Real Photo card Companies

An interesting and varied collecting object

When it comes to old picture postcards these days, real photo cards appear to be still of special interest. Speaking of non-topographical cards.The reproduction quality of the cards, manufactured 100 and more years ago, is really impressive. Okay, quite some views are of stereotype nature. Posing woman and children, greetings for all occasions, love & romance topics are found all over.

Real photo cards are found in matte look, (high) glossy finish, more or less well hand-coloured, with applications attached (mica, pearls, hair, felt etc.), inside embossed frames, captions in various makes and so on. Not to forget some non-mainstream, almost experimental designs and makes. But probably their biggest advantage is that real photo cards are still around in bigger number. Available at reasonable prices in most cases.

For some it may be nothing but pretty (vintage) pictures. Those with broader interest will notice that the majority of the old rp cards do show logos and number codes. The cards were usually published in series (4/6/8 or more cards). For instance "5987/4" means that the card in question belongs to series 5987 and is card design 4 (of?). This system used by manufacturers and publishers mainly, but encouraged people to look out for the other cards from the series. I do have some complete series and must say that more than once it was a quite disappointing experience. More or less the same scene in slightly different pose.

Companies involved

The first in the field and biggest manufacturer for many years was Neue Photographische Gesellschaft (NPG) from Berlin-Steglitz. Another company was Rotophot, also from Berlin, and set up in 1900. The company name was changed several times. Anyway, this business was the biggest in Germany by end of the 1920‘s.
Other manufacturers of some size were Georg Gerlach & Co., E.A. Schwerdtfeger & Co., Albrecht & Meister AG (Amag), the latter grew considerably after taking over Aristophot AG from Taucha-Leipzig. Not to forget Photochemie GmbH, Berlin. Regel & Krug from Leipzig another important factory for real photo cards. Others were found elsewhere in Germany, but Berlin definitely the center of rp card production.

All these rp printers were also publishers. Then we have plenty of ppc publishers, especially in the years prior to WW1, trying to be successful with rp cards. Some concentrated almost fully on bromide real photo cards and articles. Plus many traditional postcard publishing houses adding rp cards to their product range. All the firms involved used own trademarks, logos, initials etc on cards. A wide field of research with quite some mysteries not yet solved.

What I would like to do is to introduce a few of the long gone German bromide photo companies with some basic data. Some names (printers/publishers) rarely featured elsewhere on the internet. Together with some more popular companies. The first names in focus are:

– Georg Gerlach & Co., Berlin
– Stange & Wagner Bromsilberdruck GmbH, Berlin
– Berlin-Neuroder Kunstanstalten (BNK) / Silberbrom GmbH, Dresden
– Aktiengesellschaft Aristophot, Taucha/Leipzig
– Polyphot GmbH, Munich
– Louis Langebartels and Kunstverlag Juno GmbH, Berlin
– K. Heinrich Krause, Grossenhain
– Mecanophot van Bosch, Strasbourg

More to be added in the future. Depending on availability of reliable company information.

In case you have any questions, please let me know.
editor@tpa-project.info

Please note that a number of real photo card companies were already featured in TPA back issues.
Please check TPA Magazine