History

Johann Georg Hossauer was born on October 5, 1794 in Berlin, Germany. In his youth, Hossauer attended a Jewish school and then began an apprenticeship as a plumber. In 1815, Hossauer travelled to Paris to learn about the production of light metal objects. He quickly found employment at the bronze factory, Werner & Mietke in Berlin. Hossauer completed an apprenticeship with the goldsmith Henri de Ruolz from 1817 to 1819. In 1818, prior to the completion of his apprenticeship, he became contre maître in the Manufactory of Tourot the Elder.

Hossauer returned to Berlin in 1819 and King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia financially supported the development of a factory for fine metal goods which was run by Hossauer. The factory would grow to approximately 100 employees. Hossauer worked closely with Karl Friedrich Schinkel. He developed Schinkel's designs even after the architect's death in 1841. During one of Berlin's first trade exhibitions, Hossauer received a gold medal for his work. In 1826, he was granted the title of Goldsmith to His Majesty the King by King Friedrich Wilhelm III. He sold a patent for an electroplating process to Werner von Siemens in 1845. Ten years later, Hossauer was appointed a judge at the World Exhibition in Paris. Hossauer had no heirs and transferred his company to Emil August Albert Wagner, a goldsmith who had once been a student of Hossauer's, and the merchant Francois Louis Jeremie Sy in 1859. The company name was then changed to Sy & Wagner. The firm opened new premises at the prestigious address ‘Unter den Linden 30’ in Berlin, where they manufactured and retailed objects of vertu, jewelry and silver. Sy & Wagner operated under that name until 1934. There are select items made from when Sy & Wagner took over that used the Hossauer mark. Throughout his years as a goldsmith, Hossauer filled several orders from the Prussian court, including the Pour Le Merite, and Order of St. John. Hossauer has also been seen on the Russian Order of St. Vladimir and the Hanoverian House Order of St. George. Hossauer died on January 14, 1874. In the 1930s, the Hossauerweg in the Marienfelde district of Berlin was named after Johann George Hossauer.