History

The firm of Johann Wagner & Sohn was founded by the engraver and jeweller Johann Adam Wagner (1761-1840) in Berlin. Johann had been appointed court jeweller to the Prussian court before 1818. He was trained as an engraver and jeweller. In 1789, he married and had four sons. Two of his sons entered the family occupation. Johann Carl Eduard (second son, 1798-1873), and Carl Ludwig Wagner (third son, 1799-1841). Carl Ludwig became a master goldsmith in 1823 and subsequently moved to Paris, France.

In 1824, Johann Carl Eduard married Jeanne Auguste Devrient and became an assay master in 1825. However, following the death of his father, he took over the firm ‘Königliche Hofjuweliere Johann Wagner und Söhne’. This firm was the court appointed supplier to King Friedrich Wilhelm III, and also created items for nobility throughout Europe. When Carl Eduard died in 1873, his son Emile August Albert Wagner (born 1826) took over and went into partnership with François Louis Jérémie Sy (1827-81) in the company ‘Sy & Wagner’.

In 1855, Albert Wagner was appointed court jeweller to the Prussian court. In 1859, Albert Wagner took over the firm of the renowned goldsmith Johann George Hossauer. From 1824, the firm is recorded in Jägerstrasse 52 in Berlin until in 1869, they opened new premises at the prestigious address ‘Unter den Linden 30’ in Berlin, where they manufactured and retailed objects of vertu, jewellery and silver. Friedrich Wilhelm von Hohenzollern became the German Emperor and King of Prussia on 15 June 1888, and Johann Wagner & Sohn continued to supply his court with orders, jewellery, and presentation pieces.