Wittigsthal stove from Germany

Hello Kevin,
Wittingsthal is still in business today! The foundry exists since 1651 in Johanngeorgenstadt (Saxony). Since the market for stoves declined they changed their product range to domestic engeneering. Nowadays they produce soild fuel bath boilers for eastern Europe and all sorts of plumber´s equipment like valves ect.

I suppose the firebrick under the cooktop is meant to protect that area... Lignite briquettes are - and were always - the cheapest fossil fuel for domestic use followed by coke and high volatile bituminous coal. Reckon the people who built the stove knew the characteristics of the fuels on the market and assumed that a houshold that opted for a mid-range stove is on a budget and won´t spend money on expensive coal like anthracite. There´s nothing wrong with Lignite Briquett and the high volatile bituminous you can buy here, but both contain up to 40% (!) volatiles; there´s no problem if you work in layers and give the volatiles time to cook off. But you´ll get a roaring fire with very long flames for more than 1 hour if you dump a full load in a hot stove!

firebug, I found their website the other day. There apparantly were large ore deposits that supported the foundary back in the day there. A web site about the community that was mostly in english actually said the foundary discontinued operation around WWI and opened again in the mid 1930's until WWII. Wasn't clear if the foundary re-opened after the war. My guess is my stove dates from this 1930's period. Supposedly this is a nice ski area now. Guess not so much during the war. They gave some WWII history of the area on this site. No lignite available in this area to burn. Soft coal is easy to get but leaves to much ash in the stove pipe for me. I think lignite here used to be called canal coal in the day and was used in open fireplaces mostly in the cities. Anyway thanks to all for the help and information. The stove will diffinetly run better for it .

Sorry for the late reply, was away for a couple of days...
you´re more than welcome - I suppose your estimate is pretty
correct. 1930´s sounds good. Hard coal will work fine, cleaning
the stove might be a bit more work than with other fuels, but other
than that I seen no problems as long you keep the lining in good
shape!
Good luck with your heirloom (was a heirloom, right?!) and stay warm!

Mark

Mark, thanks! The stove was obtained at an estate sale (auction) in Carrol County, Maryland about 6 years ago or so. Being the stove had no country of origin tag on it I figured it came over here after the war as a "spoils-of-war" item albeit an unusual one. In the US since about the 1910's it was reguired that any item intended for sale in the US had to be marked with country of origin which this stove was not. Think I paid about $86 (US) for it. Anyways thanks to all for all the information and tips. I'm going to try some pea or nut size coal in it to see if I can improve it's performance.

Regards, Kevin