About
An avid history buff, Dennis R. Porell first became fascinated with the collecting of German Edged Weapons of the Third Reich Nazi Germany. While trying to collect only the finest condition daggers, Porell would occasionally come across a piece of what he considered was fine porcelain. The porcelain was usually an animal figure of some type but drew little interest to Porell who devoted most of his time to the development of his edged weapons collection. After a few years of collecting and nearly completing his collection of these German Dress Daggers, Porell again came across more of this white porcelain. This time it was a figurine, the Luftwaffe Officer. Porell became facinated with the detail and quality of this porcelain figurine. He then began to do some research and found that this porcelain was indeed rare and made during the years of 1936 -1945 by the German SS and was called Allach Porcelain. More research of this unique porcelain was required and after several months, Porell came to the conclusion that this was an area in collecting in which he wanted to pursue.
At this time, the general interest among Hobbyist in German Militaria was Dress Daggers, medals and uniforms but certainly not porcelain. Porell bucked the trend and began selling his dagger collection to start his quest for Allach Porcelain. His reasoning behind this was simple. Why collect something that everyone already has? The idea of collecting is to have items that are unique and difficult to find, thus potentially worth more in the future. Porell began purchasing Allach Porcelain whenever and wherever he could. Continuing his research on the subject, Porell found that there were a specific amount of models produced with the number of units of each model varying from a few figures to a couple hundred figures. Still not very many when you consider several thousands of individual daggers were produced in nearly the same time frame. With Porell’s assumption that many of these Allach Porcelain figures were damaged or destroyed during the war, the actual pieces still available may be much less. Porell found this to be true in his pursuit. As he explains ” during Dagger collecting, if you had the money, you could purchase almost any dagger at any time because you could find it and someone would be willing to sell it. In Allach Porcelain collecting, you could have a million dollars to spend and never find the figure you are searching for. Either because there are so few made or because the possibility of the piece being no longer existent. Now that’s collecting. The excitement is certainly in the hunt. Nothing better than finding a piece of Allach that you never knew existed.”
After a number of years, Porell’s collection numbered over 175. With the advent of the internet, Porell was able to purchase Allach Porcelain from areas of the world that would otherwise be unobtainable. Purchasing from Germany, the birthplace of Allach became much easier. Also obtaining figures from Veterans who brought back items from the War was easier through his new source of networking with other Militaria collectors and dealers. Porell through all his sources was able to obtain some of the rarest Allach Porcelain ever made. Although excited with his discoveries and ever increasing knowledge, Porell realized that his collecting of Allach Porcelain was just a very small niche in the total Militaria market. He needed to spread the word about Allach Porcelain. In 2004, Porell founded the web site, AllachPorcelain.com.
The AllachPorcelain.com web site was started to help educate the masses as to what Allach Porcelain actually is. It was intended to help present and future collectors interested in Allach with photos and information as to what models were produced thus increasing the collectors excitability in pursuing and possibly purchasing these rare and unique pieces. It was to also assist those individuals who may have a piece or two of this rare porcelain in their possession in helping them identify what they have. Lastly it was developed to provide information to any porcelain dealer who may come across the words Allach Porcelain. Most porcelain dealers have no idea as to what Allach Porcelain is. They know Meissen, Nymphenburg and other German Porcelains but really have no concept of what may be the finest porcelain ever produced in Allach Porcelain.
The AllachPorcelain.com web site has become very successful in providing knowledge to all those who inquire about Allach. Thereby becoming the perfect precursor to the upcoming comprehensive two volume reference.
Porell is acknowledged to be one of the foremost experts in Allach Porcelain. Through his experience, he has had the opportunity to see and handle almost every piece of Allach known to exist. His greatest joy is locating a piece of extremely rare Allach Porcelain for someone who has been searching without success in order to add it to their collection.
