Gottfried Merzbacher

Gottfried Merzbacher was the son of the Jewish fur trader Marcus Merzbacher. He learned the trade as a furrier and joined his father’s business. He received his training as a businessman in Paris, London and St. Petersburg. In 1868 he opened his own fur shop in Munich at Residenzstrasse 14. After he had sold his business in 1888, he devoted his life completely to mountaineering. Merzbacher owned a unique collection of mostly Persian and central-Asian ceramics, weapons, tapestries and lacqeurs from the 16th to the 19th century (Münchner Jahrbuch 5 (1910), p.117).

For more information, please see: Grimm, Peter. Merzbacher, Gottfried. In: Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB). Vol. 17, Duncker & Humblot 1994.