The discovery of the Oberstein company Jakob Bengel as a prominent jewellery manufacturer has liberated Oberstein from the stigma of being the “underdog” of the German jewellery industry. Wilhelm Lindemann and Christianne Weber-Stöber document in this current study its independent contribution to the evolution of early German jewellery design between 1910 and 1933 using Bengel as an example. Highlights from the collection of Drs. Margarete and Heribert Händel, hitherto unpublished pieces of Bengel jewellery, and contemporary designs attest to the exceptional level of production as part of the reformist ideas of the Deutscher Werkbund, the German Schools of Art and Crafts, and the Bauhaus. With this book, the industrial monument Historische Uhrketten und Bijouteriewarenfabrik Jakob Bengel, Idar-Oberstein together with the Jakob Bengal Foundation marks the factory’s 150-year anniversary.


Text in English and German.