[Trade Catalogues]

Embroideries. Herrmann & Goldfrank. St. Gall. [cover title]

St Gallen, Switzerland, Herrmann & Goldfrank, [1915 to 1919].

Folio (approximately 485 × 300 mm), three volumes containing 481 large samples: [44] pages with 123 lace samples (predominantly mounted on green card); [40] pages with 176 lace samples (predominantly mounted on pink card); and [47] pages with 182 scalloped lace handkerchief samples (predominantly mounted on purple card).

Cord-bound cloth covers lettered and decorated in gilt, and decorated in blind (the first two volumes), and screw-bound plain pebble-grain cloth; covers flecked, rubbed and bowed, with the extremities a little bumped and worn; minimal signs of age and use; in excellent condition.

All samples in these very impressive albums come with individual reference numbers, sizes, prices and other details; the samples in the first two volumes are loosely inserted in custom-made album leaves. 'St. Gallen embroidery, sometimes known as Swiss embroidery, is embroidery from the city and the region of St. Gallen, Switzerland. The region was once the largest and most important export area for embroidery. Around 1910, its embroidery production was the largest export branch of the Swiss economy with 18 percent of the overall export value. More than 50 percent of the world production came from St. Gallen....

The decline of the embroidery industry began in 1914 with the outbreak of the First World War. The demand for luxury products - and embroidery counted among these - collapsed suddenly, and also the free trade zones were disrupted. Partially neutral countries were still customers, but they could only compensate in the short term. To preserve wages somewhat from the free-fall, maximum working hours and minimum wages were now also fixed. In fact, these measures were rather counter-productive - only workers who demanded less than the minimum wage got a job. The year 1917, still in the middle of WWI, temporarily brought a surprising turn: the Entente forbade the export of cotton products to Germany, but not the export of embroidery. Therefore, every cloth to be sold to Germany was embroidered in some way, as embroidery could be sold. A year later, the sale of embroidery to Germany was forbidden, too, and this meant the end of the brief upturn. The last little flurry of exports came in 1919 after the end of the war, when the reconstruction of the war-stricken countries brought another short rise. With the start of the economic crisis, the heyday for the St. Gallen embroidery was finally ended. One sign of the extent of the crisis, is that from 1910 to 1930, the population of St. Gallen was reduced by emigration (as a result of unemployment) from 75,482 to 64,079' (Wikipedia). A cursory search online suggests Herrmann & Goldfrank went through a similar trajectory: the company Steines, Herrmann and Goldfrank first appears in 1911; from 1915 the name was Herrmann and Goldfrank; from 1919 the name was John Goldfrank and Co.; and by 1932 the company had ceased to exist. [3 items].

Item #135087

Price (AUD): $2,200.00
other currencies