ICONIC ESTABLISHMENTS

Horn & Hardart

Known manufacturers: Mayer, Shenango
Look alikes: Homer Laughlin, Syracuse, Ohio Commercial Company
(Note: The only known china that Homer Laughlin made was the H&H mug, at the bottom of this page.)

The authority on all things Horn & Hardart -- except seemingly its china -- is the book by Marianne Hardart and Lorraine Diehl, "The Automat: The History, Recipes and Allure of Horn & Hardart's Masterpiece." Refer to it for the history of the company and its locations in New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The last automat closed in 1991. The automat used distinctive green-on-white patterned china in ever-so-slightly different variations carrying three known names: Marion, Nassau and Medallion, all made by Mayer; and Nassau, made by Shenango. Confusion arises in that these two companies, plus Homer Laughlin, Syracuse and Ohio Commercial Company, also made the same or very similar patterns that were not backstamped for Horn & Hardart. Were all these patterns ordered for Horn & Hardart? Were any non-backstamped versions used there? The proper conclusion in the absence of facts would be that unless a piece is found with an H&H backstamp -- or in the case of very few ashtrays and bowls, topmarked -- the china cannot be considered to be authentic H&H. To add to the confusion, an example of the Medallion pattern in brown has been found, backstamped for H&H. In addition, there are clear photos of Syracuse's St. Elmo pattern on page 53 of the Hardart book and on the label on H&H coffee cans, even though no H & H-backstamped pieces of St. Elmo have been found. And one more mystery: In the Hardart book, the Delmar pattern by Syracuse is featured in one of the promotional photos, from the movie, "Affair with a Stranger." Was it ever used in one of the automats? What do any of the mysteries mean? Probably that each automat was responsible for ordering its own china. If a distributor was out of what we think of as the H&H pattern, something else green and white -- like St. Elmo -- could have been substituted. We'll continue to add information to this page as more information is collected. The first Horn and Hardart Automat opened June 12, 1902 at 818 Chestnut St., in Philadelphia, PA. The first Automat in NYC opened 10 years later at 1557 Broadway, Times Square, between 46th & 47th St. The distributor noted in the backstamp, Wright, Tyndale and Van Roden, was based in Philadelphia, and went out of business circa 1928. As this backstamp occasionally specifies NYC, it seems that the distributor provided the china for both locations.