The company was founded by Julius Edelstein, who together with his business partner Isidor Grünebaum bought in 1919 the Oberfränkische Porzellanfabrik from Friedrich Ohnemüller and Emil Speiser in 1919. The factory was located in the Bavarian municipality Küps.
Historically, it was a porcelain painting factory owned by Friedrich Wunder (1879 - 1882), Wenck & Zitzmann (1882 - 1890), Oberfränkische Porzellanfabrik Ohnemüller & Ulrich (1890 - 1919).
The company was modernized and renamed Porzellanfabrik Edelstein GmbH. The distribution was conducted by Edelstein's trading company Glas-, Porzellan- und Steingut-Handels AG.
They initially produced for the domestic market, but gradually began to focus on exports as growing inflation in Germany in the early 1920s limited demand. Another obstacle was the increasing protectionism in many foreign markets in the late 1920s.
Isidor Grünebaum retired in 1926. Six years later, the company had to file for bankruptcy. The Küps factory was taken over by Colditz AG. A new company was named Porzellanfabrik J. Edelstein AG. The factory was managed by Fritz Greiner, a member of the NSDAP.
Julius Edelstein and his wife Margaretha were Jews. They were deported to Riga and murdered in 1941. Fritz Greiner remained head of the factory after the war and was so, with a five-year interruption, until 1971.
The Edelstein style borrows from the Neo-Baroque, late Rococo and Empire, with many reliefs, floral decorations and gilding. The company's specialty was thin-walled, almost transparent porcelain of the highest quality.
