A peculiar thing can be seen on the underside of these gorgeous gold-encrusted dinner and dessert plates. While at first you can plainly see the Black Knight stamp in black and gold, featuring the eponymous knight of legend, as well as the words "Decorated in U.S.A.," if you look underneath it, you can make out the covered words, "Bavarian" and "Hutschenreuther."
The reason is an interesting one. From 1925 to 1941, New York City-based importer Graham and Zenger would import and sell German china under the registered "Black Knight" mark. This was done, most likely, to hide the origins of these plates, as the American market was most definitely wary of German produced products post-World War 1 and during World War 2. One should note the fact that these imports stopped in 1941, the same year America joined the war, effectively cutting off the porcelain trade.
