Page 1 of 11 The Stein Line The Newsletter of the Carolina Steiners - Jerry Berg, Editor December, 2014 President’s Message: In November, we enjoyed another successful meeting, our last Stein Club meeting of 2014. It was hosted by Nick and Cheryl Griffin. A great big thank you goes to Nick and Cheryl for again hosting a great meeting. Also, thank you Nick for giving such a great presentation on Modern Mettlach steins. Don Franz was most gracious to donate a Marzi and Remi stein for our raffle. Thanks Don. This has been a great year for the Carolina Steiners, we have added five new members, Rich Howard, Rose Magee, Judy Stewart, Ravi and Pratibha Patel. We also have been very fortunate to have many guests attend our meetings. Inviting guests equate to potential new members. I am looking forward to 2015 this year being our 20th anniversary. As you all know this meeting will be held in Helen, Georgia on Nov 7th. We have a whole year to plan this special meeting, and I know it will be a very memorable event. Thanks for your continued support. You all are what make our club the greatest! Don and I want to wish everyone a joyous holiday and a very Happy New Year!! We look forward to seeing you all in Greenville SC on April 25th. Prosit, Angela Happy Anniversary! (December – June) Charles & Drema Harden Dec 08 Jerry Berg & Lin Edmonds Dec 23 Jo & Ginger Gehres Feb 18 Mike & Sandy Allred Feb 22 Martin & Mary Ann Hettich Jun 08 Jody & Millie Wyse Jun 15 Happy Birthday! (December - June) Jerry Berg Dec 01 Henry Burgwyn Dec 04 Mary Ann Hettich Dec 04 Sandy Allred Dec 24 Millie Wyse Dec 29 Lin Edmonds Dec 30 Beckie Etheridge Jan 03 Ken Etheridge Jan 03 Loretta Franz Jan 09 James Jollie Jan 30 Jody Wyse Jan 31 Cheryl Griffin Feb 07 Carl Bowen Feb 28 Frank Briden Feb 28 Drema Harden Mar 07 Margie Brune Mar 08 Mike Allred Mar 12 Doug Ritchie Mar 15 Gretchen Briden Mar 17 Don Franz Apr 07 Martin Hettich Apr 16 James Hall May 14 Kathy D. Howard May 15 Tracey Reardon Jun 13
Transcript
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The Stein Line The Newsletter of the Carolina Steiners - Jerry Berg, Editor December, 2014
President’s Message:
In November, we enjoyed another successful meeting, our last Stein Club meeting of 2014. It was hosted by Nick and Cheryl Griffin. A great big thank you goes to Nick and Cheryl for again hosting a great meeting. Also, thank you Nick for giving such a great presentation on Modern Mettlach steins. Don Franz was most gracious to donate a Marzi and Remi stein for our raffle. Thanks Don. This has been a great year for the Carolina Steiners, we have added five new members, Rich Howard, Rose Magee, Judy Stewart, Ravi and Pratibha Patel. We also have been very fortunate to have many guests attend our meetings. Inviting guests equate to potential new members. I am looking forward to 2015 this year being our 20th anniversary. As you all know this meeting will be held in Helen, Georgia on Nov 7th. We have a whole year to plan this special meeting, and I know it will be a very memorable event. Thanks for your continued support. You all are what make our club the greatest! Don and I want to wish everyone a joyous holiday and a very Happy New Year!! We look forward to seeing you all in Greenville SC on April 25th. Prosit,
Angela
Happy Anniversary!
(December – June)
Charles & Drema Harden Dec 08 Jerry Berg & Lin Edmonds Dec 23 Jo & Ginger Gehres Feb 18 Mike & Sandy Allred Feb 22 Martin & Mary Ann Hettich Jun 08 Jody & Millie Wyse Jun 15
Happy Birthday! (December - June)
Jerry Berg Dec 01 Henry Burgwyn Dec 04 Mary Ann Hettich Dec 04 Sandy Allred Dec 24 Millie Wyse Dec 29 Lin Edmonds Dec 30 Beckie Etheridge Jan 03 Ken Etheridge Jan 03 Loretta Franz Jan 09 James Jollie Jan 30 Jody Wyse Jan 31 Cheryl Griffin Feb 07 Carl Bowen Feb 28 Frank Briden Feb 28 Drema Harden Mar 07 Margie Brune Mar 08 Mike Allred Mar 12 Doug Ritchie Mar 15 Gretchen Briden Mar 17 Don Franz Apr 07 Martin Hettich Apr 16 James Hall May 14 Kathy D. Howard May 15 Tracey Reardon Jun 13
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If your Anniversary and/or Birthday was omitted, and you would like to be included, please let me know. Similarly, if your information is incorrect, please notify me. I’ll be happy to modify my list with the requested additions, or corrections.
Collectors: I find these websites very useful and informative:
www.steincollectors.org (SCI’s website) http://steincollectors.org/pss/infolnk2.htm (The Library of the Pacific Stein Sammler Chapter – maintained by John McGregor)
http://www.beerstein.net (The Beer Stein Library – maintained by Frank Loevi)
http://www.steveonsteins.com (Steve on Steins – maintained by Steve Smith)
http://www.steinmarks.co.uk (Stein Marks – maintained by Chris Wheeler) http://www.porcelainmarksandmore.com/resources/list_included.php (Porcelain Marks & More – maintained by Christopher S. Marshall)
http://www.mysteincollection.com (My Stein Collection – maintained by Paul van Eck)
http://www.charactersteins.com (The Character Stein Book – Maintained by David Harr)
Do you have any websites that you found provide a reliable source of information about stein collecting? When you are trying
to research a stein in your collection, where do you go? If you know of such a site, send me their links and I will add them to this list of reference sites.
Jerry
Future Meetings & Events:
What – Spring 2015 Chapter Meeting
Hosts – Don & Angela Strack When – April 25th 2015 Location – The Bavarian Pretzel Greenville, South Carolina Program – Program and meeting details will be in the next Stein Line. What – Summer 2015 Chapter Meeting Hosts – Jerry Berg & Lin Edmonds When – July 25th 2015 Location – Winston Salem, NC Program – The Munich Child – meeting details will be in a future Stein Line. What – 2015 SCI Annual Convention When – Sept 25th - 27th Location – Lake Buena Vista, Orlando, FL Programs – A detailed agenda will be on the SCI website, and in Prosit, as it is developed.
What – Fall 2015 Chapter Meeting
Celebrating the Carolina
Steiners’ 20th
Anniversary
Hosts – The Carolina Steiners When – November 7th 2015 Location – Helen, Georgia Program – Program details will be in a future Stein Line.
If you have not yet sent your 2015 Chapter Dues to our Treasurer, Margie Brune, now would be an excellent time to do so. In fact, while we are on the subject of dues, now would also be a good time to check whether your SCI dues are also due. For your dues for the Carolina Steiners Chapter, please send a check for $15 to: Margie Brune, 38 Dakota Ct, Hendersonville, NC 28791. If you find that your SCI dues are also now due, you may send a check for $35 (for one year) or $100 (for three years) to: SCI Treasurer, 8002 NE Highway 99, PMB 72, Vancouver, WA 98665. Of course your SCI dues may also be paid via Credit Card, or by using Pay Pal. See the SCI website for details: (www.steincollectors.org). Your SCI dues include a paid subscription to Prosit, the magazine for Stein Collectors.
At Our Last Meeting
At our last (November 8th) meeting, we had a circumstance present itself that we haven’t had to deal with before. Our meeting site had the wrong acoustics for a presentation. This was due to the meeting being held in a large room which had no partitions between us and other patrons, coupled with a very high ceiling which absorbed sound before it could travel very far. This made it difficult
to hear the entire presentation that Nick, gave unless you were very close to the speaker. Therefore, I asked Nick if he would mind sending me an abbreviated version of his presentation for this newsletter, in order to fill in the gaps where certain portions of his presentation may not have been completely understood by all attendees. Nick was kind enough to do so, and I have divided his presentation into two sections. In this edition of The Stein Line will be the portion that addressed general subject of Modern Mettlach steins. Then in the next (spring) edition of The Stein Line I will include the portion of his presentation that focused on one stein and relayed the story depicted on that stein (The Firebird).
Modern Mettlachs A Synopsis by Nick Griffin
I opened my program emphasizing that one can amass an impressive collection of quality steins while still working within a budget. I mentioned as an example some other steins that I also collect such as Girmscheid steins. Next I tried to define “Modern Mettlachs” by briefly looking at the history of Villeroy & Bach’s stein production. It is widely accepted that the Golden Age of stein production occurred from the 1880’s up to about 1920. In about 1920 several factors combined to alter V&B’s stein production.
1) The end of WWI had a profound effect on the German people and their economy.
2) The economics of producing and selling high quality steins was being undercut by other manufacturers producing quality products designed
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2) to be sold at a lower selling price.
Competition included firms like J.W. Remy, Mathias Girmscheid, and Dümler & Breiden.
3) The public taste also had changed. Instead of the classical and mythological scenes that had been popular, people were more attracted to themes like daily life in Bavaria, and scenes with a military theme.
4) A great fire at the Mettlach factory and the loss of many of the molds had its impact also.
I mentioned that V&B still continued production of Dinnerware and personal sanitation items in many of their other factories. Here I presented an example from their Luxembourg factory from part of a Dinnerware set. Next I presented a set of steins depicting Great Naval Battles. These steins were produced in 1981 in the Delft style by Galleria Ceramica and specifically commissioned by V&B as limited editions. I presented each stein and briefly spoke about each battle. Specifically: 1. Battle of Spanish Armada, 2. Battle of Trafalgar 1805, 3. Battle of Lepanto 1571, 4. Battle at Flamborogh Head (this is the battle of John Paul Jones fame), and 5. Ostendien 1752. Each stein also has a matching plate which I own, but did not bring to the meeting. I also brought a show and ask stein which looks to be made by the same company and in the same style and with the same details. Turns out this stein was produced as a limited edition celebrating the FIFA World Cup for 1986 which was held in Mexico. My thanks to Martin Hettich for help in translating its text.
Next up were the Russian Fairy Tale steins. This is a set of twelve issued in 1989 in quantities of 12,500 each. These steins differ from the set of 4 Russian Fairy Tale steins issued earlier (1986) in that these were produced in a smaller size referred to as Demi Grand, while the 1986 set of four are 0.5 liter steins. Also differing is that the Demi Grand size each depict one scene, while the 0.5 liter set of 4 each contain three scenes per stein. I was fortunate here that Ravi Patel brought the set of four to the meeting. Each scene shown is from the Russian Fairy Tales which combine to form the story of The Firebird. These (4) steins are truly stunning with artwork by Boris Zvorykins. They appear to be hand-painted transfers and were issued as an American Express Exclusive. Next I presented a set of 4 steins, referred to as the Brothers Grimm fairy tale steins. These steins are etched and were colored by using a technique referred to as Chromolith. Each of the four steins have scenes from three different fairy tales with one of the scenes repeated on the inlay lid. Inside of the lid is a picture of the Brothers Grimm. These four Brothers Grimm steins consist of: #2901 – Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs / Little Red Riding Hood / The Frog Prince. #2902 – The Twelve Dancing Princesses / Rumplestiltskin / Hansel & Gretel #2903 – The Brementown Musicians / Rapunzel / Sleeping Beauty #2904 – The Shoemaker and the Elves / The Golden Goose / Cinderella Finally, I presented a couple of single steins. For example The William Tell stein issued through Galleria Ceramica as a 10,000 limited edition in 1981. Nick Griffin
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Editor’s Note regarding the
Modern Mettlach Collection: First of all, I want to thank Nick Griffin for taking the time and effort to provide a brief recap of his presentation at our November meeting in Asheville, NC. As you can tell from his synopsis, a tremendous amount of effort and research went into his presentation. Also, as previously explained, part two of this article will be in the next Stein Line and will relay an abbreviated telling of the story of the Firebird steins from within the Russian Fairy Tale series. I would also like to explain that the term Modern Mettlach steins is generally considered to have begun in 1976 with the production of a single stein referred to as the Black Forest stein. This was one of four single steins which were not part of any specifically themed grouping. Beyond those four single steins were produced the following themed stein series: The Four Seasons (4 steins) Fairy Tale Series, Brothers Grimm (4 steins) Fairy Tale Series (4 steins) Famous Sea Battles Series (6 steins) Wagner Opera Series (4 steins) Russian Fairy Tale Series (4 steins) Centennial Car Series (4 steins) Russian Fairy Tale Series (12 smaller steins) The majority, but not all, of these stein series were issued as American Express Exclusives. The final steins in this Modern Mettlach category were issued in 1989. The above information was culled from The
The limited edition stein celebrating the Mexico FIFA World Cup for 1986 was not included in The Mettlach Book.
Stein Images from Nick’s
Presentation:
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More Images from Nick’s
Presentation
Some Christmas Theme
Questions & Answers
Q – In the song about the 12 days of Christmas, what are “Calling Birds”? A – The words in the song have changed over the years; those were originally “colly birds,” referring to European blackbirds. The word colly is an English dialect word for soot. Q – When did the tradition of hanging up stockings for Christmas get its start? A – The tradition supposedly dates back to fourth-century A.D. Lycia (modern-day Turkey).
According to legend, a poor man had three daughters but could not afford the dowry for them to be married. St. Nicholas secretly threw a bag of gold through the window, and the eldest daughter used it as a dowry so she could get married.
Nicholas did the same for the second daughter.
Then the father grew curious and hid behind the window so he could catch the mysterious benefactor.
Nicholas threw the bag in the window for the third daughter, and it landed in a stocking she had hung up to dry. Nicholas begged the man not to reveal that he was giving the bags of gold, not wanting to draw attention to himself.
But word eventually got out and when anyone got a gift from a mysterious source it was attributed to St. Nicholas.
A different tradition in Britain says that the custom of hanging stockings started when Father Christmas was coming down the chimney and gold coins fell out of his pockets. The coins would have fallen through the ash grate and been lost had they not landed in a stocking that had been hung out to dry.
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Some photos from our last meeting
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And some more photos
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Helen, GA – Our 20 Year Anniversary, Coming in November
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Carolina Steiners
An affiliated chapter of Stein Collectors International, Inc.
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