Identifying this vintage enamel compact with floral enamel

Sorry for not responding sooner, but it is terribly chaotic here as we constantly go through things, sort things, give away things, and deliver things to the next house. I have little time left at the end of the day...but I looked for information about Magnus, but found nothing that seemed relevant. The greater problem is my limited access to UK resources. I will try again when I finally get to sit down at night.

 

Yes there is indeed and a little clip too! Thank you for taking the time to do that

 

Wow, it sounds like you have your hands full! Please do not worry in that case

 

Hi,

It's an LS Mayer Gala minaudiere/carryall. Probably made 1934-37. LS Mayer or LSM as is stamped on your minaudiere (inside the pyramid), distributed fancy goods through high end dept stores in the UK between 1930-1939. They were manufactured in Germany near Frankfurt. The design catalogues for LSM are lost. Lisa Larsson who has written the collector's guide runs an LS Mayer FB page. Your minaudiere is featured among many others on there.

I collect LSM. Don't have a gala with a strap yet tho :(
Hope my info helps.

Regards
Ingrid

 

Yup= they're a nightmare to identify. They used a broad range of stamps, from LSM Scotland, to DRGM and then just patent numbers 0r nothing. It can't have been easy operating a jewish/german business in the 30/40s so no wonder manufacturing shifted. They aren't marked in one way like evans, volupte, elgin, kigu, stratton and so on. They're minaudieres are mainly named them after famous London locations. I have the Claridge, Gala, Burlington, and most common Parklane minaudieres.
It's a fascinating area of collecting IMO. Lisa Larsson as I quoted before has really spearheaded the research.

 

Hi all - I've just signed up so I can fill in some of the gaps! Thanks @BellaBeach / Ingrid for letting me know about this thread .

OK, so first of all, Harold Magnus is a red herring, he was only an admin person for the company L S Mayer, not an inventor. He would presumably have been given all the details of items that needed to be patented, and would have done the drudge work involved, i.e. taking the paperwork to the Patent Office, filling in forms and filing the applications. As far as I can tell, he only worked for LSM up until the war.

@BellaBeach is right, this is a 'Gala' vanity case, and it was made after 1935, probably closer to 1937/8. The patent application was filed in 1935, but the earliest versions of this case were rather unfinished and had no interior engine-turning. In fact, there seem to have been several iterations: the first, with plain square powder lid and uncovered circular rouge; then plain square powder lid and plain circular rouge lid; then double square engine-turned lids. The last version had the double square engine-turned lids plus a knotted tubular mesh handle, turning it from a minaudière into more of a carryall.

I'll add some more info tomorrow about marks to look out for

Lisa

 

Hi again - having just joined, I'm learning as I go along! ;-) It doesn't look like I can go back and edit my first post, so I'll re-summarise here, as there was a version in the list below that I missed first time around! The versions of the 'Gala', from earliest (c.1935) to latest (probably up to 1938), were as follows:

1. plain square powder lid and uncovered circular rouge
2. plain square powder lid and plain circular rouge lid
3. double plain square lids
4. double engine-turned square lids
5. double engine-turned square lids, plus knotted tubular mesh handle

There was also a different early style with a belted flip-up clasp, but I haven't yet analysed those examples to determine if they strictly match one of the above internal arrangements (i.e. versions 1-3).

Most 'Gala' cases were constructed of goldtone base metal, some were in chrome. They were produced in a wide variety of decorations, mostly enamel, but also with marcasites, rhinestones, faux jade and coral, embroidery, and even real shagreen. There were also Japanese copies, which are unmarked, and usually detectable by their slightly inferior metalwork. To make matters slightly confusing, the Gebrüder Schmidt factory in Germany, which made the cases exclusively for LSM, resumed manufacture of some of the most popular styles after WW2, when the UK design protection had lapsed. Although the UK Registered Design for the 'Gala' expired in 1940 and wasn't renewed, I don't believe that the 'Gala' was one of these reproduced designs.

The way to recognise early German LSM items, including jewellery, is to look for the LS Mayer 'M' logo inside a triangle (never an M on its own). After the company entered into an arrangement with the Gebrüder Schmidt factory in the late 1920s / early 1930s, a combined LSM / GS logo started to appear (this is what is marked on all of the 'Gala' cases, and on @GemGem 's). Some early compacts, however, are only marked with the abbreviation 'GES. GESCH.', meaning protected. Later, the word 'FOREIGN' is often also marked, either stamped or ink printed, and on some German LSM compacts and cases, this is all that appears. In this instance, the only method of identification is case construction and decoration!

In addition to the above markings, one or more of the following may be stamped on German LSM compacts, vanity cases and cigarette cases:

- 'DRGM' or 'D.R.G.M.' (meaning German utility patent), with or without accompanying number
- 'PROV. PAT.', 'PAT. APPL.', or 'PAT. PENDING' (meaning GB or US patent application, the earliest known production date)
- 'REGD.', 'REGD. DES.', or 'REGD. Nr.' (meaning GB Registered Design number, protecting the design from being copied)
- 'PATENT Nr.', 'PAT. No.', 'PAT.', or 'Pat.' (final GB Patent number, which could sometimes be granted over a year after the application)

That's everything I can think of at the moment (LSM English and Scottish compacts and handbags though, are a whole other story!) I'll also add this information to my LSM FB page. I'm currently working on a update of my German identification guide, hopefully it will be out later this year

Lisa

 

Thank you so very much, this is wonderful information, im updating the information for my pretty little case to be as accurate as possible. Down to you x