

seltener GRÜNER IGES / IGES VW Käfer Brezelfenster Nr. 907 Nylonachsen 50er | eBay
04-30-2013, 05:05 PM
adrspach

Sounds like specialising in toys for big boys:)
04-30-2013, 05:20 PM
JimmyHAD

2 Attachment(s)

Quote:

Originally Posted by hatzicho

The following information shows an example. Also it states that the company trades under the name J.G. Escher and sons from the year 1906 on.

Fascinating about the dolls and toys. For me, the best thing is an apparent confirmation of my suspicion that the barber scene with the 4 men is the older label/hone then the one with the 2 men. Based on the & Sohn addition.

Attachment 129050 Attachment 129051
05-05-2013, 06:06 AM
Lemur

The fog around the whole Escher thing seems to be lifting, thank you!

I've got a little Japanese toy fox, Kitsune, guarding my Jnats, maybe I should get an Escher doll to guard my Eschers.
It looks scary tho!
05-05-2013, 01:00 PM
JimmyHAD

I was thinking about how does a family end up owning a company that mines/quarries sharpening stones ? I wonder if they owned the land or leased it ? If there are any records pertaining to that, perhaps through the government, zoning or something like that ? It would be interesting to find out exactly where the quarry was and if it was always in the same geographical area. When it was, where it was, whether the location changed over the years ........ your mission if you choose to accept it ...... :deal:
05-05-2013, 03:00 PM
zib

Jimmy, Look at MichaelC and Zulu hones for example. Someone could own a piece of land and literally find gold on it, in one form or another.
05-05-2013, 04:05 PM
Ryan82

Thanks for the info, interesting stuff. Man, that's one creepy looking doll though. They should have stuck with hones only lol
05-05-2013, 04:10 PM
pixelfixed

makes you wonder,Perhaps they made the Bisque Dolls out of all the slurry created from cutting and finishing the stones?
05-05-2013, 04:13 PM
Lemur

Quote:

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

makes you wonder,Perhaps they made the Bisque Dolls out of all the slurry created from cutting and finishing the stones?

Perhaps it was the dolls grading and packing the stones by night... [insert spooky noise here]
05-05-2013, 04:22 PM
Logistics

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I was thinking about how does a family end up owning a company that mines/quarries sharpening stones ? I wonder if they owned the land or leased it ? If there are any records pertaining to that, perhaps through the government, zoning or something like that ? It would be interesting to find out exactly where the quarry was and if it was always in the same geographical area. When it was, where it was, whether the location changed over the years ........ your mission if you choose to accept it ...... :deal:

Jimmy,

If I had to make an educated guess it would be a product of kaolinite that is used for pottery clay. A wild stab at this would have me to believe when the company was mining for Kaolinite they discovered the sharpening stones. Or possibly the reverse, they were mining for the sharpening stones and decided to make a profit from the kaolinite.

Not at all uncommon for mining companies to be in multiple areas. Think diamonds. Whatever diamond mines don't sell for jewelery can become diamond drill bits or saw diamond tipped saw blades.

I could be wrong but it's just a thought. :)
05-05-2013, 06:40 PM
JimmyHAD

Quote:

Originally Posted by Logistics

Not at all uncommon for mining companies to be in multiple areas.

I hadn't thought of that until you brought it up, but you very well may be right, IIRC Ardennes coticule is just a sideline for whatever else it is that they are mining.
05-05-2013, 09:59 PM
zib

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I hadn't thought of that until you brought it up, but you very well may be right, IIRC Ardennes coticule is just a sideline for whatever else it is that they are mining.

That's correct. I know the main part of the mining op are stones used in construction.
05-05-2013, 10:03 PM
regularjoe

JG Escher was a distributor, not a miner. More specifically, he was the owner of a global multi-commodity distribution company, who bought rock from a company who mined. This isn't news. But it is cool to see one of his other offerings.

http://books.google.com/books?id=K7x...her%22&f=false
05-05-2013, 11:14 PM
Double0757

Quote:

Originally Posted by regularjoe

JG Escher was a distributor, not a miner. More specifically, he was the owner of a global multi-commodity distribution company, who bought rock from a company who mined. This isn't news. But it is cool to see one of his other offerings.

http://books.google.com/books?id=K7x...her%22&f=false

Link doesn't open, at least in Safari,Tapa Talk or Crome. Double O
05-06-2013, 12:13 PM
regularjoe

Yeah, I wasn't sure it'd work. I've tried to link to Google books before, and didn't get any feedback about it. Anyhow, search J.G. Escher in Google books. You should come up with a link to a book named "History of European Commerce" or something similar listing JG Escher as a person engaged in the sale of toys, masks, and other goods. I guess the problem is that there were several J.G. Eschers. One was a pastor in Wisconsin. Another was a very successful Swiss businessman. One was a mayor of Zurich. I'm not sure if any of these fellows is our Mr. Escher, or if any of them are the same JG Escher. I think Neil Miller, Martin103, Scienceguy, or Voidmonster would all be better people to talk to than myself about this. They seem to have a flair for research that I can't imitate on my best day. The thing to remember is that Escher wasn't a guy who sorted stones. He was a guy who put his name on stones. And most if not all of the German water stones that got his name ended up being great razor hones. Which is a correlation, but not a causation. I expect our JG Escher was a man who surrounded himself with people who could do the things he did not do. One of those things being sourcing his stone. He may had visited a mine from time to time, but more likely, his primary business took place behind a desk, or in board meetings. People don't find worldwide success by sitting down in a hole sorting razor hones.
05-06-2013, 12:20 PM
hatzicho

Quote:

Originally Posted by Logistics

Jimmy,

If I had to make an educated guess it would be a product of kaolinite that is used for pottery clay. A wild stab at this would have me to believe when the company was mining for Kaolinite they discovered the sharpening stones. Or possibly the reverse, they were mining for the sharpening stones and decided to make a profit from the kaolinite.

Not at all uncommon for mining companies to be in multiple areas. Think diamonds. Whatever diamond mines don't sell for jewelery can become diamond drill bits or saw diamond tipped saw blades.

I could be wrong but it's just a thought. :)

Excellent thoughts logistic!
Indeed there has been a quite famous porcelain company in this area at their times that also produces small porcelanic figures, animals, dolls, etc. The company existed 1772 - 1939.

Porzellan-Fabrik Limbach Puppen Thüringen Werbung 1919 Reklame doll Spielzeug ad | eBay

But the whetstones have been found long before that time.
This special region of thuringia is very rich of natural resources, that have been mined from the middle ages on or even earlier.
There have been glas manufacturers and of course the main business - the slate industry.

So the people in this region speak about the ages of white gold (porcelain) and blue gold (slate). But the first people that explore the mountains and valleys there were looking for somthing else.

They were digging for gold itself! And indeed gold was also found in this region. The intersting thing is that a lot of the depositis of gold were found next to the old whetstone quarries.

So it is most probable that gold miners who had to sharpen their tools and knifes were the first ones, who explored the quarries and began trading with the whetstones they found.
05-06-2013, 01:09 PM
JimmyHAD

Quote:

Originally Posted by regularjoe

Y People don't find worldwide success by sitting down in a hole sorting razor hones.

What about Lynn Abrams ? :rock:

Quote:

Originally Posted by hatzicho

So it is most probable that gold miners who had to sharpen their tools and knifes were the first ones, who explored the quarries and began trading with the whetstones they found.

And now the labeled Eschers are the gold ! :rofl2:
05-06-2013, 01:20 PM
hatzicho

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

What about Lynn Abrams ? :rock:

And now the labeled Eschers are the gold ! :rofl2:

Yellow-green gold! :angel: