Oh, my goodness, you are going to LOVE the historical connections to this pretty vintage teapot. Recently we found it on the shelf at one of our favorite thrift stores, *Paws4Ever in Hillsborough. We really liked the size of this pot – it can hold 12 cups of tea – as well as the pink roses and gold detailing. What we didn’t realize at the time is that this vintage teapot is actually an antique, probably made in the late 1800s or possibly early 1900s. But the story becomes so much more interesting …
We began our search with the mark on the bottom – Oscar Gutherz Limoges. The google search came up with several images of pieces by this china company but we couldn’t find this particular pattern. Finding the bit of information about the company, however, gave us pause because it lead us to estimate its age – at least 100 years old!
“Oscar Gutherz had originally started a porcelain decorating business with Maximilian Marx in Altrolau in 1884, using financial backing from the American importer Lazarus Straus & Sons. The company subsequently expanded into porcelain production.” – Porcelain Zone
We couldn’t find much more about Oscar so we looked into the American importer, Lazarus Straus & Sons. This search was the key to the astounding historical connections to this teapot. Here are the highlights:
- First, you should know that Lina Gutherz, the sister of Oscar Gutherz (the maker of this teapot) married Nathan Straus, the son of the Lazarus Straus, the American importer who financially supported her brother’s porcelain business. This piece of information, which we found on Geni, was pivotal to understanding the rest of the story.
- Lazarus Straus (the father of Nathan who would marry Lina, the sister to Oscar the teapot maker) immigrated to the United States from Germany in 1852 and settled in Georgia. After peddling wares to families with a cart, he opened a dry goods store. The success of his store made it possible to bring his wife and children, which included 4-year old Nathan, over to America.
- The Civil War disseminated Lazarus’ business so he moved with his family to New York and began his porcelain import business. His sons joined him and it was on a business trip abroad that Nathan met Lina (sister to Oscar the teapot maker), instantly fell in love, and married. Nathan returned to America with his new bride.
- Lazarus Straus & Sons, after renting the basement of Macy’s department store in New York City to sell their imported porcelain, eventually became partners with RH Macy. In 1887 Nathan and his brother, Isidor (brother-in-law to Lina, the sister to Oscar the teapot maker), bought Macy’s. There’s so much history about this American department store we couldn’t include it in this post except for this little bit. Macy’s star logo was chosen because the original owner, RH Macy, had it tattooed on him when he worked on a Nantucket whaling ship as a teenager. You have to love this!
- In 1912 Isidor and his wife (in-laws to Oscar who made the teapot) bought tickets to sail on the Titanic. Alas, they were not on the survivor’s list.
- Nathan and Lina’s son, Nathan, Jr. (the grandson of Oscar the teapot maker) attended Princeton and then went overseas to study at Heidelberg University in 1908. He befriended art scholar, Otto Frank, and convinced Otto to come to New York to work with him at Macy’s. When Otto’s father died, Otto returned to Germany and fought in WWI. Because of growing antisemitism in Germany, he took his family to Amsterdam and asked for Nathan Jr.’s help to bring his family to the United States. Nathan Jr. tried but the visas for the Frank family were denied. After being discovered in the hidden rooms above his shop, Otto and his family, including daughter Anne Frank, were sent to the Nazi concentrations camps. Only Otto would survive.
So, in summary, this little antique teapot is steeped in history and the connecting thread is Oscar Gutherz, owner of a porcelain factory, and his sister, Lina. We imagine it was imported to the United States by Lazarus Straus & Sons in the early 1900s from Limoges, France and was placed on a Macy’s basement shelf in New York. Then, soon after, a woman shopping for a large teapot at Macy’s bought this one made by Oscar and took it home. Although we can envision many cups of tea being poured over the years from this lovely pot, we wish we knew more of its story from the time it was bought at Macy’s in the early 1900s to showing up on a thrift store shelf a hundred years later in 2016!
Serve up a little history at your next tea party with this lovely antique teapot made by Oscar. You may even want to share a little of its historical connections with your guests. (Especially the story of Macy’s star logo!)
Sources:
Porcelain Zone
AJCArchive
Straus Historical Society
The House of Brilliant Glass
Wikipedia – Nathan Straus
Wikipedia – Macy’s
Geni
*We love to support thrift stores with a solid cause and Paws4Ever‘s mission is one dear to many of us – dogs and cats in need. It is a “guaranteed-adoption animal shelter and sanctuary dedicated to improving the lives of cats and dogs through adoption, training and education.” There are many ways to become involved with this caring organization so check them out!
