These luxurious products were most often sold in important jewellery stores. Sometimes the retailer's paper labels survived the cleaning attempts of the last decades, and these labels are always a keen addition for any collector. They confirm that silver overlay porcelain and glass was sold all over Germany.
Friedrich Deusch, the oldest and biggest firm, also sold internationally and even produced a large amount of silver overlay tableware for the Royal House of Saudi Arabia. Deusch is the only firm that has survived (as of 2013), although the focus of production has
changed from fine art to galvanizing parts for the automobile industry. In 1976, after three generations, the Deusch family relinquished interest in the firm of Friedrich Deusch and Company Today, there is scant knowledge and interest about this firm's history.
Veyhl (father and son) traveled a lot offering their newest items to different jewellery stores. Later, they opened their own shop in Plüderhausen (close to Schwäbisch Gmünd). Friedrich Wilhelm Spahr created timeless designs which can be found today all over Europe and even in the United States. These are rare, desirable and mostly exquisite.
Silver overlay was a very exclusive luxury ware from the beginning because of the very complicated and time-consuming steps of manufacturing. Silver overlay items were never mass-produced and were made in limited numbers. The development of silver overlay was forged by a technical alliance between artists, artisans and advances in chemistry, physics, electronics and, ultimately, the industrialized techniques of the late 19th century. The arts movements of the day were philosophically against industrialized techniques. Yet, ironically, many delightfully decorated pieces of silver overlay porcelain and glass can be seen with superb handicraft and Art Nouveau-inspired designs. Thus, while the handicraft movement died after a single incandescent generation, their designs live on, as do the stunning works of Friedrich Deusch, Friedrich Wilhelm Spahr, and Alfred & Manfred Vehyl.