Imperial and Royal Warrant of Appointment
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An Imperial and Royal Warrant of Appointment has been issued for centuries to those who supply goods or services to the Austrian imperial court in Vienna and Hungarian royal court in Budapest during the time of Austria-Hungary. The warrant enabled the supplier to advertise the fact that they supplied to the imperial and royal court, as well as the house of Habsburg-Lorraine in a personal capacity, so lending prestige to the supplier. In Austria-Hungary, grants were made by the emperor and empress to companies or tradesmen who supply goods and services to individuals in the family.
Suppliers continued to charge for their goods and services – a warrant did not imply that they provide goods and services free of charge. The warrant was typically advertised on company hoardings, letter-heads and products by displaying the coat of arms or the heraldic badge of the imperial eagle as appropriate. Underneath the coat of arms would usually appear the phrase "k.u.k. Hoflieferant", which translates into English as "Purveyors to the Imperial and Royal Court". Depending on where the supplier was located within the dual monarchy, it could be adapted into the local language such as "Ces. i Król. dostawca Dworu" in Polish, "C. a k. dvorní dodavatel" in Czech, or "Fornitore di corte imperiale e reale" in Italian.[1]
The warrant was initially given to the owners of a company or the tradeperson, not the company itself. Only later were companies as a whole given the warrant.
Royal warrant holders
Apart from suppliers within Austria-Hungary, a number of them were also from abroad. A number of companies in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the United States received the honour such as Nathaniel Wheeler for his sewing machines, Charles Lewis Tiffany, William Steinway and Steinway & Sons, Royal Worcester, Pim Brothers & Co. in Dublin, Peek Freans, Liverpool Vienna Bakery Kirkland Brothers, Liebig's Extract of Meat Company, Thomas Hine & Co., Hancocks & Co in London, Hammond & Co., and Elkington & Co..
References
Bibliography
- Joachim Kronsbein. „Haben gewählt?“: Wiens Hoflieferanten pflegen die Nostalgie. In: Spiegel Geschichte, 6/2009. Die Habsburger: Aufstieg und Fall der mächtigsten Familie Europas.
- Catharina Christ: Jüdische k. und k. Hoflieferanten in der Textilbranche mit Niederlassung in Wien in der Zeit von 1870 bis 1938. Dipl.-Arb., Vienna: University, 2000
- Ingrid Haslinger: Kunde – Kaiser. Die Geschichte der ehemaligen k. u. k. Hoflieferanten. Schroll, Vienna 1996, ISBN 3-85202-129-4.
- János Kalmár, Mella Waldstein: K.u.k. Hoflieferanten Wiens. Stocker, Graz 2001, ISBN 3-7020-0935-3.
See also
External links
Media related to Purveyors to the Imperial and Royal Court at Wikimedia Commons