Royal Bayreuth Porcelain: An Obsessively Collectible Variety of Wares

What is Royal Bayreuth porcelain?

Royal Bayreuth, often shortened to RB, is a hard white-paste porcelain made in Tettau, Germany, mainly from 1795 through 1917. During that period several devastating fires destroyed the factory, its offices, molds and records. The fires effectively ended most production of the novelty wares and special finishes the company had exported around the world, and much of the knowledge behind them was lost for good or was too costly to rebuild. The factory has kept running since then, but it makes only fine dinnerware.

The vintage novelty wares are what collectors have always wanted most. Every piece is hand-painted, and some also have applied decals or gold, silver or pearlized accents. They come in hundreds of sizes, shapes, colors and patterns, in three distinct finishes: linen (called tapestry), satin (matte) and high gloss.

No complete catalog of Royal Bayreuth exists. Since the arrival of the internet, unknown versions turn up often enough to surprise even veteran collectors, and that open-endedness is a large part of why collectors call the hobby an obsession.

Royal Bayreuth marks: from the blue T to the twin lions

Royal Bayreuth used quite a few marks. The earliest was simply a blue cursive T. It later became a rampant lion holding a T shield. Between 1887 and 1902 both blue and green marks were in use. After 1900 the mark changed again, to two rampant lions facing each other with shields and the words “Royal Bayreuth,” “Bavaria” and “Priv. 1794” in a banner. Mark colors include blue, green and black.

The marks were applied by rubber stamp or as decals under the glaze, and a few incised marks appear on exported pieces. The marks seem to have shifted slightly with each new factory director, but they are hard to use for dating, because workers tended to use whatever stamp was on hand that day. The factory fires destroyed most of the documentation that might have settled the question.

This matters for anyone searching Bavaria porcelain marks. The word Bavaria in the banner identifies the region, but many genuine Royal Bayreuth pieces are not marked at all, and a mark alone does not prove a piece is RB. How to read the weight, paint and finish is covered further down.

Royal Bayreuth figurals: lobsters, tomatoes and Santas

Most collectors focus on one variety, mainly because display space runs out. The figurals are the most popular. They are colorful and whimsical, taking natural forms and turning them into useful but fanciful shapes. The molds were very detailed and came in many forms and sizes. Plenty of people have spotted a giant red lobster water pitcher at an antiques shop without knowing that hundreds of other designs exist.

Lobsters and tomatoes are the easiest figurals to find. Other shapes include shells, fruit, flowers and leaves. Among the people forms are an Art Nouveau lady line, men and women characters, devils and the highly collectible Santas. The animals range from ladybugs, snakes, turtles and roosters to platypuses, and there are pieces with animal handles too.

A large group uses a devil and card design, almost certainly made for card parties and one of the more masculine lines. The antlered elks have a hunting lodge feel as well. There is a big variety of shoes, which many collectors covet, along with multi-colored clowns and a sea-inspired Art Deco oyster and pearl design.

Prices from the mid-2010s give a sense of the range. A figural tomato milk pitcher about 4.5 inches tall was priced at $200, and figural fruit pieces of 3 to 4.5 inches at $200 to $450 each. Figural elk and lobster water pitchers, each 7 inches tall, were $400. A rare gloss T-strap shoe, 4 inches long, was $900. At the top, a rare 7.25 inch red Santa lemonade pitcher with the Santa’s pack as its handle was priced at $6,500, with the matching water pitcher, milk pitcher and creamer at $2,000 to $6,500 each depending on size.

Rose Tapestry and the classic Royal Bayreuth series

The classic series include the Sunbonnet Babies, Nursery Rhymes, Snow Babies and Beach Babies. The Corinthian line, in both limited and full color, stands apart, as do the yellow and lime Art Deco designs with penguins or storks. The scenics run from traditional Victorian decal images to polar bears and humorous dancing frogs with bees on a burgundy ground. A scenic bowl decorated with musicians, 10.5 by 2 inches, was priced at $350.

Some classic pieces have the tapestry finish, a surface textured like woven fabric. Rose Tapestry is so admired that some people collect nothing else. It comes in single colors (yellow, pink and silver) and in multi-color, and many pieces have gold trim. A rare Chrysanthemum Tapestry lemonade pitcher in a corset shape, 8 inches tall, was priced at $1,500.

Rare Royal Bayreuth pieces and crossover collectibles

The rarest pieces include the larger water pitchers, lemonade pitchers and chocolate pots, which could sell for more than $5,000 each in the mid-2010s. Crossover pieces that appeal to other collectors are also in demand: Santas, shoes, hatpin holders and children’s tea sets. Dressing table porcelain of the same era includes hair receivers, a crossover field of its own.

Harder-to-find large figurals include squirrels, rabbits, turtles, ladybugs, chimps and apes, penguins, red devils and the Art Nouveau lady, which could sell for a thousand dollars or more apiece. A rare squirrel set, with lemonade, water and milk pitchers and a creamer from 4.75 to 11 inches, was priced at $1,000 to $4,500 a piece. Miniature furniture is also scarce, with sets selling for $12,000 to $18,000.

The market had been soft for several years by the mid-2010s, so current values call for homework. Mary McCaslin’s two-volume collector’s guide shows the widest variety and includes price guides, and a 2005 book on popular Royal Bayreuth figurals offers large photographs and estimated values drawn mostly from auctions.

How to tell real Royal Bayreuth from fakes and look-alikes

Anything that has sold for serious money gets faked, and Royal Bayreuth is no exception. Anyone who has handled a few genuine pieces quickly learns how real RB feels. The weight and thickness of the porcelain and the finish of the paint say far more about authenticity than a correct mark does, and many true RB pieces carry no mark at all. The same lesson runs through the tell-tale signs on reproduction porcelain: a perfect mark on a poorly made piece is a warning.

Beginners also confuse RB with other makers who produced similar novelty lines. Mitchell Woodbury & Co. (MW & Co.), Bohne, Schafer & Vater and even some Czech porcelain creamers look alike at a glance. The more pieces a collector sees, handles and compares, the easier it becomes to pick out the real thing, much as with the factory and studio marks on Limoges porcelain.

Collectible Royal Bayreuth is very fragile, was made for a relatively short time and was once thought of as mere novelty or souvenir ware. Many pieces were never plentiful, and some are truly rare. Collectors can learn more through reference books and through the Royal Bayreuth Collectors Club, which has been educating collectors since 1995, publishes a quarterly newsletter and holds an annual three-day convention.