Pottery & Porcelain maker
Goebel (M.I. Hummel figurines) marks
Franz Detleff Goebel and his son William founded the company in January 1871 at Oeslau, near Coburg, and began making porcelain in 1878.
- Active
- Goebel 1871–present; M.I. Hummel figurines 1935–present (Goebel made them until 2008)
- Based in
- Oeslau (now Rödental), near Coburg, Bavaria, Germany
- Marks listed
- 9
- Typical pieces
- figurines
The marks, by date
Each mark’s wording is written out as a transcription: the words and line breaks, not a picture of the mark. Where a source describes a mark instead of quoting it, the description is shown in italics.
Where: underside of base
Crown mark, with a crown over WG. Often incised, sometimes inside a circle, and sometimes found with a stamped crown or the full bee.
Where: underside of base
Full Bee: a bee flying inside and above a V (Verkaufsgesellschaft). Incised or stamped in black or blue. The bee got smaller over time, around 1956. The symbol list has no 'bee'.
Where: underside of base
Stylized Bee: an angular bee whose wing tips run level with the top of the V. On the large version (c. 1960–1963) 'W. Germany' sits to the right; on the small version it is centered below.
Where: underside of base
Three Line Mark: the stylized bee in V with three lines of text to the right, usually in blue. Used at the same time as TMK-3. Wording as quoted by antique-marks.com.
Where: underside of base
Last Bee: a small bee in V above the Goebel name, between the b and e. Applied under the glaze in 1972–1976 and over it in 1976–1979.
Where: underside of base
Missing Bee: the V and bee are dropped. Painters' completion dates became standard on this mark.
Where: underside of base
Hummel Mark: 'West' is dropped after German reunification, and a crown appears under 'Germany'. The first mark used only on M.I. Hummel products.
Where: underside of base
Millennium Bee: a large bumblebee, without the V, over the Goebel name. Goebel production ended on 30 September 2008.
Where: underside of base
Manufaktur Rödental mark: a yellow-and-black bee circling the words, with ® and © symbols.
History
In 1935 Goebel got the right to turn Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel's drawings into porcelain figurines. Goebel handed Hummel production to Manufaktur Rödental in 2008–2009. That firm and its successor went through bankruptcies in 2013 and 2017 before a new owner took over in December 2017.
Dating clues
- Genuine M.I. Hummel figurines carry the incised M.I. Hummel signature on the base, except pieces with no base or no room for it (antique-marks.com).
- Some pieces from 1946–1948 also carry 'Made in the US Zone Germany' (antique-marks.com).
- Painters' dates on the base became standard from TMK-6 (1979 on).
- Many figures have more than one mark. TMK-3 and TMK-4 were used side by side (1964–1972).
Look-alikes and reproductions
- Arnart: a 1950s–60s importer of cheap Japanese figurines designed to look like Hummels, with a crown label similar to the real marks.
- Wagner & Apel (W & A), Lippelsdorf, founded 1877: made genuine children's storybook figurines with a crown and 'W & A' mark. They look like Hummels but are not fakes.
- Collector sites describe many Japanese and Taiwanese copies from the late 1950s to the 1970s. Signs include a blurry bee, smudged lettering, glossy garish paint and a light weight.
Other names on the marks
F. & W. Goebel; W. Goebel Porzellanfabrik; Goebel Porzellan; Manufaktur Rödental; Hummel Manufaktur GmbH
Where sources disagree: TMK dates differ between guides. Antique Trader gives TMK-2 as 1940–1959, TMK-3 as 1958–1972, TMK-5 as 1970–1979, TMK-6 as 1979–1991 and TMK-7 as 1991–1999. Other search-result guides give TMK-2 as 1950–1959 and TMK-3 as 1960–1972. Antique-marks.com gives TMK-7 as 1991–2000 and TMK-8 as 2000–present, not 2000–2008. The TMK-1 mark is described as a crown with WG, but the exact typography was not seen. The symbol list has no 'bee', so the bee is coded as 'animal' (TMK-8/9) or 'monogram' (the V).
Sources
Marks help identify a maker and a date range, but they can’t prove a piece is genuine. Reproductions and later reissues can carry old marks. This entry isn’t an appraisal.