Ignition goods manufacturer - A. M. Pollak

Adolf (Aaron Moses) Pollak Ritter von Rudin was born on May 15, 1817 in Wscheraditz (Všeradice) in Böhmen.  Working as a commercial clerk in Vienna from 1834, he 1836  was already the owner of a small sealing wax production business. Around 1840, Adolf Moses Pollak and Johann Preshel founded a zipper factory in Vienna. They went their separate ways in 1846. In addition to the Vienna factory, A. M. Pollak founded factories in Budweis and in Schörfling am Attersee, and with the fine feeling for his product and its great demand, the development of the domestic market was followed by the establishment of sales branches in London in 1846, New York in 1847 and Sydney in 1850. This was followed by exports to California from 1849 and the establishment of commission warehouses on St. Thomas Island, in Havana, Valparaiso, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro (all in 1851), in China (Hong Kong, Guangzhou/Canton, Shanghai) in 1858, in Japan (Yokohama) in 1859 and for Russia in 1860 (import to the entire Tsarist Empire). The company exported all over the world, often to the value of well over 2 million guilders (today's equivalent value is probably over 20 million) per year. Participation in world exhibitions, including 1851 and 1862 in London was followed by numerous honors in the form of medals and awards - 1855 (Paris) with the Gold Medal, 1873 (Vienna) with the Grand Memorial Medal. This was followed in 1858 by the award of the Gold Cross of Merit with the Crown by Emperor Franz Joseph. On February 1, 1869, he was elevated to the rank of knight ("von Rudin"). Adolf Pollak created textbook foundations in the locations of the works and in his birthplace. On the birth of the heir to the throne Rudolf in 1858, he founded the Rudolphinum Foundation House with 160,000 guilders.  A. M. Pollak died on June 1, 1884 in Baden near Vienna and found his final resting place in the family crypt in the Israelite section of the Vienna Central Cemetery. In 1889, his son Alfred Pollak was forced to close the company due to fierce competition.