The castle on which
the logo
on Pfaltzgraffdinnerware
is based was
built at
the beginning of the 14th century by Lewis the
Bavarian. According
to
some histories that
island fortress, Die
Pfalz bie Kaub was only once
conquered
in the 1500's. One story told is that of Prince William of Hesse. He
tricked and overcame Spanish
forces with the help of a young girl, "little Elsa of Kaub". Elsa guided
attacking soldiers while disguised as one herself, getting them through
the narrow portions of the Rhine river.
Johann George Pfaltzgraff
joined his relative George Falsgraff in York County Pennsylvania around
1834. He taught his sons the craft of making earthenware from the
plentiful red clay. The making of stoneware was to follow and the Folk Art pattern is
a direct homage to the style of work done by the Pfaltzgraff
family in the late 1870s.
By 1894 two Pfaltzgraff brothers, George and Henry had decided to form
a partnership and apply modern manufacturing methods to their pottery.
They opened a factory in York and went into production.
Although
Pfaltzgraff made ceramics
much earlier they
started competing seriously in dinnerware
during the late 1940's . Their longest
running pattern is HERITAGE.
Pfaltzgraff Heritage was designed
by Georges Briard. Briard
emigrated from the Ukraine to the United
States in 1937. Briard designed
appealing dinnerware, tableware and giftware from the 1940's through
the 1980's.
The
Heritage pattern
was
introduced in four colors: Bennington Brown,Williamsburg Green, Burnt
Olive and York White. York White is the shape and color most often
referred to as "HERITAGE." The long running and best
selling
Pfaltzgraff
pattern Yorktowneseems to have been
named for the company hometown of York, PA.
Johnson Brothers in
England have a very similar shape also known
as Heritage although one would not be very likely to mistake its bone
china weight for Pfaltzgraff's much heavier stoneware.