For clarification: I am an American citizen, however, I was born and raised in Wien, which translates as Vienna in English, the Capital City of Austria.

As a boy, I was quite involved with the Spanische Hofreitschule at the Hofburg in Vienna. Over the years, I have collected numerous pieces of porcelain Lipizzaners, made by various manufacturers. For many E-Bayers, Augarten seems to be the “treasure” of Lipizzaner horses. Wrong. While I admit that the porcelain factury Augarten makes some of the most awesome porcelain figurines in the world, including Lipizzaner horses, I have to tell you that the true Lipizzaner horses porcelain manufactory was the Hans Poelzer Porcelan Manufacturer, directly located in the Hofburg, the home of the Spanische Hofreitschule. As a matter of fact, before Augarten bought the manufactury “Royal Vienna”, which used to belong to the Austrian Royal Family, no porcelain Lipizzaners were produced.

The Poelzer Manufactury runs the souvenir shop of the Spanische Hofreitschule in the Hofburg. They have produced and still are producing a variety of georgious Lipizzaner horses with their riders.

For one reason or another, these pieces have been devaluated by the Augarten pieces, which is strange, because the Vienna Porcelain Manufactury Augarten only produced horse figurines, sculpted by four artists. And of these, only one sculpted the Spanish Riding School series. Professor Albin Dobrich.

On the other hand, Poelzer produces Lipizzaner horses for the Spanish Riding School in all shapes, sizes and quality. The Poelzer horses have been the signature porcelain figurines of the Spanische Hofreitschule throughout the world. The big pieces are as valuable - if not more - than the Augarten Spanish Riding School series.

Because of its unusual marking, most amateur collectors don’t recognize Hans Poelzer’s mark - see below. Poelzer’s large Lipizzaner statues are as flawless and beautiful as the ones from Augarten. They also have the inscription “Hofreitschule Wien” and portray the different movements of the Lipizzaner horses. Usually, they sell for much less than Augarten (by the way, the Augarten Riding School series is seriously overpriced), however, Poelzer’s pieces represent much more the Vienna Spanish Riding School than any other porcelain manufacturer, for the mere reason that he is the Spanish Riding School’s in-house procelain manufacturer.