The firm Johann Wagner & Sohn was founded by the engraver and jeweler Johann Adam Wagner (1761-1840) in Berlin. Johann had been appointed court jeweler at the Prussian court before 1818. He had received training as an engraver and jeweler. In 1789 he married and had four children. Two of his sons entered the family business. Johann Carl Eduard (second son, 1798-1873) and Carl Ludwig Wagner (third son, 1799-1841). Carl Ludwig became a master goldsmith in 1823 and later moved to Paris, France.
In 1824 Johann Carl Eduard married Jeanne Auguste Devrient and became a master assayer in 1825. However, after his father’s death, he took over the firm “Königliche Hofjuweliere Johann Wagner und Söhne”. This firm was the court purveyor to King Friedrich Wilhelm III and also created objects for the nobility throughout Europe. Upon Carl Eduard’s death in 1873, his son Emile August Albert Wagner (born 1826) took over and joined forces with François Louis Jérémie Sy (1827-81) in the firm “Sy & Wagner”.
In 1855, Albert Wagner was appointed court jeweler of the Prussian court. In 1859, Albert Wagner took over the business of the renowned goldsmith Johann George Hossauer. From 1824, the company was registered at Jägerstrasse 52 in Berlin, until it opened a new branch in 1869 at the prestigious address “Unter den Linden 30” in Berlin, where it produced and retailed fine objects, jewelry and silver. Friedrich Wilhelm von Hohenzollern became German Emperor and King of Prussia on June 15, 1888, and Johann Wagner & Sohn continued to supply his court with orders, jewelry and presentation pieces.