Lewis Strauss & Sons

This is a 46 piece set that is in Suzanne's collection. Picture taken 1-28-2010.

Lewis Strauss and Sons was founded in New York City in 1869 as importers of crockery. (One website says his name was Lazarus.)

In 1874, his son Nathan, got RH Macy to allow them to have a glass and chinaware department store, which was the first china and glassware to be sold by Macy’s.

The company made and imported porcelain from England, France, Germany and Czechoslovakia (later Austria). They has factories and/or offices in London, Paris, Limoges, Rudolstadt, Kamenicky Senov, and Karlovy Vary. The Karlovy Vary operation was a porcelain factory in Stará Role (Altrohlau, Bohemia, Austria) and Kamenický Šenov was a glass factory. The company also bought porcelain from several other companies including Moritz Zdekhauer in Stará Role (Altrohlau). They also had a decorating studio on Limoges, France. They were also the a financial backer for Oscar & Edgar Gutherz’s factory in Stará Role (Altrohlau).

Picture of a plate decorated by the Lewis Strauss and Sons studio in Limoges, France. Picture taken 1-28-2010.

Lewis Strauss and Sons claims to also have invented the condensed milk or marmalade jar.

I suppose the son, Nathan took over the company, because the name changed to Nathan Strauss & Company in 1924. The business closed in the 1930′s.

The marks in the bottom picture shows the one used by Lewis Strauss and Sons from somewhere in the 1890′s through the 1920′s. The other mark in the picture is from the Coiffe factory in Limoges.

Creamer decorated by LS&S. Picture taken 1-28-2010

The Coiffe factory mainly made plain white blanks and sold them to other companies to be decorated. So, apparently, this set was purchased by Lewis Strauss and Sons as blanks and decorated them in their studio in Limoges. The L & E Cioffee factory was in operation from the mid 1870′s through the 1920′s.

This picture shows the Lewis Strauss and Sons mark that was used in the 1890's through the 1920's. The other mark is from the Coiffee Factory in Limoges. This mark was used by them from the 1891through 1920.

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18 Comments »

18 Responses

on June 21, 2010 at 3:32 PM | Reply Irene

I would like to identify a piece of LS & S Limoges France I have. It is a demi cup with a handle. It is just over 2 3/16″ tall and 1 3/4″ in diameter at the top. One side is painted with morning glory floweres and the other side are, I think, roses. The rim is gold as is the handle. The top of the cup is a peach color which fades to white at the bottom of the cup. The flowers are a slate red with leaves of sage green and grey blue. All the painting has a thin gold outline.
I received the piece from a relative in the 1970′s. Hope you can help me. I would like to know when and where it was made and an approximate value.
Thanks,

Irene
on July 26, 2010 at 2:29 PM | Reply wayne young

i own a platter 20″x9″ marked LS&S CARLSBAD AUSTRIA/with a fish along with 11 plates 8 1/2 ” w/purple flowers . if you could tell me any thing about it,i would be thankful.
- on August 18, 2010 at 11:28 AM | Reply themysticalmansion
  
  Wayne,
  
  When I get everything straightened out here, get the electricity and phone turned back on, etc. and so on… I will do some research for you. Thanks for visiting The Mystical Mansion and Garden Blog.
- on September 8, 2011 at 9:50 AM | Reply Randall McGouirk 646.610.3128
  
  Wayne:
  
  I have the same platter and the set of dishes that goes with it. I can tell you that the platter goes with a set of fish plates. The platter you have is from 1899-1910 in date. The fish is handpainted on and on the bottom of the platter should be a rim/lip around the bottomside as well as the LS&S Carlsbad Austria Mark. There also will be a number on this platter. this number signfies who painted the platter in the workhouse. I hope this helps. I would estimate a value on your platter of 500.00 – 950.00 USD. Its a great piece and I enjoy mine quite immensly.
  
  Thanks,
  Randall
  - on September 19, 2011 at 12:24 PM themysticalmansion
    
    Randall,
    
    Thanks for the information and thanks for visiting the Mystical Mansion and Garden Blog!
on November 9, 2010 at 1:29 PM | Reply Deborah Wulfe

I have a bowl with a scallop gold edge with floral design and signed “Lewis” – no markings on the back – do you know anything about this piece? Thank you for your help
- on November 9, 2010 at 2:47 PM | Reply themysticalmansion
  
  Deborah,
  
  Thanks for visiting the blog. I wish I could be of help, but I have no clue… Perhaps someone reading this will be able to help. Lets keep our fingers crossed!
on February 12, 2011 at 6:45 PM | Reply pam

I have a pretty large set of china from over 100 years ago. The marking on the back is LS&S Carlsbad Austria 1212. Do you know where I can find value of the pieces?
- on February 25, 2011 at 10:49 AM | Reply themysticalmansion
  
  Pam,
  
  It is very hard to tell the value of anything. Maybe you can check with Kovel’s. They print price guides that you may be able to find at your local library. Check on eBay to see if similar pieces are listed and check the completed listings to see if any have been sold. If you are looking to sell your pieces, price guides can help decide what to ask fot them, but what you will actually get depends on who is interested.
on February 24, 2011 at 3:56 PM | Reply Mary Smith

Thanks for the research. I stumbled across your blog today while investigating these dishes. I’ve acquired about 15 pieces of this pattern over the years. Something about all of the heavy gilding brings out the inner-czarina in me.

Your explanation about Lazarus changing his name to Lewis is helpful. I had wondered about that. Somewhere along the way Nathan changed the family last name. His pieces are marked “Nathan Straus & Sons” (one “s” on Staus), but the pattern is the same as produced by both father and son’s factories. I have plates with marks from both factories and they are virtually identical. The thing that has me stumped is why the Strausi (my humor for Straus(s) plural) made so many different sizes of these plates. I have 11 dessert plates in seven sizes:
9 5/8″, 9″, 8 7/8″, 8 3/4″ 8 1/8″, 8″ and 7 7/8″.
On the table they all look alike so no one has ever noticed the slight size discrepancies.

Again, thanks for posting your research.
- on February 25, 2011 at 10:45 AM | Reply themysticalmansion
  
  Mary,
  
  Thanks for the comment and the information. I like the heavy gilding, too. It is so interesting how the names were changed and you have pieces marked “Nathan Straus and Sons” while the pattern is the same as produced by his father and son’s factories. Funny about the size differences! Thanks again for the nice comment and thanks for visiting The Mystical Mansion and Garden Blog! Come anytime!
on August 24, 2011 at 6:42 AM | Reply Susie

I have the exact same China as in the picture! (24 place settings with dinner and lunch plates, cups and saucers). I wanted to know the estimated value of these plates, cups, etc…I love them and have some hanging on the wall. Have always been curious of their value. Thanks! Susie Kaminski
- on September 19, 2011 at 12:30 PM | Reply themysticalmansion
  
  Susie,
  
  I don’t know the value. Perhaps you can check with Kovels of look on eBay to see if similar items have been sold. Nice to hear you have them hanging on the wall to enjoy instead of having them tucked away! Thanks for visiting The Mystical Mansion and Garden Blog.
on April 14, 2012 at 8:17 PM | Reply Chip Williford #57

I have a set of three bone dish pink flowers, gold braches. around the inner crease of the dish are gold leaves. One dish has blue separating the flowers, one has green and the other has melon. The flowers appear to be some sort of lilly but I’m not sure. The rim is a thin gold trim.On the back is a single circular blue stamp LS&S Limoges. France is around the circle. Do you have any information on this set?
- on April 18, 2012 at 9:56 AM | Reply themysticalmansion
  
  Chip,
  I really don’t have any information, just what I have on the blog about the company. I will foward your comment to someone who might. Thanks for visiting The Mystical Mansion and Garden Blog.
on May 5, 2012 at 11:30 AM | Reply Winifred Register

My family has a set of game bird prints which were distributed to my sisters and me upon my parent’s deaths. From your website I have now determined that they were produced sometime on or before 1920 because they have both the L.S.&S. mark and the Coiffee Factory mark. They are also signed by the artist THABARD, although some on-line fish plates with the exact signature were said to be made by Tharaud. Do you have any information about this/these artists?
- on May 10, 2012 at 1:42 PM | Reply themysticalmansion
  
  Winifred,
  
  I don’t have any information about the artist, but I will send an email to someone who might. It would be nice to see a few pictures, too. If you can, email a few to me at mysticalmansion@yahoo.com. Thanks for visiting the blog and I was glad it was helpful.
on May 10, 2012 at 7:12 PM | Reply Winifred Register

Thanks so much. I will try to send you images. It may take a few weeks because I’m engaged in so many other pursuits at this time, but I am still so interested in information about these wonderful plates.