Never Say Never

If the above maxim were more studiously applied by researchers in the course of their work it would go a great way towards reducing the number of errors that creep into published work.

For a number of years, Lori and I were both under the assumption that Abels, Wasserberg & Co. (AWCO) never used transfer work (decals) on any of their wares. We were certain that any scenic or geometric decoration (other than glazes on pottery) would be hand painted and that AWCO would never lower themselves to selling transfer decorated items.

In November of 2003, an auction on eBay listed three Schumann decorated plates, all with Charleton labels. We had previously acquired one hand painted Schumann plate and it is shown in our book. This was only the second time we had seen a Schumann/Charleton auction and we won the bid. The relatively well known Carl Schumann factory operated in Arzburg, Germany (Bavaria) from 1881-1996 but evidently their sales to AWCO were very small.

When the plates arrived we inspected them closely and discovered that the decorations were transfers! So much for staking out the shaky territory we had earlier claimed and we now had to acknowledge a new facet of this company's wares which must be considered when making attributions. We already knew that Abels in its later years did turn to items that were decorated prior to their arrival at the factory in NY. Now, even though very limited in production, we know that transfer items must be included in their ever expanding catalog.

As U.S. tariffs were lowered on imports in the 1950s it became increasingly more difficult for AWCO to compete with other American firms who relied exclusively on these imports as their stock in trade. Walter Abels presciently wrote an article warning about this impact on American companies in the October, 1943, issue of China and Glass entitled, "Dikes Against the Postwar Flood."

It would not be too much of a stretch to imagine that when facing lower prices and stiffer competition that AWCO was petitioned by its distributors (or it became obvious by a drop in sales) and it became apparent that they needed to offer lower price goods in their line to maintain their market share. This would only be possible by importing already decorated items to which a Charleton label would be attached and then redistributed through its retailers.

Hand decorating items in your own factory (as opposed to importing them) was a very labor intensive operation. First you must develop the right pattern and prepare samples for each work station. Then the items were decorated (and copious amounts of gold leaf was often utilized) and fired. Then they had to be inspected and labeled and packed for shipment. Inventory control was much more difficult due to the breadth of the decoration used on various glass manufacturer's blanks. Entire suites of pieces from numerous glass makers were painted with the same decoration, quite a task to manage efficiently. Labor and operating costs were considerably higher in NYC than what their competitors paid in war ravaged Europe.

Unfortunately, Abels imported very few finished items that compared with their in-house decorated wares. Walter Abels (who was in failing health the last years that AWCO was in business) was very displeased with this influx of lesser quality goods in the last years of the company's operation and seemed relieved in the end to be done with it.






Schuman for Charleton transfer decorated plates. Note the difference in blanks.