C. G. Wacker & Co.: History

To date no information has been located regarding the firm known as C. G. Wacker & Co. Four needle case designs registered to W. Avery & Son have been found stamped with the name C. G. Wacker & Co. Redditch: Drum (1876), Wishing Well (1876), Camp Kettle (1877) and the Coal Scuttle (1877). This company does not appear in any Redditch trade directories or needle almanacs, and no one with that name appears in the Redditch area in UK census records from 1851 through 1911. Additionally, other than paper needle packets with the C. G. Wacker name, but without a city name, no reference to this company has been found by searching Google, Google Books and other Internet websites.

On August 19, 2019 Terry Meinke met with Jo-Ann Gloger, the Keeper of Collections, and her assistant, Patrick Chester, of the Forge Mill Needle Museum, and a thorough discussion was undertaken regarding the Wacker company and its possible origin. According to Jo-Ann and Patrick, a bundle of needle packets with the Wacker name was found when the floor of the Excelsior Works needle factory in Redditch was being renovated. None of the packets however contained the name of the town where Wacker was from. Again, the only reference to the company being from Redditch are the words stamped on the four Avery style needle cases.

The only other needle company associated with Avery needle cases with a somewhat similar background is that of Charles Schleicher. All of the other Redditch area firms associated with Avery needle cases were either needle manufacturers or related companies who were listed in city and trade directories and/or had family members who were listed as such in local census records.

The Charles Schleicher name and the words Belle Vallee appear on eight Avery style needle cases, seven which were registered by W. Avery & Son between 1868 and 1872 and one registered by Henry Jenkins of Birmingham in 1873. According to a patent registered by Charles Schleicher in the UK in 1858[1], Belle Valle was near Aix-la-Chapelle in the Kingdom of Prussia or in more modern terms, near Aachen, Germany, a known center for needle making in Germany during the Victorian Period and earlier. Several paper needle packets marked W. Schleicher are on display at the Forge Mill Needle Museum and Jo-Ann indicated they were also found under the floor boards at Excelsior Works. How and if the two Schleicher’s firms were related is unclear. Neither Charles Schleicher nor W. Schleicher, or any individual with the surname Schleicher for that matter, ever appear in Redditch area trade directories or census records. As a result, the origin of Wacker could possibly be German as well, although there is no evidence to support this theory. Hopefully, some day in the near future, additional information will be discovered regarding this company.