The Maas family is probably a branch of the older LandauOchs family. Like them it was a family of status and importance in the Judengasse. As early as the beginning of the 17th century one of the family elders, Salomon Maas, was one of the highest taxpayers among the Frankfurt Jews, was praised as "the Prince, the master builder, who looked after the community's affairs with diligence, whose house was open to all". His descendants included Amschel Maas, also known as Amschel zur Maise, and his son, Nathan Amschel of the Goldener Strauss. They ran a bookshop. This was something extraordinary during the era of the ghetto since, although Frankfurt was a centre of the book trade, Jewish booksellers faced stiff competition from Christian rivals during the ghetto period. The family occasionally produced individuals who followed professions with religious links, including a shochet and a junior rabbi. Most of the Maas family were business folk, principally moneylenders and bankers. The high degree of risk in this activity at that time meant that their success varied widely. Although the firm of Isaak & Gumprich Maas lost 52,300 guilders, an enormous sum in those days, and went bankrupt in 1720 following the collapse of its partners abroad, by 1800 other members of the family had accumulated a substantial fortune.