An Interview With Antique Beer Stein Collector Frank Loevi
September 24th, 2008
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By Maribeth Keane, Collectors Weekly Staff (Copyright 2008)
Frank Loevi discusses collecting beer steins, and the history of stein production in Germany and the U.S. Loevi can be reached through his Beer Stein Library, which is a member of our Hall of Fame.
I’ve been a beer stein collector for about 25 years. About 10 years ago I sold my business, a specialty database provider. At that point, I had some experience in compiling databases and beer steins were my passion, so with the spare time that had become available to me I tried applying my business skills to the hobby I enjoy and the Beer Stein Library was born.
Early stoneware steins: Westerwald (circa 1700); Siegburg (circa 1580); Creussen (dated 1692); Altenburg (circa 1710)
If there’s one thing missing in almost every hobby, it’s a source of searchable information. When you’ve found an old beer stein and want to know something about it — When was it made? Who made it? How much it’s worth? — where do you go to find answers? There are some books available, but the few that exist cover very little of the territory and quickly become dated, particularly with respect to pricing information. My hope is that the Beer Stein Library will eventually come to be seen by collectors as something of an information warehouse, where they can both find what they’re looking for and contribute to the learning of others by adding information and photographs from their own collections.
It was actually my wife who first got me interested in collecting. It was my birthday and she bought me a beer stein from a local shop that turned out to be a reproduction of a 17th century stoneware piece from the Westerwald area of Germany. The stein was packaged with historical information about the original it was based on, as well as facts about some of the other pieces in the series. S.P. Gerz, the German company that made them went out of business in 1999, but they had hooked me on beer steins and I remain an avid collector today. I tend now to focus more on antiques, rather than reproductions and newer steins, but my original completed set of 25 Gerz early Westerwald reproductions remains one of the centerpieces of my collection.
I think that happens with a lot of collectors — someone will give you a gift or you’ll pick up a stein while vacationing in Germany and you start to become interested. Soon you have a shelf full of beer steins and eventually a whole room full of them and you’re still doing it.
Collectors Weekly: When were the first beer steins made?
Early faience stein with oriental motif (Erfurt, circa 1750)
Loevi: In the mid-1500s. The steins from that period were produced in the area around Cologne on the Rhine river, in towns like Siegburg and Raeren. A little later, in the early 1600s, the town of Creussen in eastern Germany emerged as a production center, and was the first to make use of enameling as a decorating technique. Other towns soon followed, with each geographic area adding its own particular styling traits to the drinking vessels of the day. The earliest steins were made of stoneware, but soon thereafter Faience steins began to appear in an attempt to compete with imported Chinese porcelain. The secret of making porcelain didn’t reach Europe until the 1700s, but these early steins imitated the look with a tin oxide glaze on earthenware, often painted with Chinese motifs. While all of these early steins are collected in this country, their rarity and high cost make them somewhat less popular among antique collectors than those of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
The 1860s in Germany began what many collectors call the “golden age” of collectible beer steins. While the earlier steins typically had some form of decoration, they were principally intended to be functional. People bought them to drink out of, not to put on a shelf and look pretty. By the late 19th century, factories were springing up in the Westerwald area, which had been a center for German stoneware production for more than 200 years due to its abundant clay deposits. They started mass-producing steins that were often designed less for drinking than display. A similar transition to mass-production was also taking place in the porcelain centers in eastern Germany around Dresden.
The “golden age” lasted until the start of World War I, which began a period of economic dislocation from which the German beer stein industry has never fully recovered. As collectibles, however, steins from the golden age were just getting started. Largely as a result of soldiers bringing them back to America following World War II, German beer steins started to appear in this country in quantity and by the mid-1960s they began to attract serious collector interest.
In recent years steins have become almost exclusively decorative items, many with themes aimed specifically at American collectors. In the 1970s Anheuser-Busch started distributing its own beer steins, which played an important part in the surge in popularity that beer stein collecting has enjoyed over the past few decades. A-B steins represent today’s most popular collecting area, even though none of them are currently more than 35 years old. The “Schultz and Dooley” character steins from the West End Brewing Company are another group of highly collectible contemporary steins made specifically for the U.S. audience. Schultz and Dooley were first introduced as talking beer stein marionettes used in television commercials for Utica Club beer in the late 1950s and early 60s. They became so popular that other cast members were soon being added to the commercials and the company began producing and distributing the first in a series of Schultz and Dooley steins, now consisting of almost 40 different characters, which continue to be sold today.
Most of the early collectible steins are German, but there are exceptions. I have 2 or 3 ivory steins that were probably carved in Italy. To the north in Scandinavia they made wooden steins, and even the Russians occasionally produced a beer stein or two. Today, more often than not, you’ll find that beer steins are made in Brazil or China, with many of the German manufacturers having succumbed to the pressures of globalization.
Collectors Weekly: How many different materials are collectible beer steins made out of?
Hand-carved ivory stein (Italy, circa 1900)
Loevi: If you can think of it, they probably made a beer stein out of it. One of the most unusual I’ve ever seen was coated with Mother of Pearl. It sold for something like $120,000 at a recent auction. Another that you won’t see very often had a silver body covered with shark skin. Most steins of course are ceramic, but many other materials get used on occasion, including metals of all sorts, from pewter to gold.
Beer steins, like many collectibles, often reflect the culture and history of the place where they were made. One of my favorite subjects on German steins is the Battle of Teutoburg Forest in 9 A.D. when the Romans failed in an attempt to conquer the Germanic tribes in the area east of the Rhine river. That might not sound very important today, but consider the fact that the Angles and the Saxons, among other unconquered German tribes, eventually emigrated to England and their language went with them. As a result of that, the way we speak in the U.S. today is significantly less “Latinized” than it might have been had the battle of Teutoburg Forest gone the other way.
Of course, that’s only one small example of the many culturally related themes you’ll see on German beer steins, including an almost unlimited array of historical events and contemporary depictions of daily life. On steins that are being made today, particularly for the U.S. market, you can find scenes depicting everything from the American Revolution to muscle cars.
Collectors Weekly: Who did the art on the steins?
Loevi: The creation of a beer stein typically requires both a concept drawing and a sculpted model, so you could easily have more than one artist involved in the process. With many of the “golden age” German steins, the concept was drawn from period paintings. For instance, the work of Franz Defregger, a prolific painter of scenes from daily life in Bavaria, appears on literally hundreds of different beer steins. Another artist whose work appears regularly on steins is Heinrich Schlitt, who’s most well-known work is found on the ceiling of the Munich Rathskeller, but whose often comical depictions on beer steins are highly sought after by collectors. The work of some of the most famous German artists of the Art Nouveau period can also be seen on beer steins, including Franz Ringer, Richard Riemerschmid and others.
Of course, these people didn’t do any of the painting on steins directly. Their designs show up in the form of a relief representation that is molded into the stein, or as a printed picture which is then applied to a smooth surface on the body, either of which may then be enhanced with hand-painting by a factory painter. Occasionally you’ll see a stein with a completely hand-painted central decoration, but they’re relatively rare, simply because they’d be far too expensive and time-consuming to produce in quantity.
Collectors Weekly: Who were some of the major manufacturers?
Mettlach "etched" stein No. 2524
Loevi: In the early days, beginning in the 16th century, every beer stein was hand thrown on a potter’s wheel. There was a master, journeymen and apprentices working in small shops, often with only three or four people. By the second half of the 19th century, mass production was introduced into beer stein manufacturing. Instead of being hand thrown, they started casting steins in molds, and that’s still what we do today.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries dozens of manufacturers opened relatively large scale production operations in Germany. The company that’s often described as the “Cadillac” of beer stein makers from that period is Villeroy and Boch. They had a factory in a town called Mettlach on the Saar river that produced well over 1600 different designs during the “golden age” of beer stein production. Mettlach steins in general tend to command a premium over other steins from the period, but most collectors seem willing to pay the price in order to be able to boast of at least one or two Mettlachs on the shelf.
There are probably about two dozen manufacturers from the “golden age” with names that would be recognized by the typical collector, most of which have long since disappeared from the landscape. Today, the biggest German manufacturer is a company called King-Werk, which wasn’t even formed until after World War II. Currently, the title of world’s largest beer stein manufacturer is held by a Brazilian company called Ceramarte, but that title may not stand for much longer, as production has been moving increasingly to countries in the Far East like China and Thailand.
Collectors Weekly: Did these companies put marks on their beer steins?
Loevi: They did in Mettlach, which is one of the reasons they are as collectible as they are. I’ve occasionally seen an unmarked Mettlach stein, but they’re few and far between, making Mettlach steins among the easiest to recognize. At a minimum, almost every Mettlach stein is marked with a company logo, a form number and the year of manufacture, so that even beginning collectors can purchase them with a relatively high comfort level. Other “golden age” steins are not necessarily so well marked, but almost every manufacturer’s steins have recognizable characteristics that make identification possible by experts.
The earliest steins (16th to 18th century) can often be found with potter’s marks, but are more typically recognized by decoration characteristics as products of a particular town or city, like the Siegburg and Creussen steins I mentioned previously.
Modern steins are typically marked in some detail and generally include the number of pieces planned in the “limited” edition, as well as a number assigned to the particular stein in question. Of course, like most “limited edition” collectibles in today’s world, the limit is typically set on the basis of how many pieces the manufacturer thinks it can sell and is largely meaningless.
Collectors Weekly: What about the lids on top of the beer steins? Did they all have lids?
Schultz & Dooley steins (modern)
Loevi: It depends on how you define “beer stein”. In Germany they have any number of terms to describe a beer stein, the most common being Bierkrug, which pretty much translates into anything you hold beer in. In the U.S. there’s an organization called Stein Collectors International, which concentrates its efforts principally on antique stein collectors, that has developed its own vernacular. To SCI members, any drinking vessel with a hinged lid is a beer stein. Without a lid, it’s a mug. If it’s a pitcher with a lid, it’s a pouring stein. Outside of SCI, those definitions don’t necessarily apply. In Germany, where it all started, with or without a lid it’s still a Bierkrug.
For a long time it was thought the Germans had enacted laws requiring the lids during the era when the Black Plague was sweeping Europe. It’s been pretty well established that such laws never existed, or if they did they were limited to insignificant geographical areas, but nonetheless lidded drinking and pouring vessels were commonplace in Germany by the end of the 16th century. If you ask a German why, the standard answer you’ll receive is that the lids kept the flies out. When the plague is coming down your street, you want to give it as little chance as possible to get into whatever you’re consuming. Today, of course, the lids are more traditional than practical, but it’s pretty easy to see how the tradition got started.
Collectors Weekly: Where do you do most of your research?
Loevi: It depends on what I’m looking for. When I’m researching a mark, there are a number of excellent reference books, mostly from Germany, cataloging stoneware and porcelain marks applied to beer steins and other ceramic objects. For research on the meaning behind a particular decoration on a stein, the Internet is by far the most important resource. I’m constantly amazed at how much information I’m able to uncover when I’m trying to find out something about a relatively minor event in history or an obscure monarch or saint. Of course, as is true with most collectibles, a critical source of information is the collector community. Much of what serious collectors learn over time has never been stored in an organized form, but we’re making every possible effort to change that state of affairs through the Library.
Collectors Weekly: What are some of the most interesting steins you’ve come across?
Loevi: I have about 200 steins in my collection, but my favorites are some of those early steins we talked about before. What makes the earliest steins most interesting to me is that each one has it’s own history and there isn’t another one exactly like it anywhere else. For instance, one of the prize pieces in my collection is a faience stein marking the coronation of August the Strong as King of Poland in 1697. How much closer can you get to holding a piece of history in your hands? Who knows, it’s even possible that a real European king actually drank from it over 300 years ago.
Porcelain steins (circa 1880-1900)
At the other end of the spectrum, I’m a baseball fan and I’ve got a stein that was fairly recently produced to honor Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs. It’s probably only worth about $20.00, but I like it and it sits on the shelf with some other baseball memorabilia. So interest is in the eye of the beholder, and if you’re a committed collector they’re almost all interesting in one respect or another.
Collectors Weekly: Thanks, Frank!
(All images in this article courtesy of Frank Loevi)
I have a Stein that is over a hundred years old. I would like to know if you put people in touch with collectors or those who could asses the value. I hope to hear from you soon.
My husband has a stein which I believe is worthless, he thinks it might be worth something, he doesn’t remember where he got it. It has a pewter top, looks to be ceramic with a raised pastoral scene with a man playing a lap harp surrounded by two women and a dog, there are two scrolls on the lower part of the stein one is inscribed wth Auf der Alm and the other with Do gibf’s koa Sund, the bottom is inscribed with triangle with a T inside it and a line at the top extending outside the triangle. Beneath is a stamped Original The Walt.
Please respond so I can put my husband’s curiosity to rest. Thanks.
I have a pair of steins that I purchased in Argentina at an antique auction. The mark has a G in the middle of it, there are also two sets of numbers carved in the bottom.
There is a foil sticker that says Alpete Alamania, and a stamp that says made in Germany that both look like more recent additions. The second stein does not have these, just the G mark and the number 73C with a small 4.
The tops are pewter looking, the motif is a medalian desgin around the base, with feather looking design in between. The glazes are a “runny” dark brown, orange, and beige. I can’t tell if it is stoneware, looks like it.
Any ideas? They are handsome, and I imagine a collector might like them.
I have a stein that my father brought to america in the 1920’s from germany. It resembles the stein that you have on your first group of steins at the heading of your site (the one on the left). It is grey with blue. It has a troll rolling a barrel down a street. the only marking is 702, and on the bottom is a large cross where it sat in the kiln. It is incised for 1/2 L. The lid is flat slightly rounded,with a ball or knob for lifting with your thumb. The lid is affixed with a band around the handle and wraps around with no seperation where it encloses the handle. It looked old in the 1940’s. He also had one that had apainting of a servant girl painted in the bottom and sandwiched between two porcelain bottoms in the bottom so that it could only be seen after you had lifted it to the light. sadley it is gone. How do I tell if it is old.
I have a reservist porcelain German beer stein with the names of the reservists listed on the stein. The company is Reservist Wichmann 1894-97. There are approximately 40 names listed in alphabetical order along with many hand painted mounted officers pictures. The stein has a pewter lid with an eagle “thumb spot ” to lift the lid. It was purchased in Bremen Germany in 1971 or 72. What is it’s value and where would I find someone to purchase it? Other writing on the stein..”Stolz zu Kolz die Liavallerie, auf dem Postenlpatn. fruh!” 1/2 L. I can not find any manufacturer name on the stein. It is in excellent condition.
I have a mug that belonged to my step dad,the bottom has Germany and the number 12.It has three different paintings around the sides,One says heilt allen schmarz,another side says IEin frohlich herz.there are small holes around the top.can you tell me anything about this mug and if there is any value. thanks!
I have a stein that I bought my husband many years ago. I have all the paper work for it but do not know were to look to see if it has increased in value. It is a limited edition Altenburg stoneware pottery stein with fan like rosettes in blue and white with a flat pewter lid. It is one in a series of 1000.I do not know if it makes a difference or not but it is marked West Germany and was made before the uniting of East and West Germany. Thank you in advance for your help. Karen
I have a stein that I found at a thrift store. It is a cream color and the top and bottom are a brown. The handel has a twist look to it. It is 5 1/2
inches tall. The picture on the front is not in any color but the cream and the brown lightly over the picture of 2 men, one holding 2 mugs, the other holds one in the air.It is in excellent condition,but very old. It has glaze cracks that look really cool.My husband says that is might be one of the throw away mugs they got at brewery tours. I found a simular one that was called a falstaff stein but it only gave discription and one pic. Please help me. I would like to know what it is and how much it is worth.
i have a beer stein that my brother brought home from germany while he was in the sevice in the early 1960’s. the name that i can make out on the bottom of the stein appears to be weizenbier-brauer, with the number e e1 , rheingonheim. there is also a symbol of A AND A g underneath the A, WITH THE #WW26. ANY INFO WOULD BE APPRECIATED. THANK YOU sandy
wear can i find out information on a very old family stein? The only markings on it are the numbers 212
letter K
the letters RM in a star. Any information would be appriciated.
Roger
I am an ex-British Regular Soldier, and during my service in Germany puchased an Antique MILITARY Beer stein.
I know from all of my readings on the subject that it is absolutely Original.
It was presented to a Musketier Siedler for his service at Giessen 1900-1902 it was an Infantry unit that he served with and the lid denotes this. it has a lithophane in the base , with the units nominal roll on either side of the handle where Siedlers name is mentioned again.And is in 1st. class condition.I am sure that it would be of great interest to a collector and would appreciate any information to its value and how best to place it on the market
I have a ceramic (?) musical stein that is stamped underneath made in England and has a Thorens Swiss movement embossed gold sticker on the bottom. The bottom is put on with wood and held on with three hinges with two screws in each. The picture on the stein is of early period 1800’s (?) people, in a decorated room, dancing in a circle with some of them playing musical instruments and a little pig dancing as well. It seems to be hand painted and quite old. On the other side of the mug is a lady in a single cart with a whip pulled by a donkey with a mountainous background. The characters are somewhat three dimensional. My grandmother had this and that is all I know about it. Your help on this would be appreciated. I know that Thorens started making music boxes in the late 1800’s early 1900’s. Thank you. Esther
I have a mug im trying to find out more about it has three scenes one with a woman carrying a green blanket,one with a man and woman the man is holding flowers the last scene is a womancarrying grapes and holding up a bunch .the only markings are R.H germany and the numbers 1243would like to find out more about or know were to go to thank you mike
I have a hand-painted, carved porcelain German beer stein dated 1812. The date is painted on outside of stein and carved into bottom of stein. The caption beneath a depiction of some type of feast reads “Falstaff in der Schenke.” Printed around the bottom of the stein is the inscription “Der Liebe Nicht Jedes Gelingt Der Durst Aber Alles Bezwingt.” The handle is a carved grapevine and the grapevine carving encircles the top & bottom of the stein. I do not know the stein’s history in my family. Our family was Dutch and came to America in the 1700’s.
I have inherited some steins from my grandfather and there is one particular one that I am curious about. It is white ceramic with a conical etched pewter lid and has a painting ofthree people, two men and a lady. One man is dancing for the lady while the lady looks on with her hands on her hips and the second man watching while seated with a cup in his hand. Below them is a scroll that reads “auf der alm da gibts koa sund”. Also, there is a lithopane at the bottom of the stein of a seated nude woman that can only been seen when you tilt the stein towards a light source. Any info would be much appreciated. Thanks. Robert
We have a stein/decanter, which ever the case may be that has a date on it 1802 on the bottom. It has the writing (DER ERSTE ZUG NIE LANG GENUG). It has what looks like a pewter lid. It has two couples sitting a table along with a woman on the end and a man standing with items in each hand. It states it was made in West Germany. Any help with this on where I could find what it is worth. Any help would be very much appreciated. It seems to be in excellent condition other than the lid has a slight dent, but still closes.
i have a western german beer stein by the Walt limited edition of 5000 with the numbers 395 engraved on bottom also a date of 1895 western germany
mug is porcelain with prinz heinrich on it old sail ship and another man prais roofevelt and 4 leaf clovers around the bottom
is this of any value and is this an old mug
I have a pair of western germany beer mugs with org mold year 1894 stamped on the bottom. They appear to be porcelain with das lob ich mir ein feines bier on one and Bier u. frohes Lied macht mie lebens miid on the other. Are they authentic antiques?
I have a Dooley beer stein that appears quite old. Anything I’ve read on the originals – mine doesn’t have any of the markings. The only markings on the one I have is on the bottom – very hard to read is “Original KING 3″ and on the left hand side of the pewter handle is etched “1/2L”. Could you give me any info on this particular stein and value?
Thanks.
i came across a western german beer stein with a castle on the bottom and the words “alt-grenzav, 1894″ also has the number 7, and a picture of a triangle with a T in the middle with the words “origin thewa”? what does this all mean?
I have a large stein, 24 inches tall it has a triangle with Gerz stamped on the bottom of the triangle surrounded by a circular band that says Gerz inside the band and a 7 outside the band. It also has a curved stamp Benoyomell with a 8 inside the curve. I purchased this stein in 1973 I know it is not particularly old but it is the largest stein I have ever seen
I have a German beer stein which reads on one side Lobich mir! and on the other side Dirndlu Bier in the lid it says DBGM with a symbol and a #63 the bottom of the stein is stamed Germany. Can you give me some feedback on this? Thank you.
Hello,
My name is Sean and I started collecting steins about 2 years ago and have about 200 diffrent ones. I collect most kind, except Japaneese. Is there a really good on-line guide i can use to make sure I am not being cheated when I buy an antique stein and it let’s me know more about the makers of steins.
Thanks Sean
We are in the middle of conducting a Living Estate Sale for my husbands 93 year old Grandfather who is in a nursing home. He has a collection of steins that he bought when he was stationed in Germany with the military. We have learned by their mark are Reinhold Merkelbach (1945 -1964). There are 11 that vary in size from about 15″ to about 7 or 8″. How do we value them and what is they best way to sell them?
Thank you for any assistance or advice you can offer!
I have a small 4 and one half inch stein that has a star of David with the initials R.M. Also the number 889. It looks like yellow ware and has burgandy flowers and green leaves on it. I am curious about the maker and the age of this stein.
thanks ,
Susan
Good Afternoon!
We have a very large (maybe 5 litres)wood & silver stein – it is decorated on both sides with a battle scene of – I think! – Moors & Christians and the spout is a bearded ´god-like´man. The markings on the bottom are
B & O´N and what looks like ´Mercury´ (the winged messenger) inside a shield shape. Is there any information that you can give us about it?
Many thanks
Kim
I have a family stien that was recently given to me. It has a rams (i think) head and a star of david between the two hooves and a enscription that reads; Wenn mun beim Bock litzt dunn Ichweigenalle Soryen. Any information/history/value of this stien would be appreciated.
Thank you,
David
I recently aquired an old stein from my grandmother. Its 200 years old (1810) and has the initials KFP on it. My grandmother purchased it for 2 cartons of smokes in the 1950’s in Italy while she was there with the State Department. Just wondering if it was worth something.
Hello, I have a antique german beer stien (I think)with the initials LL on the lip of the stien and it has some pictures of buildings with some german names etc, can you throw some light on what it’s worth and give me some back ground on LL.
thank you
Harold Roy Miller
I just purchased a small stein at a yard sale.
It stands just under 4 inches tall, and has an elaborate pewter lid that has a flanged handle with an ornate thumb opener. There is a protusion also where it attaches to the handle of the stein. The handle itself has a pattern down both sides.
The lid also looks like an engraved bell with a pointed top making the stein stand 5.5 inches tall.
The bottom of the stein in labeled “Germany”
It appears to have three scenes, one a church,with a steeple cross and fir tree, a man with four steins in his hand and a woman with an apron perhaps dancing, and what looks like a grismill with three trees in the background.
There is snow on the grismill and church.
Any ideas what is is worth or when it was made?
Under the handle are the numbers…1677.
It is cream colored with cobalt blue backgrounds to the murals, and trim with green and brown on the pictures.
Thanks for any input,
Peg
Hi I have ben looking for someone that can answer a question I have about a 1940 ish stien I own. It was a gift to my mother as I understand and after the first use was given back to my father. In the bottom is a photo af a woman not a painting but a negitive type of thing. It has little to no identifiying marks but was purchased in the 40’s in germany. I am wondering if it is worth restoring as it has a few small chips in it and the pewter top needs a little reshaping. Thanks for any help you can offer.
I have a stein that was given to me by my late father who was born in 1906 and I don’t know where he got it from. It looks like it is clay with a pewter silver lid. The scene is a woman standing beside and slightly infront of the mans side. The man has a moustache and is holding a gold pipe in his left hand and a red tie green jacket and red hat and the woman is wearing a purplish rose coloured dress with yellow frills across the breast a green hat and has a gold necklace. There is a scene of a village and green trees on the back. The scene is raised and not flat. On the bottom there is a stamp “G” and numbers 7950 and a sticker black and gold that might say gifcouf as it is hard to see. Do you know if this beer stein is valuable as it looks like it is hand painted and possibly hand made.
To Mel and others above — Online evaluations and appraisals, even when I can figure out what you’ve got without photos, are dependent on a wide range of factors and not possible based solely on written descriptions. For those who want to learn more about a particular stein and have the ability to post photographs, I’d suggest you try http://www.steincollectors.org/SteinTalk.htm, a bulletin board run by Stein Collectors International, which is frequented by a number of SCI members who are generally more than willing to answer questions. However, keep in mind that there, as here, useful responses are rarely possible in the absence of photographs.
Hi!
I was going through a “pitcher” collection of my grandmothers. There is a small (7-8″) stein. On the bottom is an inlaid stamp “western germany”; the number “3″; “7/8″ and triangle with a “T” and what appears to be another line or nail above the T……any ideas?
Thank you for your time.
Hi
I have a beer stein, who belonged to my Husband family who came from germany.
It’s 13 inches tall excluding the lid. on the bottom had a number 526 with a 0 below it. On the front it reads Eiu Kochdemedlen Gerstensaft.
Picture of people on the front a man wearing a king crown. a young man is pouring beer into a stein with a young girl holding it.
It has maroon color on th lid with designs. Green above the people heads. Then at at little bit from the people it reads FestzngdesXonigs
and below that it reads Qambrinus. not sure if it’s a Q or G.
My husband greatgrand father came from Germany.
I bought a 100 yrs and old beer stein book , nothing in there.
While living in Ok. we took it to a man in Tx.He couln’t appraise it.
I would appreciate any feed back
Thank you for your time. Anna
I recently purchased a pair of hand made antique beer steins, I have never seen before anything like it and wondered if you can tell me something about them, what is unusual is not just the carved or shaped design, but the size of them too, a whopping 18 and a half inches in height, the lids are carved lions and the colorful decorations around the mugs include zebra, tree’s, bison’s, giraffes, gnu’s and elephant (surprisingly no monkey) unless I haven’t spotted it yet, and the handles are tree branches with a leopard sitting at the top, I am more than happy to supply a photo when you reply, I believe these were a hand made limited edition as on the base of one of these is a signature and the number 3, please help if you can, thanks.
PS another unusual thing I just noticed, the signatures seem different on the bases, on one base, it’s signed but there is no number and on the other it is signed with a different name it looks like and the number 3
Hi,
I have two Reinhold Merkelbach Grenzhausen beer steins with a big G that looks like a c with an rm in the middle, well as, made in Germany with a 3305 on the bottom. All of these are stampled into the pottery. Both are 6 1/2″ high. both are of a scent of a man and a women holding hands with the man’s other arm flinging high – the woman’s other hand is on her waist – they look like they are dancing. there is a banner on the other side of the stein that has Jmmer lustig und durstig written on it (I have no clue what it says). How would I find out more information on these and is it worth it to pursue finding out or are they just ordinary steins that have no value?
Thank you for you time, Lori
I bought an antique stein in the 60’s in Osnabruck.It is grey and blue with a pewter lid. It has 5 different busts of -I presume-high-ranking army officers (prussian?) There is no name or number anywhere. I have looked and have never found anything resembling it. I can always send a photo, but would like to know more and it’s value.
I am trying to find an antique German Beer Stein that plays “O Mein Papa” … any ideas on how I can find one?
Thank you!
My brother gave me a beer stein that is glass and has a bell on top of it. It also has a whimsical scene on it …a guy with a girl on his shoulders couple of kids skipping maybe? (The girl has flowers the boy is holding a stick) there’s a guy with a red X on his shirt sleeve with a bag on his shoulder that has a big red X on it pushing some kind of cart with a guy who looks to have had too much to drink (this guy is holding a jug (of beer?) and his shoes.
The underside of the bell on top has Made in W-Germany stamped in it and the initials BMF N in a triangle. Can you give me any info on this stein?
I am trying to get some information on a Stein my Grandmother in Bavaria gave me.
I believe it is a Konigs Krug. It is in memory of the Queen of Bavaria (Lithophane of the Queen) Pewter Lid Flowers and the words “Zum Audenken”
Any help would greatly be appreciated. On the lid is engraved Koignus Herb.
Thank you for your help.
hi, i recently purchesed a thewalt lided stein. it was given out to primary pharmacies and doctors. it has many diff, stamped itens and words on bottom, it also is marked 1894. these stamps were put on the bottom of this stein before it was fired. and it also is a limited edition of 5000 it is marked with paulus & thewalt, it also is done in cobalt blue and a off white color. can u help me find more out about it as well as value???
I have a wonderfully old and gorgeous stein I’m thinking might be german. It has a decorated lid, with Blue and Yellow flowers on both sides, and a family scene of a woman seated and on a spinning wheel, another standing, pouring a drink, A man seated in a chair with a pipe and bag or something in other hand, and a boy hugging and kissing a cat on the floor. there is Green accents to frame each “picture”, with the overall stein being in a tan/peach colored glaze, with white accent “droplets” just before the base continues in the tan. All of this is raised, everyone has brown hair, Blue or Yellow dresses on women, Blue or brown shirts on boy and man, white apron on pouring lady, brown chairs and spinning wheel with a brownish basket of wool on floor, Cat is white and brown, mans shoes are brown and so is the mans shoes. Mans pants look like a greenish blue gray. The stein is marked with a Crown that has 3 lines to make it look like a crown and about 10 “dots” around the crown as jewels or accents. This is over an S that has a line intersecting it’s center with 2 hash marks crossing it from top right to bottom left just to the right of the S and intersecting line. Looks like there was once a shaped label-flat small at bottom, up to a bushy tree shape, but the top part is missing, and so is anything except the “paperglue” remains of the label. Any info at all would be greatly appreciated. I need to know whether this is a $20.00 stein or something I need to put on my insured valuables insurance. I can email pictures if anyone thinks it would help! Thanks in advance!
I just picked up a beer stein at a garage sale today. On the bottom of the stein there is a stamped impression that says original mold year 1894 and then the word Germany is stamped underneath. Also stamped at the bottom is a 4 and another stamped number which looks like 190 (?).
The stein has a domed shaped lid and is a beige color with a dark blue glaze. There are three raised pictures/scenes on of two ladies, another of 2 ladies and a man dancing and the 3rd is of two men sitting at a table. Under one scene there are the words “Auf der Alm”.
Could this Stein be worth something or is it ok for us to use it as an everyday item?
Thanks,
Mary Beth
Hello,
I hope you can help. I have a GERZ 1869 beer stein stamped with the logo and Made in Germany. There is also a mark on the inside of the lid showing “DBGM” with the logo underneith. There is a woman sitting at the table with a man. The man looks like he has a cloth in his hand and is fanning the brow of another man who is also sitting. The stein is very colorful and is in very good condition. Can you tell me what a stein dating back to this year is worth?
Your help is appreciated.
Respectfully,
Sharon
Hello,
My son acquired a beer stein at a yard sale and I hope you can tell us about it’s history, specifically it’s age, the manufacturer and it’s value. It has markings “Western Germany” stamped and also a triangle that encloses what appears to be the letters B and L linked together with a line underneath that has upward turned ends over another line that is turned downward at the ends. The stein itself is dark brown glossy glaze at top and bottom with a raised tan colored scene of two men and a dog seated and standing by a fireplace smoking pipes (the dog isn’t smoking). It appears to have had a lid at one time because there is a hole at the top of the handle.
Thank you for your consideration,
Marcia
My mom got an old German stein from a garage sale and was wondering if it was worth anything. On the front it looks like a village with the writting of gruss aus nurnberg. On the left it has a name burgparhe Nd on the right it has heukersieg. When we opened it up it had an old piece of paper that read “in minich there stands a tavern” and signe by looks like Burgander. Or something like that. Underneath the writting on the stein “gruss aus nurnberg there is a light blue shield with a yellow crown and in the middle of the shield looks like a yellow colored woman with a small crown on her head. On the bottom there is no writting but it is a musical stein. If any one can help please email at jesspepsi@hotmail.com. Thanks
I have a stein with a pewter top a raise picture of 2 women a man and a dog on the front. on the back there is a banner that says ” immer lustig-2029-immer durstig “wich I know means alway funny,always thirsty.On the bottom it has made in West Germany stamped into stein and the numbers 2029 and 16.Also has a symbol of what looks like a box with a upside down cross in it and a rose out of the top.Hope you can help me with a year and possible worth
I have a stein with a pewter top it is tapered with a 2″ opening at the mouth and about a 4″ base it is about 13″ tall and is almost completley covered with the lords prayer in german in raised letters and has a light brown glaze on top that darkens as you look lower on the stein the numbers 1624 are stamped in the bottom possibly the year? also “made in western germany” is stamped in the bottom as well as what appears to be “ws” or”sm” its difficult to make out any info you may have regarding this peice would be greatly appreciated
I have a West German beer stein that when you raise the stein it plays auf weidersehn. When the music is play a german girl with a scenic german background twirls round and round. The handle looks like it has the name D.C. Angem with Nr. 15090. Could you tell me its worth. It is in excellent condition. Ruth
I have searched for the history of a stein I have and can find nothing. The bottom is stamped Unter
Weiss Bach and there is also a number 9827. It is green and white, lidded and topped with an acorn.
There is a tan raised ram’s head on the front. It is quite beautiful. Can you tell me anything about it?
It is in great condition. Thanking you in advance for any info.
I have a german stein that is embeded on bottom of stein with “3006/germany and signed as well. It is a 1/2 stein and has the star of david on it with a pewter tiered top and is cobalt blue, and says seems to be cermaic or some kind of kiln fired material with verbage written on it as follows Burgpartie,Gruss aus Nurnbeg,Henkersteg. Looking for meaning as well as cost, ive had for about 20+ years, please help if possible. Thanks in advance for any info/input.