Bavarian glassworks headed by Georg Merz (1793-1867) and Joseph Mahler (1795-1845), who took over the Benediktbeuern-based Utzschneider & Fraunhofer company in 1840. On Mahler's death, Merz continued the business with his sons Ludwig (1817-1858) and Sigmund (1824-1908). After 1858, the firm was known as G. & S. Merz; it changed its name again in 1882, when it passed into the hands of Sigmund's cousins Jakob and Matthias Merz. In 1884 the company moved to Munich. One of Germany's most renowned makers of microscopes, optical instruments, and astronomical instruments of the second half of the 19th C.