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Stein Zeitung

Erste Gruppe, the Southern California Chapter of Stein Collectors International

To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research.

Erste Gruppe Chapter Bulletin: Issue No. 140 25 April 2011

Inside this issue:

1. EG Officers & Chapter Meeting Dates

2. Erste Gruppe Chapter News and Updates 3. Kellogg‟s Road Trip to the Pacific Northwest 4. Meeting the Linda and Elliott Jones Family 5. Mettlach Barrel Steins, Dr Roy De Selms

6. California Dreaming II, Ron Fox

Erste Gruppe Officers (2010)

Pres. Pat Cunningham 1st VP. George Hartman 2nd VP. Don Smith (Resigned) Treas. Roy Kellogg, Roy Kellogg, rsklg@msn.com Recording Sect. and Sunshine Lady, Sue Kellogg Historian. Sharon Cooley Board of Directors: Lee Poppie and Bill Gaumer Stein Zeitung Assembler – John Mann, johnmann2@cox.com.

EG Board Members

1st year board member - Chris Gundel 2nd Year board member - VACANT

Erste Gruppe Chapter meetings (2011)

6/18 General at Poppie's 7/2-7 Convention in Providence, RI 8/13 Board at Patel's 9/10 Board at George and Sherry Hartman's 10/8 General at Hill's

Golden Gate Zecher 2011 Event Calendar

July 2 – 7: SCI Convention, Providence, RI Sept. 10: Dick & Julie Hughes - Belmont Nov.: STILL OPEN

PSS meetings 2011 June 11, 2011- Redmond, OR, Betty & Gary Criswell

Sept 10, 2011- Bellevue, WA, Delsie & Earl Waring

Dec 2, 2011- Keizer, OR, Sandra & Keith Martin

SCI Updates :

SCI Conventions

Jul 5-8, 2011-Providence, RI

Late July, 2012-Annapolis, MD

Erste Gruppe Chapter News

Sue Kellogg‟s notes from The April 2011

Board Meeting. Lots of the EG big wigs weren't

there, but those of us that showed up had fun: The

Attendees were the Kellogg's, Pat McMane and

Tom, the Patel's, Cunningham and Terri, Mark

Fieger, Al Myers, Don Smith and Verna, the

Gaumers', Love's, Manusov's, Roy De Selms and

Sharon, and the Poppies x three.

A show of hands was requested for those that

plan to attend the Rhode Island Convention, Only

Kellogg's, Pat McMane and Patel's raised their

hands. There was some discussion about trying to

find new members for Erste Gruppe and getting

name tags for our membership. Congratulations to

our President Pat Cunningham who has joined SCI! Mary Myers had outpatient surgery for (?), Al didn't

remember....should have asked him before he found

the beer supply! Wilson's and Belsha's didn't make

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it but plan on coming to the Poppies' in June. Claire

Hill called me and she's doing better with her

pinched nerve in the back and drop foot. Claire has

physical therapy and a chiropractor. Gene Manusov

said he called Jon Rosenbaum two weeks ago and

Jon was very depressed. Jon said, “I do not want

visitors or phone calls”, so keep those cards coming!

Jon hasn't even started Chemo yet~

George Hartmann is trying to recover from knee

replacement and says, “It ain't for sissies”.

We are getting older, falling apart, but still like to

party. See you at the Poppies on 18 June, Be There.

FYI, Don Smith has resigned his post as 2nd

VP.

Anyone needs a good job that comes without

benefits or pay. Send resume or raise your hand.

Membership: We have lost two annual dues paying

members: Tim and Tony Peters and Paul Newman.

One lifetime member has moved without a

forwarding address: Col. Jim and Barbara Reilly

have had their EG meeting notices returned with a

P.O. note „Address Unknown‟. This has never

happened before; the P.O. usually gives you 6

months before the mail is returned to sender. Rumor

Control says, “Jim was some sort of „Super Snoop‟

(?)”…… so who knows? Maybe he is "undercover",

living incognito in a foreign land.

EG Meeting Minutes: Dec. 4, 2010 ,from EG

Christmas party

7:05 PM the meeting was called to order by

President Mark Fieger. The minutes from the Oct.

meeting at the Hill‟s were read and approved.

Treasurer‟s report was given as $12,581.49.

Jim Riley and Al Myers spent $200 on flyers and

promotions for the Ron Fox Auction in November.

It was voted on and seconded that $200 would be

given to them with our approval.

Roy Kellogg made a motion for extra money be

given to Mark Fieger for the extra money spent at

the Marmalade restaurant. An extra $10 per person

will be sent to him.

Mark Fieger gave a report from Ron Fox after the tri

chapter auction.

1. Will there be a tri-chapter auction for 2011?

2. New member Brent Taylor will join the Erste

Gruppe club.

3. 30% of the sales were brought in by the audience

4. Next year‟s decision will be up to new President

Pat Cunningham.

The new slate of officers for 2011 was decided on by

Frank Poppie, Jim Belsha and Terry Hill.

Pres. Pat Cunningham

1st VP George Hartman

2nd VP Don Smith

Treas. Roy Kellogg

Sect., Recording Sect., and Sunshine Lady Sue

Kellogg

Historian Sharon Cooley

Board of Directors: Lee Poppie and Bill Gaumer

The schedule for the 2011 meetings is as follows:

2-19 General at Roy and Sue Kellogg‟s

4-2 Board at Elliott and Linda Jones‟

6-8 General at Lee and Frank Poppie‟s

7-6/8 annual convention in Providence, RI

8-13 Board at Ravi and Pratibha Patel‟s

9-10 Board at George and Sherry Hartman‟s

10-8 General at Terry and Claire Hill‟s

Christmas party TBD

New President, Pat Cunningham, will speak about

obtaining speakers for next year‟s meetings. To get

3 speakers for a year, it would cost $750. Discussion

about money in the treasury followed. This will be

discussed further at the Feb. general meeting.

Meeting was adjourned at 7:45 PM.

Submitted by Sue Kellogg, Sect

Erste Gruppe Minutes: from Feb. 26, 2011

General meeting at the Kellogg’s’

The meeting was called to order by our new

President, Pat Cunningham, at 3:45 PM.

A big round of applause was given to Roy and Sue

for their kind hospitality and great food. The

weather held out for 20 people to join us this cold,

wintry day. The minutes were read from the

Christmas meeting of 2010 and were approved.

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Treasurer‟s report was read and we have $11,760 in

our treasury. Current annual membership dues are

still coming in which will add to our fund.

Sunshine Corner Report: There has been no word

from Gil and Annie Quinones as to their health.

John Mann had neck surgery on Feb. 25, and Carole

Mann said he was up and about in his hospital room,

wearing a neck brace and will come home on Feb.

28. Claire Hill is suffering from sciatica and could

not attend. Penny Sinder had knee surgery; Lua

Hooper had cataract surgery, and Jon Rosenbaum is

still recovering from his cancer surgery.

Several members have requested a list of current

members and their addresses. The secretary will

take care of this.

We have no nominees for the awards for the Stein

Convention for Master Steinologist, etc.

George Hartmann has volunteered to take on the role

of finding speakers for our club for this year. I will

get the list from Lyn Ayers for him.

Ron Fox will be the new PROSIT editor.

Meeting was adjourned at 4:10 PM.

Ron Fox kindly gave us a lecture of about various

steins. He was given a check for speaker‟s fees for

$150.

Submitted by Sue Kellogg, Sect.

Jon Rosenbaum Terry Hill writes:

Hi to all of Jon's friends: This is an update on

Jon's post operation days. Jon is still re-coopering at

the Norris Clinic of the USC Medical Center and

maybe will be returning to his Irvine home in the

early part of next week. As I mentioned before,

Jon's operation went well and as soon as his body

begins to respond, in this case the beginning of

regular bowel movement he will be going home.

Well, this has not happened and until it begins Jon

will not be released. Additionally Jon went through

a series of post operation exams and scans and

unfortunately when they examined Jon's lymph

nodes they found evidence of cancer. This was a

huge blow to Jon and Gail. At this point they are

looking at plans to remedy this situation. The most

probable approach will be an aggressive chemo

regime. I have spoken with Jon a number of times

since his operations and he is getting stronger each

day but is terribly dejected over the whole situation.

However, as each day goes by, Jon's resolve

becomes more intense and he wants to get on with it

all.

Jon Rosenbaum

13 Crosscreek

Irvine, California 92604-3625

Kellogg’s Road Trip to Oregon and Washington

in March 2011, by Roy and Sue Kellogg.

Roy and I were fortunate to be able to drive

up to the Northwest two days after our Erste Gruppe

meeting at our house. Of course, being retired, we

stopped at most of the antique stores we saw along

the way. Always fun looking, even though you don‟t

find what you want.

Cold, rainy weather was the norm almost

every day. While in Oregon, I spotted a concrete

deer statue for the yard. Most of you know we live

in the mountains, quite open and home to many

forest animals. Well, seeing this poor cold, wet deer

standing out in the rain, I just knew we had to take

him back to warm, sunny California.

Good thing I had my camera with me, for I

was trying to take pictures of the 3 men it took and

the use of a dolly to transport this deer to our SUV,

without laughing out loud and insulting them. It

took quite a while and many manly muscles to get

this deer into the back seat of the car, strapped in

with 2 seat belts. Of course, it was pouring rain at the

time! For the rest of the trip, we got so many double

takes from truck drivers, looking down into our car

and seeing Bambi strapped in place. was the hit of

the trip.

Of course, we had so much fun with staying

at Lyn and Janine Ayers in Vancouver, WA... They

are so congenial and we had lots of laughs. We

enjoyed their Open House on Friday night, after

most of us had been at the Portland Expo during the

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day. And their other houseguest was Phil

Masenheimer, so you know we had fun!

Michael O‟Hare hosted the dinner/meeting

the next day and was great to see fellow Erste

Gruppe members there like Ron and Sue Fox and

Les Paul. The interesting guest speaker of the day

was Robert Holczer‟s presentation on Art Nouveau

movement. He is a Holocaust Survivor also.

We spent a fun evening visiting Ted and

Glenna Scheer, formerly of Southern California at

their Lake Oswego, OR home. Glenna is now

confined to a wheelchair so it is difficult for them to

attend PSS meetings unless there are NO stairs

involved. It was good renewing our good times

together after not seeing them for two years.

After we left all our Northwest friends, we

headed for home via another route and stopped by

Jim & Jean Belsha‟s in Porterville, CA and spent the

night there, “testing out” his home brew and doing

lots of talking and laughing. Leaving there the next

morning, we stopped at Bob & Colette Wilson‟s

home in Springville, CA, to check up on them. They

were glad to see us, and now have a live-in

housekeeper to take care of them. Colette is having

memory difficulties and has a hard time speaking

and remembering names. They hope to join all of us

at the Poppie‟s June meeting.

Sure was a fun filled 10 days on the road and

visiting with people who are so much a part of our

lives. I look out at Bambi every day, and think about

all the fun we had.

Roy, Sue Kellogg and Bambi

For Sale, 3 Quality Display Cabinets:

Following is a picture of two of dad's (EG

member JACK E. SINDER, M.D., Deceased) stein

cabinets. Before Marlon and I finalize what we will

do with them I thought I would see if any members

of Erste Gruppe would have an interest in purchasing

them. There are three cabinets. Each can stand

alone. They were made for him with craftsmanship

rarely seen today... inlaid wood, brass hinges, very

strong glass shelves, two overhead lights in each,

mirrored backing. Dad paid $1,200 a piece for them.

Ron Fox thought the starting value for each would be

about $800 at this time.

Please let me know if you think anyone in the

club may have an interest. They can contact me

directly at (510) 282-3687. I have limited e-mail

access. If someone is interest they will need to make

their own transport arrangements. Right now we are

working on getting them unbolted...he did an

amazing job at that! Penny Snider, CA, EG member.

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Meeting Elliott and Linda Jones family, By Sue Kellogg and Sharon Cooley

The Jones' are such lovely people and were so

accommodating to us during the April Board Meeting.

They have three children, a 6 yr. old son named Matt, a

17 yr. old daughter living at home and a 21 yr. old

daughter who was married the week before our

meeting!!! Elliott also has a granddaughter from his first

marriage that is in the service.

Their home is huge and is equipped with 7

bathrooms and about as many bedrooms, plus they have

added the stein room. The stein room had been a work in

process but preparing for this meeting put the fire under

their feet to get things done. Linda Jones said they

finished painting the stein room that morning! Elliott has

displayed his collection like Lyn Ayers of PSS fame;

three walls of steins under plexi-glass doors on Lucite

shelving. All shelves illuminated so you can see each

stein from the top row to the bottom. The stein room also

has a built-in bar, a bathroom, and a baby grand piano.

A special thank you to Elliott and Linda Jones,

lovely people and gracious host that made us feel right at

home.

Linda Jones with her Daughter

Verna

Roy De Selms, Elliott Jones and Mark Fieger

Central Planning

Roy De Selms, Al Myers on Inventory duty.

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Lee Poppie and Frank Poppie III.

Frank and Allene Love and Pat Cunningham

Hedda (Sweet Sue) Hopper is gossiping to Pratiba and Sunnie.

The Collection, Al, Lee, Mark and Don.

Roy De Selms, Don Smith and Elliott Jones

Article submitted by Sue Kellogg with Photo images

provided by Sharon Cooley, EG Historian.

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Mettlach Barrel Steins - More Questions

Than Answers Roy De Selms, SCI Master Steinologist

It seems fairly certain that when steins that

are marked “Villeroy & Boch, Mettlach”, they were

in fact made at Mettlach. So it is with one of the

most common Mettlach #675 Barrel steins (fig. 1),

dated 1900.

Figure 1

The most usual lid is seen in figure 2 with a hops

bud and leaf in plain tan.

Figure 2

Occasionally the lid is in full color as seen in (fig 3)

dated 1906. Other lids have also been seen as the one

in (fig 4) on the #675 barrel stein in (fig 5) with the

Mercury Mark date of 1897.

Figure 3

Figure 4

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Figure 5

Most odd figural lid inlays on early V&B relief

steins are those associated with Ludwig Foltz II and I

would like to think that the barrel stein was designed by

Foltz, but cannot be certain at this point. The stein bodies

shown here are all marked with the thin “675" (fig 6) but

earlier or different mold marks have been found (fig.7).

Figure 6

Figure 7

This earlier style mark often attributed to

Mettlach, but with no confirming "V&B" or "M" or

"Mettlach" is found on steins made prior to the 1885

Mettlach catalogue. Although these early steins look very

much like the catalogued steins seen in the Mettlach

catalogues, they do not have "capacity marks" and are of

capacities different from the even 0.5 (1/2) L or 1.0 (1) L

of the metric system capacities adopted in Germany about

1875. The #675 steins appearing in the 1885 Mettlach

catalog were probably made from earlier existing models

and/or molds because they were available in capacities of

0.3 L and 0.58 L which changed by the 1905 Mettlach

catalogue to the even 0.25 (1/4) L and 0.5 (1/2) L

capacities. Note that the lid inlay is one that originally

appeared on Early (?) Mettlach stein #328 designed by

Ludwig Foltz II, but never appeared in the Mettlach

catalogs of 1885 and later. However all the examples of

the #328 stein that we've seen do not have a pewter thumb

lift and the hat faces to the rear so it can be used as a

thumb lift. This type of pewter thumb lift has been found

on other (?) Early Mettlach Wares. How these marriages

came together is not entirely clear and it appears that the

example in (fig 5) has an early pre - 1875 lid on a later

post 1890 capacity marked body".

Recently a marriage of this same #328 lid with a

Rheinhold / Merkelbach #124 stein has been seen (fig. 8).

However it can be said with certainty that the lid (fig. 9)

was transferred later to this stein since it has the #2309 on

it where higher numbers in the series have been seen on

the completed steins. It is suspected that the original #328

body had been badly damaged, but the lid was saved.

Figure 8

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Figure 9

Now let‟s turn our attention to another

claimed to be Mettlach stein #468 (fig. 10) with an

inlay with a radish (fig. 11) which also did not

appear in the Mettlach catalogs.

Figure 10

Figure 11

The stein in figures 10 and 11 is marked "468

7" (fig. 12) and does not have any Villeroy & Boch

or Mettlach or any other markings. Note the

similarity of the impressed mold number mark and

the "7" to that in (fig 7). Could this "7" be a code for

V&B at Septfontaines (seven fountains)?

Figure 12

Since this stein also has no capacity marking

and has an unusual capacity of about 0.6 liter, it was

probably made before 1875 and could be even

earlier. But was it made at Mettlach? Who knows?

What we can say is that it should be placed in the

Early Wares section if at all and definitely not in the

catalogued Mettlach section of any listing.

Now to the piece de resistance (fig. 13). Here

is a stein that I‟ve not encountered before in well

over 50 years of looking for steins and does not

appear in the Character Stein books with other

barrels or in any listing of Early Mettlach Wares.

That would probably make it rare and is the reason

for this article.

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Figure 13

First look at the relief scene (fig. 14) on the

front of three jolly fellows toasting. This is a typical

Ludwig Foltz II scene and with the pilgrims hats and

boots characteristic of his work, but no signature as

usual.

Figure 14

Note the handle in (fig 15) is very similar to

Proto-Mettlach steins by Ludwig Foltz. It has a

similar radish inlaid lid (fig. 16) which is exactly the

same size as the one shown previously in (fig 11).

The radish leaves are slightly different sizes, but they

are hand applied and therefore subject to decorator

placement.

Figure 15

Figure 16

This stein also has no capacity mark and does

have an unusual capacity of about 0.8 liter probably

dating it to before 1875. The final mystery to this

stein is the unknown to us impressed base mark

“P&S” (fig. 17).

Figure 17

The “P&S” mark is not necessarily that of the

maker, but might be that of a “finishing shop” that

ordered it made with their logo on the base. Could

this be an Early Mettlach stein? It has all the quality

of Mettlach including the white interior. If anyone

can give us more info on this stein, we would surely

appreciate it.

The End

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California Dreaming, part two

By Ron Fox

Since the Photos from the Road series seen in Prosit has

been so popular, I thought it would be interesting to do a

similar series for local chapter newsletters, called

“California Dreaming.” This new series will feature the

most interesting steins from the collections found on the

west coast. This first segment will cover steins found in

the collections of Golden Gate Zechers. If I have never

visited your home to take photographs of your steins, I

hope you will extend an invitation to do so.

In our last newsletter, I started a new series

about the unusual steins found in collections on the

west coast. I thank you for the very positive

response. In this installment, I will be concentrating

on the unusual steins found in just one collection.

With one of the largest collections (if not the largest

collection) located in our area, it would be foolish

not to start there. Obviously, I am talking about the

stein collection of Les Paul. Anyone that has visited

his collection quickly understands his dedication and

zeal for our hobby. With his 1000+ character steins,

1500+ miniatures and 750+ early faience and glass,

one trip is not enough to take it all in. Actually,

several trips won‟t do it either. I lived there for nine

months, and every day I noticed something different.

Each day I woke up in a museum.

The first stein I want to share with you is one

of Les‟ newer acquisitions. After giving a talk at an

out of town

meeting, a collector

told him about a

hops bud stein he

owned. Les assumed

he was referring to

the pinecone, but

this collector

insisted he had a

hops bud piece.

Well, sure enough,

Les received a photo

in the mail and as

you can see, that

was exactly what

the guy had. The good news for Les was he was

unaware this stein existed and the collector was

willing to part with it. It now sits proudly within Les‟

collection.

The next stein,

with the name Karoline

on its base, has always

intrigued me. With the

shell necklace and

tropical flowers in her

hair, she must be an

important girl from one

of the Pacific islands. It

is made by Schierholz,

and to date, we have not

seen another one. I am

still looking though.

My wife became

fascinated with items

depicting the Native

American image. In

less than a year she has

amassed over 700

items from old tins to

Rookwood pottery.

When I showed her

this unusual Diesinger

stein depicting Chief

Red Cloud, I was

directed to find her

one, and she would

like hers in color!

She‟s tough and I

better find one soon. It

is going to be very

difficult, as this is the

only one we are aware

of.

The next stein

is a frog stein is

usually found with the

frog playing a banjo.

This rare version, with

him playing a squeeze

box, is another tough

stein to find. It makes

you wonder if he is

found playing other

musical instruments.

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Next, how

would you like to try

and take the fish

away from this cat?

He doesn‟t look so

warm and cuddly. I

say let him eat, and

we will visit with

him next time, on a

full stomach!

Next we have

another Cat Stein.

Now, this little ¼

liter fellow I can

warm up to. He is

made by the HR

factory and I can

almost hear him

purring. I better not

show my wife, or she

will add this to my

list to find.

Last but not least we have an Amberg

Porcelain made a

series of full figured

German military

figures. This is the

last stein from Les‟

collection. It depicts

Frederick III who

served as the Kaiser

for a mere 99 days.

He developed larynx

cancer, and died

early in his reign.

This concludes this installment and I look

forward to continue this series from another one of

our local collections. The End