Niello silver match safe: Markowitsch & Scheid (1862-1881)

NIELLO SILVER CIGARETTE CASE (1882-1922).
The cartouche is engraved with a monogram.
Dimensions 94 x 57 x 16 mm, weight 85 grams.
The inside bears the makers mark "G.A.S." (George Adam Scheid) and the hexagonal lozenge mark with Diana head and a "2" and an "A" (Austrian silver mark for 900/1000 purity silver plus assay for Vienna after 1872).

Niello silver cigarette case: George Adam Scheid

BIOGRAPHY OF GEORG ADAM SCHEID (1837-1921)

Georg Adam Scheid was born in Schönau Baden, Württemberg on July 28 1837. He started his apprenticeship in 1853 and operated afterwards in Pforzheim and Stuttgart. In 1858 he came to Vienna and entered the workshop of the gold, silver goods producer and jeweler Michael Markowitsch. He married one of Markowitsch's daughters and in 1862 the company was renamed Markowitsch & Scheid and adopted the mark M & S. It was located in Sandwirtgasse 8, and then in Gumpendorfer Straße 83. (right) Josef Maria Auchentaller: Portrait of the father-in-law G. A. Scheid 1891 (http://www.auchentaller-art.com/werwar/werwar/muenchen.html)

Maker's mark M&S for Markowitsch & Scheid (1862-1881) or Markowitsch & Son (1882-1898)

In 1882 they separated and Sheid started his own flourishing operation, employing up to 300 workers. The silver decoration factory was named "G. A. Sheid" and used different marks. It was located in Gumpendorfer Straße 85 ( http://www.beyars.com/lexikon/lexikon_970.html ).

Georg Adam Scheid mark (from http://www.silvercollection.it/austriansilverhallmarks.html)

Several of Georg Adam Scheid marks, many with import marks for Germany

Markowitsch & Scheid was then owned by Adolf Markowitsch alone, a son of Michael Markowitsch, and kept the same mark, the company shut down in 1898.

Specialities of Sheid's factory were cigarette cases, powder boxes, write sets, toilet sets as well as jewelry boxes, which were also sold in large quantities in Germany, France, Italy, Great Britain, Belgium and Spain.

To ensure the supply of raw materials in 1888 Scheid opened up his own refinery where, from precious metal wastes, raw material as well as semi-manufactured products, as sheet metals and wires were produced. The operation grew rapidly and covered not only his own requirement but goods were also exported abroad and with the establishment of sister operations in Budapest (1891), Prague (1920) and Bucharest (1923) Scheid took control of the market.

In 1894 the sons Arthur (1870-1897) and Robert (1872-1950), as well as his nephew George (1850-1937), stepped in as partners. In 1911 George Adam Sheid withdrew from the business life and Robert and Georg Sheid took over. Robert and his younger brother Ludwig (1886-1960) then assumed the management.

After the First World War, fall of the overseas market for the decoration sector and the bad economic situation led, as a consequence, to the liquidation of the decoration factory, while the "Affinerie" continued and in 1962 merged with the Ludwig Roessler GmbH to form the ÖGUSSA GmbH, which still exists today (http://www.oegussa.at/).

The most famous works of Scheid are related to the Austrian secessionist movement and took advantage of the collaboration with famous artists such as
Koloman Moser (1868-1918) (http://www.koloman-moser.com/),
Josef Hoffmann (1870-1956) (http://www.josef-hoffmann-handicraft.com/)
Josef Maria Auchentaller (1865-1949) (http://www.archimagazine.com/bauchentaller.htm)

Red Enameled Cigarette Case with built-in Vesta         (http://www.matchsafe.org/pmse-         022_red_enameled_cigarette_case_with_vesta.htm)	Georg Adam Scheid Vienna Secession Box                (Josef Maria Auchentaller 1865-1949, Attrib.)                (http://www.tademagallery.com/content.htm)

Georg Adam Scheid died on April 3 1921 in Meran and is buried in the family tomb at the Evangelischer Friedhof Simmering, Simmeringer Hauptstraße 242, 1110 Wien. (http://www.evangelischerfriedhof11.at/promi_graeber/scheid.html).

Finally, to better understand the personality of the artist, it is worth mentioning the very recent rediscovery of Sheid's villa in Vienna that was thought to be lost forever.
Sheid had the villa commissioned and built in 1896 by the famous architect Joseph Hackhofer
(http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM7TM6_Vienna_River_Portals_in_Stadtpark_Vienna_Austria) and the interiors were decorated by Auchentaller. As a matter of fact Sheid was the father-in-law of both Auchentaller and Hackhofer. Another of Sheid's daughters, Martha, was married to Viktor Thonet, an exponent of the famous dynasty of bentwood furniture manufacturers, who later acquired the paintings Auchentaller had made in 1898/99 for the music room in Villa Scheid, which were inspired by Pastorale, Beethoven's sixth symphony.

One of the paintings by Auchentaller for the villa Music Room, the "Elfenreigen" (Elves dance) actually depicts the five young daughters of G. A. Scheid. The villa, restored, now houses the Embassy of the Republic of Korea at Gregor Mendel Strasse 25.
(http://www.auchentaller-art.com/new_discoveries/new.html).

Georg Adam Sheid was therefore not only a great artist, but also a very successful businessman and an influential figure of the Viennese society in the golden age of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of the 19th century,

(left) Villa Scheid in the Winter, around 1898 (center) Embassy of Korea, 2010 (right) Auchentaller's painting: "Elfenreigen" (detail) for the Music Room in the Villa Scheid, around 1898/99. The five dancing girls are actually the five young daughters of Georg Adam Scheid. Martha Scheid (later Thonet) is third from the right (with red hair), Emma Scheid, the wife of Auchentaller himself, is second from left