THE ROBIN DEUTSCH COLLECTION

Jewelry by Knoll & Pregizer. Pforzheim, Germany. 1887-1975

Knoll and Pregizer Jewelry History. KP Germany Sterling 925 935 Victorian-Edwardian-Belle Epoque-Art Deco Jewelry and Watches through Post WWII.

This website was started June 2009 and is the first and only authentic website on Knoll & Pregizer Jewelry.

COPYRIGHT©ROBIN DEUTSCH 2009-2025. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

The use of any information or images from this website is PROHIBITED without my prior written consent.If you choose to use the information I have provided in a public setting, book,article, webpage (whether in a sales venue or not), etc., please use the following credit:

"INFORMATION REGARDING KNOLL & PREGIZER IS COURTESY OF ROBIN DEUTSCH".

I have been collecting this exquisite jewelry for over 20 years now , unfortunately compared to the size of some of my other collections this one is much smaller as it is usually hard to find. Each acquisition of a piece of Knoll & Pregizer has been a joy to acquire. "In my collector's eye, they are the Cartier of German costume jewelers." This is just a small portion to give you an idea of the quality of jewelry made by this amazing company, as I have many incredible pieces that are not on this site. Sometimes the KP punch is so small that you might not even know you have a piece. I have had pieces for a couple of years before I found the mark. Sometimes I will buy a piece of it missing stones knowing I might never be able to repair it just to have it in my collection, however over the years as my collection grew and evolved, I did indeed have several of my most special treasures repaired and restored. Each piece is handcrafted from sterling silver, using the finest paste and imitation glass stones mimicking platinum,diamonds, rubies, sapphires and emeralds, also copies of fabulous "tutti frutti/fruit salad" stones. Sometimes they will use semi-precious stone colors such as amethyst and onyx. The pieces are constructed exactly as a piece of fine jewelry would be, and I am sure the same jewelers working on real jewelry also made these exquisite imitations. My saddest loss was not being able to buy a Cartier copy of an Art Deco Egyptian Revival scarab brooch they made but I will never forget that piece. You never forget the ones that get away...and sadly several have. (I am so thrilled to report that in 2012, I am now the happy owner of this breathtaking and extremely rare and unique piece. Sometimes it can take years to obtain the jewel of your dreams. See my treasure below!)

For years it remained one of those jewelry mystery marks that remained unsolved to us American collectors. I had noticed the company name listed in the Theodor Fahrner Jewelry Book of registered German companies not as KP, but as Knoll & Preziger (misspelled) and that piqued my interest.(Just the name was listed, there was absolutely no information on the company itself). I have been a passionate collector of some of the most marvelous German art deco sterling and paste jewelry with a mystery mark of KP in a shield with the letters intersecting for years trying to discover who this mark belonged to with no avail. I tried researching the name every way possible and all I would get on occasion would be watch auctions but nothing that showed the trademark. One day as I was researching I could not believe what I found. An eBay auction from a seller in Uruguay of all places who was selling a 1953 Atlanta Post catalogue containing German jewelry and accessory companies. The seller listed the names of the companies in the auction and photos of many pages. There it was. A photo of jewelry with the KP Trademark and the company name. Buying this catalogue was one of the most important purchases I’ve ever made.(After I received it, I saw that all of the ads from the companies were in German, but the descriptions in the back of all of the items were in Spanish. The writing on the cover translated to "Journal of International Trade. Spanish Edition". Many Germans had emigrated to South America and there was a large market for their products).

In all my years of research this was probably one of my happiest and proudest moments. To be able to connect and confirm all of the information together. I am also proud to be the person who has been able to give Knoll & Pregizer the respect and admiration for posterity that it deserves, since before the publication of this website virtually nothing about this company was known. This 1953 catalogue page shown below confirms without a doubt the attribution of jewelry marked KP Sterling Germany (or KP 925 or KP 935) to Knoll & Pregizer of Pforzheim, Germany. What is fascinating is in their long history they made Victorian/Art Nouveau, the garland style jewelry popular in English Edwardian and French Belle Époque and the MOST extraordinary (and my favorite) breathtaking Art Deco jewelry. Because of the 1953 catalogue page you can see the change in their style of jewelry after WWII. Amazingly, I have discovered several patents dated from 1906 thru 1975 registered in Germany, France, the United States, and the UK.

The jewelry was ALWAYS made in Germany except for the movements to their timepieces which were Swiss. The patents approved and registered for other countries were to protect their designs/inventions that were exported as well as their trademark. Many of their later watches Post WWII were made in 14K/18K gold with diamonds and the earlier ones in sterling silver with pastes or marcasites. I've seen Swiss movements marked Deauville, Knoll & Pregizer, Goldsiegel/KP, FIG, LOTOS, A. Nicolet Watch Co., FHF, and others that mean nothing to me (this is besides the two Glycines now seen) Some are 15 Jewels, some 17 jewels. Except for one piece having Nicolet on the dial and A. Nicolet on the movement (for Armand Nicolet Co) with "Knoll & Pregizer, Sterling West Germany" INSIDE the case, or movements specifically made for them marked KP/Goldsiegel (A brand of theirs) or just KP, they made the cases and had someone make the movements for them (although the 1962 trademark registration covers movements). There is a separate trademark registration for them here in the US just for their watch business aside from the jewelry, and I have found German patents for watch crystals (such as used on the KP/Goldsiegal watch I own) in 1939 as well as 1952, and the last one in 1975 for "Watch cases with band connection for flexible bracelets" and that's in addition to other patents for jewelry mechanisms going back as far as 1906. The patents were registered in the US as early as 1912, and also to England and France, as KP was always a big exporter to those countries as well as the US and Canada...even Australia and South America. They were a full-fledged jewelry manufacturer in every sense of the word, and advertising their watches in trade magazines including a 1973 Swiss watch magazine (that states the company was over 100 years old, so that predates the 1887 registration of their KP trademark by 14 years). There are people now trying to sell art deco sterling paste watches only marked 935 on the back as Knoll & Pregizer.

The ONLY GUARANTEED AUTHENTIC WATCHES ARE MARKED KP ON THE BACK!!! I own an ASPREY art deco paste watch from 1938 and the only identification that it is Knoll & Pregizer is the KP TRADEMARK on the BACK. ******I cannot stress to you enough that ever since my website was launched in 2009 and KP has become collectible, how many people are trying to sell unsigned jewelry as Knoll & Pregizer. The ONLY GUARANTEE you are getting AUTHENTIC Knoll & Pregizer is by their REGISTERED TRADEMARK!!!******

I now know they also made jewelry in 14K/585 gold, 18K/750 gold and 9ct gold (for export to England). This site is always a work in progress and I am updating my information as I make new discoveries. No matter what the piece or when it was made, the markings are the same. The K and P are ALWAYS intersecting at the bottom as shown in the advertising and images below. The letters are ALWAYS in CAPITALS. Sometimes the shield/flower might be lightly struck but the letters will ALWAYS intersect. I have already noticed some eBay sellers trying to attribute pieces marked KP in a rectangle or K.P.(notice the periods) Sterling as Knoll & Pregizer. Or low end base metal plated jewelry with a cheap hangtag of KP in script (They don't mark with script letters and they DON'T USE HANGTAGS). *****I cannot emphasize this to you enough. The mark MUST match their registered trademark.There are some other jewelers out there that have the initials KP which are stamped on the jewelry. Be vigilant and wary because misattributions abound. It was a requirement that registered German manufacturers of precious metal items had to be stamped with the fineness mark for metal and their registered trademark as they were responsible for assaying their own jewelry, and Knoll & Pregizer made a lot of jewelry for export***** I have several exquisite pieces destined for the French market as they are marked with the swan in an oval for small silver articles imported into France. The different grades of silver fineness used were to fulfill the minimum silver requirements for export to certain countries, but the majority destined for the European market were made in 935 silver which would cover export to every country except Poland whose minimum was 940. Pieces marked Sterling or Sterling Germany were destined for the Canadian and/or US market. On certain pieces they will be marked Sterling Germany and the European silver fineness in order to be sold everywhere. Throughout my collecting and research in addition to Europe, the US and Canada, I have found pieces sold as far as Australia, South Ameri...