Vol. 2, No. 106 The Beer Stein Magazine June 2018 · study of beer steins and other drinking...

Vol. 2, No. 106 The Beer Stein Magazine June 2018

Oh those minis... 1/8 L. or smallerPhotos From the Road by Ron Fox47th Installment

Keep on drinking!§11 - The Definitive Explanation

by Terry Hill

A Survey ofJW Remy Production

by Lyn AyersKarl Ens and

Beautiful Porcelain Works of Artby Walt Vogdes

Visit the SCI web site atwww.stein-collectors.org

Prosit (ISSN 0147-5274)is the official publication of Stein Collectors Interna-tional (SCI), a non-profit organization devoted to thestudy of beer steins and other drinking vessels. Prositis published in March, June, September, and Decem-ber for SCI at 4121 Lewisburg Rd., Birmingham, AL35207-2117. Periodicals postage paid (011-582) atMontgomery, AL, and additional mailing offices. Duesare $35 per year ($45 for overseas addresses, ofwhich $40 is used for a one year subscription toProsit).

POSTMASTER: send address changes to SCI, 3748 Mulberry Lane, Williamsburg, VA 23188

Direct organizational correspondence to:Eric Salzano

14319 Briarwood TerraceRockville, MD 20853 or

[email protected]

Send all editorial items & advertising to:Prosit Editor, Steve Breuning

3439 Lake George RoadOxford, MI 48370 [email protected]

Steve Breuning - EditorEditorial Staff: Walt Vogdes

STEIN COLLECTORS INTERNATIONAL, INC.© 2018 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Reproduction in whole or in part without writtenpermission is prohibited.

S.S. George Washington...................................by Jack Strand

Yale Trophy.........................................................by Jack Strand

2018 SCI Convention Richmond, VA.................presented by Gambrinus Stein Club

Photos From the Road.......................................by Ron Fox

Paragraph 11 Mark Finally Solved (1982)Terry Hill

Governors Foot Guards Anniversary Stein........by Alain Stenbeeke

A Survey of Stein Production of JW Remy.........by Lyn Ayers

1/8 Liter Munich Brewery Advertising Steins......by Andy Jurgovan

Masonic Mystery Solved....................................by Allan S. Fogel

A Present Day Heinrich Schlitt...........................by Irv Johnsen (dec.)

Frau Wirtin Hatte Einen... ...............................by Ron Hartmann

Portfolio..............................................................by Northwest Orient Airline

Beautiful Porcelain Works of Art.........................by Walt Vogdes

I Bought This Beer Stein the Other Day... .......by Jon Hoffmann

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What’s Inside

Prosit is available in print and digital form (eProsit). Digital access is via theSCI website, and full issues can be downloaded to any device capable of read-ing pdf files. Print subscribers have access to both forms.

Prosit Subscriptions/Renewals USaddress

Canada/Mexico Overseas

One-year print subscription, new or renewal $45 $50 $55Save! - Three-year renewal for current subscribers! $125 $135 $145

One-year digital subscription, new or renewal $25 $25 $25Save! Three-year digital new or renewal $65 $65 $65

ONLINEPay via PayPal account or your own

credit card using PayPal online

Visit the SCI web site atwww.stein-collectors.org

then click on SUBSCRIBE / RENEW

BY CHECKMake your check payable to SCI

and mail to

SCI3748 Mulberry La.

Williamsburg, VA 23188

Subscribe or renew a subscription at any time, either online or by mail.

From the LibrarianChapter officers, does your chapterhave members who do not belong toSCI? The Library has an offer for thosemembers and I would like to enlist yoursupport.

Have they ever seen a copy of Prosit?Have they seen one recently? Un-doubtedly you are aware that SCI is of-fering a membership that includes asoft copy of Prosit at a price lower thanfor a printed newsletter. As the librar-ian, I can offer a sample soft copy forfree! For all the years I have been Li-brarian, there has been concern thattoo many of our chapter members aremissing out on the benefits of member-ship in SCI. I believe that this newtechnology will entice some of our non-member stein collectors to look at SCIand its offerings more seriously.

The bottom line is this: would you con-tact a few of those non-SCI members,ask them if they would like a compli-

mentary copy of Prosit. If they have in-terest, send me their email. I will sendthem a soft copy of a recent edition atno cost.

On the other hand, if they are not com-puter and internet savvy, if you sendtheir mailing address to me, I will mailthem a printed copy of Prosit—againfor free.

There is another part of this scenariototally separate from current chaptermembers. I am happy to send a com-plimentary copy of Prosit, either printedor emailed, to a random collector or al-most-collector anyone in your chapterknows.

It’s up to you to help. Let me know howwell this is received. I hope to heargood things from you.

Lyn Ayers—[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Prosit, June 2018 Page 3

By Jack StrandSCI Master SteinologistMeister Steiners

The ocean liner S.S. George Washing-ton was built in Germany in 1908 andwas, at that time, the third largest shipin the world. (It could hold 2900 pas-sengers.) She sailed from Bremen,Germany to New York. One of the rea-sons for the name George Washingtonwas the appeal it would have for mostof its passengers: immigrants going tostart a new life in America. She servedin this capacity until the outbreak ofWorld War I when she was seized bythe then neutral U.S. and interned. In1917, the United States brought herinto service as a troop transport. TheGeorge Washington had a long sailinghistory including resumption of transat-lantic passenger service after WWI andthen participation in World War II as anaval vessel. She was removed fromservice in 1947 and sold for scrap in1951. The ship was sumptuously ap-pointed with a first-class dining salonseating 350. It boasted two elevatorsand unusual features such as 20

dog kennels, a kennel master,a 50’ x 70’ solarium and aphoto dark room for amateurphotographers. Throughouther history, she had many no-table passengers. This was soin July 1911 when the S.S.George Washington carried ashipment from India of 6 whitepeacocks, 2 lions, 2 elephants,150 monkeys, and some 2,000

canaries destined for the recently or-ganized Saint Louis Zoolog-ical Park. An interestingsidebar is on April 14, 1912while enroute to New York,her crew spotted an icebergsouth of Newfoundland. TheS.S. George Washington ra-dioed a warning to all shipsin the vicinity. The Titanic ac-knowledged receipt of thealert. Twelve hours later theTitanic struck the icebergand the rest is history.

By Jack StrandSCI Master SteinologistMeister Steiners

In 1852 the first Harvard-Yale crewboat regatta occurred. This was alsothe first ever American intercollegiatesporting event. And, it also started therivalry between the oarsmen of Har-vard and Yale. The regatta became anannual event in 1864 and is now in its151st year. Thus far, Harvard has won95 times and Yale 56. In the 1890race, this glass bottomed pewter steinwas awarded to Yale. It is 6-3/4” tallwith a 6” diameter at the base taperingto 4-1/2” at the top. The base inscrip-tion reads: “Yale versus Harvard, NewLondon, June 27, 1890. Won by Yale.G.S. Brewster No 3. Time 21 min 29sec. Dist 4 miles”. On the front, sur-rounded by laurel leaves, is the Yalecrest adorned by oars along the sidesand flags at the top (one U.S. and oneblank). This is a good example of astein presented to a winner of a sport-ing event.

S.S. GEORGE WASHINGTON YALE TROPHY

0.5 L Reinhold Hanke stein #1411.Partially handpainted pottery steindated 1913.

Page 4 Prosit, June 2018

Richmond, Virginia will be the site ofSCI’s 52nd annual convention. Pre-con-vention activities are scheduled for July10 and 11. The convention itself is July12 through July 14, with checkout fromthe hotel July 15.

The convention hotel is the Omni Rich-mond Hotel, 100 S. 12th Street, Rich-mond, VA 23219. The Omni is indowntown Richmond and is convenientto restaurants, shops and “must see”attractions.

Pre-Convention Activities

Tuesday, July 10, is the first pre-con-vention day and begins with a city tourof Richmond in the morning. Our tourguide is from the Valentine Museum,which specializes in Richmond’s his-tory and all things Richmond.

The afternoon offers a choice of twotours. One visits Shirley Plantation,

which was established in 1613 and isstill a working plantation. The Civil Wartour visits two museums and, as an op-tion, the Confederate White House.

Wednesday, July 11, features a com-mercial auction by Fox Auctions. The

exhibit will be in the morning and theauction in the afternoon.

The First Timers Reception will be from5:00 pm to 6:00 pm.

Convention Activities

Stein Sales

The stein sales room will be openThursday and Friday afternoons.

Consignments for the members’ auc-tion will be accepted while the steinsales room is open.

The members’ auction will be Saturdayafternoon.

Speakers and Round Tables

We will have three speakers at gen-eral sessions, two on Thursday morn-ing and one Friday morning.

Phil Masenheimer will be firstspeaker. His book “Long Live the Oc-cupational Stein Collector” displays hisbroad knowledge of occupationalsteins which he will share with us. Hewill also show some unique and desir-able steins.

Our second speaker will be ExecutiveDirector, Eric Salzano. Eric willspeak on drinking vessels other thansteins. His collection includes some im-portant and rarely seen examplesspanning a period of centuries. He willexhibit a number of them after his talk.

Dr. Beatrix Adler will speak on therole of Mettlach in Villeroy and Boch’shistory and ceramics.

We will have eight round tables,four Friday morning and four Saturdaymorning. Each round table will be giventwice, so you will be able to choose twoout of four each day.

The round tables for Friday morningare:

1. W.R. Barney on “Rare and Un-usual Character Steins”

2. Nick Griffin on “Modern Mett-lach Steins: Fairy Tales, Ships andMore

2018 SCI Convention Richmond, VA


3. John Harrell on “RegimentalSteins”

4. Dennis Hunsicker on “ Copper,Brass and Bronze Steins”

The Saturday morning round tablesare:

1. Allan Fogel on “Pewter Marks”.He will have reference books andasks that members bring piecesthey would like identified.

2. Ralph Joyce on “MettlachCameos”

3. Jim Sauer on “Overlaid andStained Glass Steins”

4. Judith Stuart on “Drinking asArt and Entertainment-Elegant andFun Drinking Vessels from the1700’s to Today”

Dining and More

Each day of the convention begins witha buffet breakfast as part of the con-vention package.

The hospitality room will be openThursday afternoon, Friday eveningafter dinner and Saturday afternoon.

Thursday Evening

The first evening of the convention willbegin with a re-enactment ofPatrick Henry’s famous “GiveMe Liberty or Give Me Death” speechin St John’s Church, where he gave itin 1775. His speech was given in a de-bate between loyalists and patriots.After the reenactment we will be ableto mingle with the costumed actors be-fore boarding buses for a short ride tothe Virginia State Capitol.

We will have a catered buffet inthe original part of the Capitol de-signed by Thomas Jefferson. We willbe in the Rotunda, the Old SenateChamber and the JeffersonRoom. Docents will explain the vari-ous rooms to us.

Afternoon Tea

Afternoon tea will be Friday after-noon in the Jefferson Hotel, whichhas been fully restored to its originalluxury. Forbes Magazine has called it“the best hotel in America.” Afternoontea at the Jefferson is a Richmond tra-dition.

German Night

The convention will conclude Satur-day evening with a reception andGerman night dinner at the Omni Hotel.We will have a twelve piece band thatplays German big band musicfrom the 1920’s, 1930’s and 1940’s aswell as traditional “gemϋtlich” music. Ofcourse there will be the best costumecontests, so bring your Lederhosenand Dirndls.

Hotel & ConventionRegistration

The convention rates at the OmmiHotel are $119 per night for a sin-gle or double room. Discounted valetparking is $10 per day. These rates areavailable for three days before andafter the five day convention period. Tobe sure of getting these rates, reserva-tions must be received by the hotel by5:00pm on June 18th. To make a reser-vation call: 1-800-843-6664 or registeronline at https://tinyurl.com/y9cbfrsy.There is a one day charge if you leaveearly after confirming your departuredate at check-in.

You can register for the conventionusing the form which was included withthe March Prosit or online with PayPalvia a link provided on the SCI website,www.stein-collectors.org.

More to See and Do

A few of our favorite attractions in andnear Richmond are:

Agecroft Hall was built in Englandabout 500 years ago. In 1926 it wasdismantled and rebuilt in Richmond. Ithas period furnishings and extensivegardens.

“Napoleon Power & Splendor,”a special exhibit containing over 200works of art will be at the Virginia Mu-seum of Fine Art during our convention.Tickets for the exhibit may be pur-chased online. The museum is free ex-cept for special exhibits.

The Virginia State Capitol offersfree tours. We are having our openingnight buffet in the Capitol, but the tourwill cover more.

Carytown is an eclectic area ofsmall, locally owned shops and restau-rants occupying a mile long section ofWest Cary Street. It’s not to be missed.

The Lewis Ginter BotanicalGarden covers more than 50 land-scaped acres.

The Valentine Museum focuseson Richmond. It includes an 1812house, as well as a 19th century sculp-tor’s studio (the sculptor was EdwardValentine).

Williamsburg was the capitol of Vir-ginia for much of the 1700’s. It has a301 acre colonial area restored asnearly as possible to its 18th centuryappearance with 500 restored or rebuiltbuildings. It is less than 50 miles fromRichmond.

For questions contact Carol Fox at [email protected] or RichardStrom at [email protected] or(301)-530-2403.

P

SCI’s52nd AnnualConventionSee you there!


This monument

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Photos From the RoadForty Seventh Installment

By Ron FoxSCI Master Steinologist

This entire segment will cover minia-ture steins from the Les Paul collection.They are 1/8 liter in size or smaller. Asyou will see, they made these ministeins in the same materials and styleas the larger versions.

This first page shows steins made ofporcelain with transfer scenes. The toprow begins with a stein depicting awoman standing by a tree.

The next stein features a womandressed in ethnic clothing wearing avery fancy hat.

The top row ends with a stein showinga woman lion tamer having a lion jumpthrough a hoop.

The first two steins in the middle rowdepict two of the three Kaisers. First isKaiser Wilhelm I. Second is KaiserFriedrich III. It is safe to assume thereis one of Kaiser Wilhelm II.

The middle row ends with a couple ina boat watching a volcano erupt. Thatis an odd scene.

The bottom row starts with a stein of ayoung man in military uniform. Beneathhim is written “Kronprinz Friedrich Wil-helm.” He was the oldest child ofKaiser Wilhelm II.

Next is a stein of a couple dressed inethnic clothing. The transfer is done inblack only. I would think they alsomade a full color version.

We end the page with a stein featuringthe Lucerne Lion. This monument com-memorates the Swiss Guards whowere massacred in 1792 during theFrench Revolution.


This monument

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It

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wearing a swan

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These were

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This page begins with a stein of twochildren, one is playing a drum whilethe other has a pair of cymbals.

Next we have a stein with three bulldogs. They graduate in size from theright to the left.

The top row ends with a stein featuringtwo kittens looking over a fence at flow-ers. It has an inlay lid of a town scene.Inlays on miniature steins are unusual.

The middle row begins with a potteryrelief Diesinger stein. It has a scene ofa large bird.

Next is another pottery Diesinger steinwith a different bird. These two steinsmake a nice pair.

The middle row ends with one moreDiesinger stein made in threaded relief.It features a Lohengrin character, fromthe Richard Wagner opera, wearing aswan helmet.

The bottom row starts with our lastDiesinger stein that depicts a girl wear-ing a fancy bonnet. It is also made inthreaded relief.

Next is an enameled glass stein with afloral decoration. It has a matchingglass inlay lid. It looks like somethingthe Moser firm would have done.

The last stein is very interesting. It ismade of stoneware and at first lookslike an HB stein from the HofbrauHaus. It has a crown of forget-me-notflowers, but instead of the usual HB, ithas HPA. On the rear it commemoratesthe marriage of a couple with those ini-tials. They were married in 1907 in thetown of Nurnberg. These were proba-bly favors given to some guests at theirwedding.

Page 8 Prosit, June 2018 2018

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This page starts with a pottery steinfeaturing William Tell walking withhis son with a crossbow over hisshoulder. The sides show buildingscenes from his town.

Next is a very cute stein of two rab-bits, one eats while the other standswatch. The decoration is done ingreen only.

The top row ends with a stein show-ing a cat dressed as a chimneysweep riding a bicycle. A mousewearing a dress is not far behind. Iguess we could actually call this anoccupational stein.

The middle row begins with a steindepicting a hunter out in the forest.His dog is at his feet while the foxruns off behind a tree to live anotherday.

Next is a glass stein with an enam-eled decoration of a fox. I could findroom for this one.

The middle row ends with a stein ofa hunter and his busy working wife.

The bottom row starts a group ofstoneware steins with decorationsdesigned by Franz Ringer. The firstone depicts a Munich Child standingon a large Oktoberfest pretzel.

The next stein shows three boys sit-ting on a fence. The view is of theirbacks and they are wearing clothingfrom three different countries.

This page ends with a stein featur-ing a rampant lion in a floral panel.

Prosit, June 2018 Page 9 2018 Page 2

This page continues the stonewaresteins with decoration from FranzRinger. The first stein shows a youngboy in military uniform on a toy horse.It is a souvenir from the town ofGmunden.

Next is a stein showing a mandressed like old Saint Nick. There isa long verse on each side of him.

The top row ends with a stein of awoman holding a basket in one handand a heart in the other. It is a sou-venir from the town of Nurnberg

The middle row begins with a com-panion to the last stein. This one fea-tures a similar scene and it is also asouvenir from the town of Nurnberg.

The middle of the page is a stein of alarge proud white dog. There is a longverse beneath him.

The middle row ends with a steinshowing a funnel within a wreath. It isone of the symbols for the town ofNurnberg and a souvenir stein formthis town.

The bottom row begins with a stein ofa young boy wearing a military uni-form. He has a large rifle over hisshoulder.

Next is another boy dressed in anUlan cavalry uniform and riding a toystick horse.

The last stein on this page features aMunich Child holding a radish andbeer stein. It is a souvenir from Mu-nich.


has a cherub finial.

N is a English relief stoneware steinm

This page will really show how diversi-fied miniature steins really are. It be-gins with a stein only about one inchtall. It is made of brass that is coveredwith leather.

Next is a Viennese enamel over brass.It depicts a well dressed woman.

The top row ends with a detailedcarved ivory stein. It is of early warriorson horseback. The base, handle andlid are made from silver.

The middle row begins with one morecarved ivory stein. Unlike the previousone, the stein is entirely made fromivory, except the strap and thumblift. Itfeatures hunters on horseback andtheir dogs.

The middle of the page is a stein madefrom stag horn. It is only a little largerthan one inch and has a silver base,handle and lid. Even with its very smallsize, it has a matching stag horn inlaylid. Very unusual.

The middle row ends with a Vienneseenamel stein. It has a tall slender bodyshowing a couple in early fancy cloth-ing.

The bottom row begins with a Vien-nese enamel stein having a very de-tailed Romanesque chariot scene. Thematching inlay lid has a cherub finial.

Next is an English relief stonewarestein made by Doulton.

The bottom row ends with one more Vi-ennese enamel stein. It features chil-dren playing cards. The brass lid has afinial of a cherub on a barrel. These Vi-ennese enamel steins are usually ex-pensive.


from the Nurnberg factory. It de-

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This page begins with 18th centuryfaience steins. The first one wasmade at the Nurnberg factory in themid 1700’s.

Next we have a faience stein fromthe Schrezheim factory. It features asimple floral decoration.

The top row ends with anotherfaience stein from the Nurnberg fac-tory. It depicts Jesus Christ.

The middle row begins with a steindated 1674. The body is shaped likea melon and has a floral decoration.

The middle of the page is a faiencestein from an Austrian factory. Itshows a floral scene.

The middle row ends with a milkglass stein. It is from the early1800’s and has an enameled leap-ing stag scene.

The bottom row starts with a milkglass stein made around 1800. Ithas an enameled scene of a birdperched in a tree.

Next is one more milk glass stein ofa game bird. This stein was madearound 1820.

The last stein on this page is Bo-hemian glass from around 1850. Itis ruby stained and has a wheel-cutbuilding scene. It has a glass inlaylid.


She holds a radish.

T

These last two pages are of miniaturecharacter steins. The first is of old SaintNick. He carries a green bag and hisbeard has not turned grey yet.

Next is a pewter stein made in theshape of a funnel. It is a souvenir fromthe town of Nurnberg.

The top row ends with a stein depictinga Munich Child. There is a series ofmini stein in this shape depicting vari-ous characters.

The middle row begins with a pig stein.he sits on his hind legs and has a verseon his belly.

The middle of the page is of a skullstein. It is about 1/16 liter in size.

The last stein in the middle row is of astanding alligator. It was made for theAmerican market, as it is a souvenir forNew Orleans, Louisiana.

The bottom row shows three differentminiature Munich Child stein. The firstwears a beer barrel and is holding aradish and large beer stein. It wasmade by Schierholz.

Next is the Munich Child made ofbisque porcelain wearing a black robeand holding a radish.

The last stein on the page is the thirdMunich Child. Again we note the beerbarrel and the usual radish and largestein.


consisting of an iron cabinet witha hinged front and spike-covered in-t

This page starts with a pottery steinof a Dutch boy. His mate is the sec-ond stein. This pair is very difficult tofind and makes a great set.

The top row ends with a MunichChild. The figure holds a large steinand has the diamond pattern whichis a symbol for Munich.

The middle row begins with a Bohneporcelain Munich child. You usuallyfind this stein in a maroon color. Thisstein is the less common black color.

The middle of the page is a stein inthe shape of a bull dog. It sits holdingthe name of our magazine, “Prosit.”

The middle row ends with a Schier-holz mini of the standing alligator.This also comes as a mustard putwith a set on lid and cut out for thespoon.

The bottom row starts with a pewterversion of the Iron Maiden, a torturedevice consisting of an iron cabinetwith a hinged front and spike-cov-ered interior. This was not somethingyou wanted to experience.

Next is the Nurnberg Goosemanmade by the Bohne factory. Thereare two fountains in Nurnberg of thisfigure.

The last stein for this segment is apewter miniature in the shape of aMunich Child.

We will be traveling across the coun-try this July on our way to the Rich-mond convention. We hope to seemany of you there.


ThisarticlefirstappearedinSteinZeitung,theErsteGruppechapternewsletter,in1982.Thearticlehasbeenlightlyed-ited,andtheoriginalphotographs,whicharenolongeravail-able, have been replacedwith others which illustrate thepointsmadebytheauthor.

Paragraph Eleven Mark Finally Solved

By Terry HillSCI Master Steinologist Erste Gruppe

One of the more curious symbols frequently found on beerdrinking vessels is the paragraph of law designation and thenumber eleven (§11). For the contemporary stein collector thisquasi-legal no tation holds cryptic meanings, but for the suds-men of a long ago time, the meaning was readily apparent.Rarely is the stein collector or stein user ever confronted withlegal article numbers other than 11. (An exception is V & BMettlach stein No. 1526/599. Illustra ted on that 1-liter vesselis a print of a horn blowing cavalier and a scroll on which ap-pears §12 and a quote from its contents.)

This symbol prompted a great deal of discus-sion and scrutiny during many ErsteGruppemeetings over a decade ago. In fact it led to arequest by this writer of the readership ofour chapter newsletter in 1970 (VOL. IINO. 3, 1969). I asked the membership forhelp in cracking this riddle. The responseswere many and the solutions varied – notwo collectors were in agreement.

One collector proposed that the 11 repre-sented the official beginning of Karneval,an enthusiastic Rhineland celebration.From its initial moments at the 11th hourof the 11th day of the 11th month, thisKarneval season reaches a frenzied cli-max just prior to Ash Wednesday. OtherGerman locales also regale this season, but few can comparewith the activities of the gusto seekers of the Rhineland.

Another collector claimed that the §11 mark represented theoft-stated article of law that decreed that steins should be fit-ted with a lid for protection against critter invasion.

Perhaps the most laudable of the solutions was advanced bySanta Paulan, Lotti Lopez. Her answer appeared in ournewsletter (VOL. II NO. 5):

“In an answer to a recent Question-of-the-Month, Mrs. Lot-tie Lopez of Santa Paula, California writes:

“concerning the inquiry about this sign (§11). I wrote to Ger-many and found out the following: § is the (Greek letter)sign for an article or paragraph of law. According to an ar -ticle of law (§11 of the Bavarian State and Federal Law)

the manufacturers of eating utensils (such as pewter ware,lids for beer steins, etc.) could only add a certain percent-age of another metal to their base alloy. In the case ofpewter, §11 stated the exact amount that could be added.Before this law came into effect, lead was often added topewter, and dishonest merchants would use too much ofthis poisonous metal, often with serious lead poisoning aconsequence.

I find this §11 only on my thumblifts, and it is my guess thatthe Zinngiesser (pewterer) only wanted to show his com-pliance with the law by putting it on the lift.”

Dankesehr, Lottie. This is an example of another bit of in -formation that keeps a continual dialogue going amongstein collectors. Anyone else on the subject?”

When another E.G.er, Gene Manusov, published TheEncy-clopediaofCharacterSteins in 1976, he countered the Lopeztheory with the claim that §11 was a portion of the Brewer’sCode. The steins that appear in the Manusov Encyclopediawith the §11 markings (Nos. 10 & 11), are a pair of seated

cats (symbol of the hangover). Bothof these felines are wearing studentcaps and are clutching §11 in-

scribed mugs. And so the debatemarched on...

For years I struggled withthese concepts and felt littleresolve in their theories. Iquestioned: What serious beerhefter would claim as his trustydrinking piece, one that wasemblazoned with esotericmessages from brewers andZinnmen? Why does this signappear so often on pewterless

mugs and wooden beer kegs?In spite of the plethora of 11’sthat shout out for attention atKarneval time, what does the

regular beer quaffer use the other 364 days?

Soldiers toasting comrades, students at their Kneipe, or reg-ulars at the Stammtisch; these German beer drinkers wereserious about their sport. Often these “good old boys” wouldtry to capture those moments of fellowship and Gemütlichkeitwith pithy slogans on their beery bechers. Our mysterioussymbol was to be no exception.

In recent weeks I ran across an old tome, OneHundredYearsofBrewing:ASupplementtotheWesternBrewer. H. S. Richand Co. published the 718 page compendium of brewery lorein Chicago in 1903. The work claims to be a complete historyof the progress made in the art, science, and industry of brew-ing in the world, particularly during the 19th Century. The pub-lishers did indeed accomplish this task. The section onBrewing in Germany and in particular the discussion of the

Prosit, June 2018

beer drinking customs of students at Heidelberg Universityprovided at long last a resolution to the §11 conundrum.

The BierComment or beer code rigidly governed the beer sip-ping activities of the students. The drinking customs at Hei-delberg, one of the oldest and most celebrated of Germaninstitutions of learning (and good fellowship), were typical ofthe practices in vogue at other universities. The beery codesat Bonn, Gottingen, Stuttgart, etc. all oversaw the students’frothy adventures in the same manner as those of Heidelberg.At the writing of this brew ing history, the Heidelberg BierCom-ment had undergone a number of significant revisions andeditions since its original formulation in 1829.

Unique among codes, the Heidelberg BierComment beganwith para graph 11. Paragraphs 1 through 10 were purpose-fully left blank. It was understood at the time that these com-mandments or laws were the Ten of the Old Testament.Cornerstoning the entire BierComment of Heidelberg, theeleventh paragraph or commandment read, “Eswirdfortge-soffen.” A free translation proclaims, “Keep on Drinking.” Ah,the sagacity of those stein toting fellows of another century!In addition to the 11th commandment, the BierComment ex-tensively detailed the organization of the Kneipe table, itsmembers, drinking violations, punishments, drinking bouts,toasts, etc. How anyone survived these orgies is a greatermystery than §11 posed.

The illustrations that follow will demonstrate not only the pres-ence of our §11 mark, but also will convey the spirit of the“Eleventh Commandment.” Seen below is a 1/2 liter studentstein made by Merkelbach & Wick with a form number of2092. We see in the middle panel a group of Burschen (fra-ternal fellows) in their various modes of dress, while sideviews depict the tom cat (hangover) and the herring (hang-over cure), both products of a student beer orgy (Kneipe).Around the base of the vessel is a circlet of §11’s.

Another 1/2 liter drinking piece, this one from the factory ofReinhold Hanke (Form No. 957), pictures a group of well oiled

dwarfs in a cellar. Safe from the disapproval of women, thesedwarfs are joy fully indulging in man’s favored vices — beerand tobacco. The §11 mark on the barrel head reminds thelads to “Keep on Drinking.”

[Ed.:Thenexttwoparagraphsandaccopmpanyingphotosreplacesimilarmaterialintheoriginalarticle.]

Beer drinking has always been a team sport involving boasts,challenges, spills, stumbles and, in the case of the Germanuniversity students, singing and the rigid rules of the BierComment. Here we observe a group of students posing withsouvenirs of their student lives.

Page 15

Group photographs of German soldiers sometimes includedbeer barrels on which the §11 symbol has been painted. Thisnext photo shows such a group apparently preparing for theirjourney home - by any means necessary - after their servicetime is complete.


Reinhold Hanke, makers of this squat 1 liter vessel, describe itas a BergSeidel – a mountain stein. The Höhr-Grenzhausenbased company listed its price at R.M. 4. - 5.50 (variation indecor cost) in their catalog. The base of the stein carries FormNo. 1769. The scene pictured satirizes the ability and mannerin which the Holy Roman Emperor had been chosen historically.Here we see the SiebenKurfürsten, the seven electors, hardat their task of emperor selecting at Wallensee, a beautiful lakeresort in Switzerland. Visitors to this lake today can’t fail to no-tice the dramatic chain of craggy and often snow capped peaksknown as the Churfirsten. On our pictured vessel, these samemountain peaks with Elector bodies are seated around the re-flective table (Wallensee) to choose their new man. Red nosesare the most obvious features of these inebriated nobles, muchthe same as a gathering of tippled students at a Kneipe. Theleader of the group is reading from that article of law, “Eswirdfortgesoffen” – Keep on Drinking!

BibliographyAllers, C.W. DasDeutscheCorpsleben. Leipzig, Germany:

Union Deutsche Verlaggesellshaft, 1902.Auerhahn, K. GasthausZurHirschgassetoHeidelberg. Hei-

delberg, Germany: Heidelberger VerlagsanstaltG.m.b.H.,1926

Manusov, Eugene. EncyclopediaofCharacterSteins. DesMoines, Iowa: Wallace-Homestead Book Co., 1976.

SteinZeitung. Quarterly newsletter of ErsteGruppe chapterof SCI.

OneHundredYearsofBrewing:ASupplementtotheWesternBrewer,1903. Chicago, Illinois: H.S. Rich and Co.,1903.

Photo creditsClaire Hill (Merkelbach & Wick #2092)Richard Stattler (Hanke #1769)

Prosit, June 2018

More...There’s Always More!

Quite naturally the §11 symbol is al-ways seen with a reference to drinking,and frequently with other symbols ofover indulgence. Here are some lesscommon images.

Page 17

Above: Two Mettlach steins where the §11 symbol may beoverlooked. Left,one-liter #1273(1526) depicting a man re-turning home with the monkey on his back, and the cat trailing

him closely. Right, #2051, a group of Burschen drinking andsmoking. Note the §11 symbol in Roman numerals on theback of the chair of the fellow at the left side of this scene.

Below, several period postcards.

Reinhold Merkelbach #2062 designed byHerta Kasten for a Student Art compeition.


Alain SteenbeekePacific Stein Sammler

I bought this stein a few years ago oneBay because I thought it was unusualto have a dinner menu on a stein.When I received the stein, it was notonly fascinating to research the Sec-ond Company Governors Foot Guardshistory, but also what people ate in1906 at this anniversary dinner.

This stein was made by an Americancompany called The Handel Company.The Handel Company was formed in1885 in Meriden, Connecticut by PhilipJ Handel and Adolph Eyden. In 1890the company opened a retail show-room in New York where their productswere displayed. Handel bought hispartner out in 1893 and in 1898

changed the name to Handel & Com-pany and subsequently in 1903changed it to The Handel Company atwhich time it also became a foundry.

The Handel Company is most noted fortheir beautiful lamps, which can fetchup to thousands of dollars each. Theyalso made a few other items like vases,plates, tobacco containers, bookends,candle sticks and of course a fewsteins. These items were made begin-ning in 1906, but production was lim-ited since the main purpose of theHandel foundry was to make lampbases. While these objects - part of theHandel Ware line - are not common,they aren’t extremely valuable in com-parison to the lamps. It is unknown ifthe lid was made by Handel, but sincethey were also a foundry, it is likely.

This stein was a special-order stein tocommemorate the Second CompanyGovernors Foot Guard. It made senseto use this company to create these

steins since the 2nd Foot Guard wasfounded in New Haven Connecticut,less than 20 miles south of Meriden.The Foot Guard units were establishedto escort the governor of Connecticutand the General Assembly at the Gen-eral Elections after an unfortunate inci-dent that happened previously.

The First Company Governor’s FootGuard was organized in Hartford in Oc-tober 1771 as the Connecticut Gover-nor’s Guard, and is the oldest militaryorganization in continuous existence inthe United States. Although other or-ganizations may have been formed atan earlier date, the First Company isunique in its record of unbroken serv-ice.

The history of the Second CompanyGovernors Foot Guard is an interestingone. The first meeting of the SecondCompany was held at Beer’s Tavern inNew Haven, CT on December 27th,1774. Sixty-five young men gathered

on this occasion, amongthem some notables includ-ing Ethan Allen, BenedictArnold and Aaron Burr whobecame Vice President ofthe U.S. under Jefferson. When the news of the Battleof Lexington reached NewHaven on April 21st, 1775,some 58 of the 2nd FootGuard voted to march toCambridge to the assistanceof their fellow patriots inMassachusetts. The nextday, April 22, Arnold, thefiery young commander ofthe Second Company, as-sembled the men, in fulldress, on the New HavenGreen. They received theblessing of Rev. JonathanEdwards, then marching upto Beer’s Tavern, Arnold de-manded of the Selectmen,

Governors Foot Guards Commemorative Anniversary Stein


the key to the King’s powder. The Se-lectmen were reluctant to yield. Arnold,shouting, “None but the Almighty Godshall prevent my marching,” forcefullypersuaded them to turn over the keyenabling him to claim the powder, balland flint and march with his men to theaid of their fellow patriots in Boston.The pageantry of this exciting historicevent is re-enacted annually by theSecond Company. “Powder HouseDay” has been a yearly tradition in theElm City (New Haven) since 1904. Thisstein commemorates the third “PowderHouse Day” get together and the 131st

anniversary of the Second CompanyFoot Guard.

Besides escorting every Governor ofCT and some Presidents since 1775,other historical events of the companyinclude a battle against a large Britishinvasion force in New Haven in 1779.They also helped defend the city ofWashington in 1861 against confeder-ate forces. They also fought in 26 bat-tles in the Civil War when they wereknown as Co. “K” of the 6th Connecti-cut Volunteers. Their mission today re-mains primarily ceremonial, but theycan be called up to active service toaugment the Connecticut NationalGuard for state emergency operations.

The official uniform of the SecondCompany was adopted on Feb 2,1775. “A scarlet coat of commonlength, the lapels, cuffs and collars ofbuff and trimmed with plain silver washbuttons, white linen vest, breeches andstockings, black half leggings andsmall, fashionable and narrow ruffledshirt.” The coat was made with slidepockets but no flaps. On March 16 ofthe same year cartridge boxes, hats,cockades were adopted. The hair was

clubbed behind, the side locks braidedand powdered.

Now to the menu. My mouth startedwatering when I read the many coursesthat are listed on this stein. What wasalso interesting is the many drinks thataccompanied each course of the meal.It started off with a grape fruit, servedwith a Manhattan cocktail. Blue Pointoysters were then served along withcelery, salted almonds and olives. Thatsounds delicious. This was followed bya soup that was popular in the Victo-rian period: Mock Turtle soup. What isinteresting is that back then, they oftenused brains and organ meats such ascalf’s head and calf’s foot to put in thesoup. Now, that doesn’t sound too ap-

petizing to me. The next drinkserved is a Claret which is ared wine from Bordeaux. Themain meal consisted of de-veled crab in the shell whichmade my mouth water. Filletof beef, my favorite, is servedwith mushrooms sauterneand accompanied with stringbeans and creamed potatoes.You can then rinse thingsdown with punch-a-la 2nd Co.G.F.G. Who knows what thatpunch was mixed with? Thenext item I had never heard ofbefore is a broiled squab withcurrant jelly served withSaratoga chips. It turns outthat a squab is a young pi-geon. You don’t see that onmenus very often these days.And if you haven’t hadenough to drink yet, they alsoserved a French champagnefrom G.H. Mumm & Com-pany. To finish things off, theyserved ice cream and cakes

as well as Roquefort cheese withcrackers. To sober you up, you couldchoose between Apollinaris (Germannaturally sparkling water) and blackcoffee. I think after that meal theywould have to cart me away.

I’m not sure why they chose a beerstein to accommodate this anniversaryget together, since beer is not one ofthe drinks listed. However, since TheHandel Company did not make manyitems (other than lamps) that would fitthe bill, I’m assuming it was the best fitfor the occasion. I will now go eat asimpler meal with my stein filled withbeer.

P

Sources

https://www.thespruce.com/the-handel-companys-lamps-and-shades-149067http://www.hoylelamps.com/antique/handel-lamp.htmlhttp://www.handellamps.com/timeline/http://museumofcthistory.org/second-company-governors-foot-guard/http://www.footguard.org/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor%27s_Guards


As I was doing final review for this article about the firm ofJ.W. Remy, I spent some time looking at manufacturers’ cat-alogs and various Prosit articles about other Westerwaldmanufacturers’ steins. During this process, I began to realizethat many companies of the period apparently focused ononly a few basic technologies, techniques and artistic styles.Put another way, most companies chose their lanes, and thenstayed in them. This is different from the expansive nature ofJ.W. Remy. They made a broad spectrum of styles of steinsand other decorative stoneware and pottery pieces through-out their 102 years of production, and this article attempts todisplay that versatility.

At the time the firm was founded, the increased popularity ofdecorative porcelain had reduced the Westerwald pottery in-dustry to production of predominantly plain utilitarian waresand drainage pipes. This was the main output of the industryin 1860 when J.W. Remy inherited his pottery company. Fam-ily documentation indicates the firm continued production oflow-tech drainage pipe. In the early years similar to many pot-teries of the area, their wares were exclusively hand thrownsalt glaze relief stoneware; typically gray (uncolored), cobaltblue or manganese lavender. There is no mention of any dec-orative stoneware efforts during this period.

By 1881 there was an international upswing in mass produc-tion of “art” or decorated pottery, a trend which led to thefounding of the KeramischeFachschule (Ceramics TechnicalCollege) in Höhr. Remy’s oldest sons, August and Franz, weresent to this school in order that the firm could join this trend.When they completed their technical training (ca. 1882), theyemployed their newfound knowledge to make significantchanges in the company’s production. The emphasis on dec-orative style was a means to increase market appeal and to

differentiate their products from those of their competitors. Ini-tially, their new designs were predominantly focused on his-torical revival (historismus) motifs. At the same time, newmass production techniques and technologies allowed thefirm to expand its manufacturing capabilities. Figs. 1-2.

Another expansion was brought about with the addition of thenew ivory stoneware (elfenbeinsteinzeug) firing process in theearly 1890s. This new process allowed many additional colorswhich greatly enhanced the popularity and appeal of theirwares. An added benefit was they could continue to use thesame molds. Figures 3 & 4.

In these later years of the 19th century, the company beganintroducing new designs showcasing modern activities of thetime—tavern scenes, outdoor scenes, sports, etc. Figs. 5-6.

A Survey of the Stein Productionof the Firm of J.W. RemyBy Lyn Ayers, SCI Master Steinologist

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5

3 4


A popular group of steins produced in the 1895-1914 periodwere the etched/incised wares. They had vibrant colors ex-hibiting modern scenes and activities which were fired in theivory kiln. The body decorations were a matte finish, andthese steins typically had inlaid lids. Figures 7 & 8.

This technique was sometimes combined with high glaze dec-orative relief bands encircling the body to frame the etchedcentral panel. Figures 9 - 11.

A further variation employed relief foreground with an etchedbackground. Figure 12.

The company brought to market colorful relief steins featuringscenes of a bucolic countryside. Often featuring a clear paleblue sky, these steins are notable for the absence of any bandseparating the scene from the upper rim. Figures 13 & 14.

7 8

9 10

11 12

13 14


Another product line that proved to be quite popular is thegroup of steins with vine and berry decorative bands andtwisted vine handles. Figures 15 & 16. Steins from this lineare unusual because they rarely have capacity marks and themodel numbers are usually located on the back near thelower handle attachment. Only one piece has been found witha logo marking.

JW Remy introduced their designs of character steins al-though only about 20 different designs are pictured and de-scribed in the Modell Buch. Here we see two example of J.W.Remy’s character steins. Figures 17 & 18.

Like most other manufacturers, J.W. Remy would often re-use a basic body design in several different size steins. Fig-ures 19 & 20.

They also produced a line of fairly complex relief steins 1900-1914 generally found in 2-color ivory stoneware, although theexample seen here is in full color. Figure 21.

The decorative pottery indus-try changed dramatically withthe advent of WWI. Ordersfrom German-Americans un-derstandably dried up. Youngmale family members wereconscripted into the military.The few remaining familymembers apparently producedlittle more than simple utilitar-ian wares for domestic use.

Following the war, companyfocus changed dramatically.Following pre-war fashions,customer tastes continued tofavor Jugendstil designs. Au-gust Remy did not embracethese designs. To that end hebegan to direct the company toreturn to traditional and historicdesigns while utilizing modernmanufacturing techniques. On

a personal level he designed a small group of steins using“scratch” technique of old designs but reverted to bold blueand lavender glazes. These were all fired in the salt glaze kilnand interestingly are not numbered. Most still reside in familycollections. Figures 22 & 23.

Following the disastrous impact of the deaths of both Augustand Franz in 1928, operational management of the firm trans-ferred to their sister Katharina (Remy) Kessler’s three sons.They hired a modeler to continue designing new products. Inthe mid-1930’s an entirely new line of table wares were intro-duced. The firm incorporated decorative designs with a drip-type glaze. Figure 24. Since these were not steins, it is notsurprising that examples of these are very rare.

1615

17 18

20

19

21


The same can be said for another grouping of which only onepage of photos is shown in “MeineErinnerungenandieFirmaJ.W.Remy” by Gerd Kessler. These pieces are described ashaving designs hand-scratched into the body and color em-phasis using cobalt blue paint and a Koln-braun (CologneBrown) over-spray. Figure 25. In the late 1940s, based on list-ings in the Modell Buch, there was also a significant focus onpunch bowls, many with scenes of castles.

Occasionally one will find steins produced by J.W. Remy,likely from 1948 to 1960s, in relief pottery with bright sloppyglazes. Figures 26 & 27.

Another grouping of company pro-duction was of that same period.The ModellBuch has additionalnotes attached to many of the newdesigns for steins. These notes in-triguingly consist of a few letterssuch as Kru, Gi, Mih, etc. Theitems marked with Mih have re-cently been correlated with cus-tom orders for American collegesouvenir steins (see SCI Conven-tion talk by Andre Ammelounx2010). These steins were de-signed and ordered by Germanimporter Eric Mihan. Figure 28.These letter notations are now be-lieved to indicate customers whoordered these as custom designs.

Hopefully I have piqued your curiosity to know more about thesteins and other wares JW Remy produced during its centuryof existence. The company used many decoration styles thatI hope will be of interest. I plan to share more detailed infor-mation about the products of JW Remy in future articles.

The source of much of the information in this article is per-sonal correspondence with Gerd Kessler. Additional informa-tion can be provided upon request.

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Andy JurgovanMeister Steiners

Of all the major Munich breweries,Hofbräuhaus realized the popularity ofthe festivities around Munich and is theonly brewery who has continuouslyproduced a souvenir lidded 1/8-literstein as an advertising memento. Theonly other brewery 1/8-liter stein I amaware of is a “Spaten Bräu-Munich”circa 1900 in the Les Paul collection.

Hofbräuhaus started brewing in 1589.Even though the formulation haschanged over the years, it was politicsin 1602 that created a product thatcould only be made by this “Ducal

Brewery.” So it was that “Weissbier”could only be brewed by Hofbräuhausfor the Ducal household.

The deciding factor for successoccurred in 1610 when the “King’sBeer” was allowed to be served inMunich’s taverns to the common folk.In 1812, a new brew was developed forthe “Hofbräu München Fall Festival.”This “Oktoberfestbier” is based uponthat special brew that we still enjoytoday. In 1879, a registered trademarkfor Hofbräuhaus became a necessityas advertising infringement became

prevalent with other court breweries inGermany. The Königliche Hofbräuhaus(King’s Court Brewery House) used HBwith a crown above it as the officialtrademark. With the availability of thegolden brew to the masses, anotherindustry developed...”tourism.”

Tourism to Munich increased in the1870’s and the need for steinsmultiplied. Between 1870 and 1930,stein workshops became plentiful allover Germany. This was especiallytrue of the North-Grenzhausen area ofWesterwald. As stein manufacturing

expanded, some survivedand grew, while othersfailed and closed after afew years. The plain steinsmeant for daily use weremass produced. Thismeant that marking thesesteins for manufactureridentification was notconsidered important. Theonly marks of significancewere those for capacity.

Regarding HB Steins I havetwo versions of how thelogo is applied:

1) Incised created byusing a stamp or press(the most common).

2) Print under glaze (pug)transfer application(least expensive).

Also to be noted was TheGerman Merchandise Actof 1887. All German goodsmeant for export had to bemarked with “Germany” or“Made in Germany. Thosemeant for the domesticGerman market weren’trequired to be so marked.Of the steins in mycollection, 14 were meant

1/8 LITER MUNICH BREWERY ADVERTISING STEINS


for this domestic market. Only one hasthe “Germany” mark. The variationscan also be seen in how the handlesvary in appearance. Some wereformed by hand and shaped onto thebody. Others were pressed on. Threeof my steins have hand moldedhandles.

Another noticeable fact is in the lid.When the Kaiser died after World WarI, it was believed that is when powerand authority changed in Germany. Itwas not until 1939 that this transitiontook place. This is why Königliche(KGL) Hofbräuhaus appeared on thelids prior to 1939. It stood for the King’sCourt Brewery House representingroyal ownership. Eleven lids have theKGL logo.

When the company became stateowned in 1939, Staatlich (Staatl).Hofbräuhaus became the motto on thelid. Only one of my lids has this. Theremaining five lids have just the HBlogo.

With this transition taking place, Iquestion as to how long after 1939 thatstein makers continued to use the KGLlids in making their product. The ageof these steins is a guess. Certainfeatures such as the robust thumbliftand strap could be from the 1900 era.After that, the style remained the same

but trimmer (circa 1910). The art decoera could have brought about theserrated design on the inner ridge(circa 1920) and then the twin towersthumblift and KGL on the lid with noother distinct features (circa 1930’s).

My only Staatl stein was made byMarzi & Remy after 1965. I’ve beenable to identify the makers of five steins(three Marzi & Remy, one Merkelbach& Wick (Grenzhausen), and oneEckhardt & Engler).

I also have three “Münchner Kindl”steins with HB lids. One of these steinswas made by Eckhardt and Engler. In1918 they purchased stein molds usedby Rosskopf & Gerz and beganproducing their own line of steins.Then in 1923 they purchased theremaining Rosskopf & Gerz molds.

So it is that my stein actually began asa Rosskopf & Gerz model #444 but Icannot find the stein they produced inthe Eckhardt & Engler catalog.Depending on what year this mold waspurchased, it could have been madeafter 1918 or after 1923.

The lid is pre-1939 (KGL) asproduction was severely limited duringthe years between the depression andWorld War II. So finding these steinshas become difficult. This could be a

Breweriana stein search in the future.

As for my collection, detailedinformation will never be found on mostof the steins. But by comparingsimilarities with larger steins, the lidsoffer some indication as to whichdecade they could possibly be from.The search goes on.


By Allan S. Fogel

This epic journey began in 2007 withthe acquisition of a large antiquepewter flagon (Pic 1). Upon investigat-ing the flagon, it was apparent thiscould be the most important pewteritem that I’ve ever acquired and that itheld a special story beneath its mildgrey patina. After almost fifty years ofcollecting and dealing in antique Euro-pean pewter, it was obvious that thiswas a ‘Guild Flagon’ and its form wasat least 300-400 years old. StylisticallyI knew it was either from Germany orAustria and that the handle markingswould be the key to its identification.There were a number of elements thatwould have to be solved to determinethe origin, maker, and most importantlythe decryption of the mysterious in-scription.

Guild flagons usually have specific fea-tures that will identify the object to aparticular trade. These features can bein the form of trade symbols applied tothe flagon and sometimes the inscribednames of the guild members. Whilethis flagon had none of these typicalGuild flagon features, it did have amysterious Gothic German inscription(Pic. 2) on the front, winged-cherubfeet, a relief-cast Christ face thumb-lift,and symbolic handle decorations.

The most important features are the

maker’s mark and city mark stampedon the top of the handle. Being apewter archaeologist, I knew that thework before me would start with themarks on the handle. The best author-itative source for identifying Europeanpewter makers’ marks and city marksare Erwin Hintze’s set of seven vol-umes, Die Deutschen Zinngiesser undIhre Marken. It was volume seven thatcontained the pewter maker’s initials‘CS’ with the architectural city symbolthat matched to the maker ChristophSamson and the city of WienerNeustadt. After identifying the maker

and city of origin, I sent a letter to thecity archives and obtained confirmationof my initial research. Unfortunately, atthat time the city museum was unableto provide me with any additional infor-mation beyond my own research. Withthe maker and city now identified, mynext step was to obtain an accuratetranslation of the Gothic German in-scription on the front of the guild flagon.

A close friend, not familiar with GothicGerman, provided a cursory translationthat talked of strangers who met to-gether and worked in huts. As I pon-dered this translation I had a feelingthat the inscription may be in refer-ence to stone masons who travelled

Masonic Mystery Solved

Masonic Guild Flagon with thumblift, winged cherub foot, & maker’s mark and city mark on handle.

Wir auen huten Auf Erden und sindDoch fremde Gaste

We build huts (lodges) of earth andyet are foreign guests

Wen wir fertig sein Biegenwir im Himmelein

When we are complete webend (transition) into heaven

2 2


and gathered together, lived in huts,and worked together to build struc-tures. I decided to pursue this avenueof research and sent detailed photosand documentation to various U.S. Ma-sonic lodges and a special meeting ofMasonic historians in New York. Thiseffort led only to total frustration in thatno responses were received from anyof these circles. While much has beenuncovered regarding the origins of theFreemasons, it is still clouded in mys-tery and considerable secrecy. Forthese reasons it should have been oflittle surprise that I might not obtain as-sistance to my inquires. Today, consid-erable information regarding the originsof Freemasonry can be found on theInternet and other sources. Not to bedeterred by the lack of responses mynext move was to use the Internet tocontinue my quest. A Google searchfor Masonic historical information ledme to the German Masonic historianand author Henning Klovekorn. I sentMr. Klovekorn photos and details of theinscriptions and obtained a remarkableresponse confirming my inclinations ofthe Freemason connection. Mr.Klovekorn’s translation of the inscrip-tion was as follows:

We build huts (lodges) of Earthand are yet (or even so) foreign

guests When we are complete

we bend [transition] into Heaven

Mr. Klovekorn’s synopsis was that:“Freemasons travelled widely to buildcathedrals and other structures. Only aFreemason would therefore state theyare foreign guests. Only a Freemasonwould refer to their lodgings as a hut.Masonic huts were sleeping, teachingand working quarters built next to thestructures they were building. The lastsentence may not just mean when theyare complete and die and they will goto heaven but may mean that when thebuilding is finished it so high it is thoughthey reach into heaven.” To me(Klovekorn) this script is so obviouslyMasonic it is almost too obvious.

At this point in my archeological quest,I was delighted, but knew there wasmore to this story. I wanted to knowmore about the pewterer Christoph

Samson. If possible, I also wanted toidentify the actual stone ma-sons/freemasons that worked inWeiner Neustadt during the period thatthis flagon was made and used for cer-emonial purposes. It was several yearslater when I received another corre-spondence from the City archiveswhich provided most of this additionalinformation. Dr. Gerhard Geissl (CityArchivist) provided the following: “First,the pewterer Christoph Samson ismentioned in the third part of JosephMayer’s town history: He married apewterer’s widow in 1590 (cf.MayerIII,p.234). Samson crafted the Leather-crafter’s Guild Flagon in 1607 which ispart of the City Museum collection. In1597 Samson became a member ofthe local council and his involvementlasted until 1628. He was a member ofthe outer council from 1597-1603 andinner council from 1603-1628. In addi-tion, he served as the town’s judge nu-merous times (1609-1610, 1617-1618,and 1624-1625). Around 1600 stonemasons worked on the town’s fortifica-tions. For instance, the stone masonCioron Jacopo Casparin overhauleddefective parts, the stone mason Jo-hann Baptist Zelpi worked on the ex-tension of the Ungator (Eastern towngate), (Pic.3).

Between 1590 and 1615 the town hallwas redesigned. The stone masonHans Gall constructed stony steps. Thetown hall’s entry sports a stucco ceilingdating from 1615, which displays thecoat of arms of the mayor, the town

judge and councilman – including thepewterer Christoph Samson’s coat ofarms (Pic.4)”. Having the names of theactual stone masons who were work-ing in the town and using the GuildFlagon for ceremonial purposes sealsthis object as a major Freemason/Ma-sonic historical object.

After Dr. Geissl’s marvelous response,there was nothing left but to arrange fora personal visit to this historic town justsouth of Vienna, Austria. It was aboutone year later, in September of 2017,that my wife and I made the journey toVienna and then just a short train rideto Wiener Neustadt. As we got off thetrain, my wife and I were met by thelovely, young and energetic town histo-rian Sabine Schmitner. Sabine imme-diately gave us a detailed walking tourof the town and pointed out some ofthe locations that the stonemasonsworked during the period of the GuildFlagon. We entered the WienerNeustadt Cathedral where Sabinepointed out a magnificent gothic pulpitthat was crafted by the Italian stone-mason Johann Baptist Zelpi (Pic.5)who worked during this period.

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4

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Upon completion of our tour we wentto the town hall where I photographedthe coat of arms of the pewtererChristoph Samson. From there wewent to the town archives to record ad-ditional information about the stone-masons working in the village and toview the Leathercrafter’s Guild Flagon(Pic.6) made by Christoph Samson in1607.

It was unfortunate that the Leather-crafter’s Guild Flagon was in a dis-tressed state. At some point in history,the Guild symbols and names of itsmembers had been removed from theflagon and the entire body was strippedof its original patina and historical in-formation. Fortunately, the handle didmaintain the identical maker’s mark‘CS’ and city marks for WienerNeustadt (Pic. 7) so it could be identi-fied to Christoph Samson. If it were notfor these archival records, its origin andpurpose would remain a secret forever.

Making the journey to WienerNeustadt, meeting with Sabine Schmit-ner, and seeing some of the stonema-sons’ work became the final chapter ina ten-year saga. While I have re-searched over one thousand pewterobjects during my collecting and an-tique dealing life, this was the most ex-tensive and personally rewardingundertaking. However, my research

would not have been possible withoutthe generous support provided byDr.Gerhard Geissl and Sabine Schmit-ner of Wiener Neustadt and the Ma-sonic historian Henning Klovekorn. TheMasonic Guild Flagon by ChristophSamson is no longer just a ‘grey object’but an important, circa 1600, docu-mented part of Freemason/Masonichistory. As Paul Harvey would havesaid: “And now you know the rest of thestory.”

6

7

Stein Exchange

Wanted: Fireman character or steinsdepicting firemen and/or their equip-ment. Ron Fox foxauctions@yahoo -.com or 631-552-3841

Wanted: Frank Poppie silver or goldminiature character steins. Prefer goldand/or enameled, but will consider sil-ver. Lyn Ayers [email protected]

Wanted: Mettlach 1864, 2040. MarkDyment, [email protected]

A Present Day HeinrichSchlitt

By Irv Johnsen (dec.)

For centuries, there has been a fasci-nation with the world of “little people”;gnomes, elves, trolls, fairies, lep-rechauns, etc. One of the personsmost closely associated with this fan-tasy world was the artist HeinrichSchlitt, who became famous as “Mu-nich’s Painter of Gnomes.” Schlitt isbest known to stein collectors for thesteins and plaques that he created forVilleroy and Boch and for his murals inthe rathskellers of Wiesbaden and Mu-nich. An outstanding summary of hiscareer and artistry is contained in thebook “Heinrich Schlitt, 1849-1923,” re-cently published in Germany by J.A.Schmoll and Thérèse Thomas.

In the September 1990 issue of Prosit,Floyd Dietlein and Roland Henschensuggest that Schlitt’s gnomes are morecorrectly called Heinzelmännchen.They are highly talented artisans whoare most often kind and helpful, butwho can also be mischievous andeven cruel. One of Heinrich Schlitt’setched Mettlach steins depicting agnome or Heinzelmännchen is shownin Fig. 1.

1




Hops and Fest (Figure 3) are Oktober-fest celebrants. Fest, wearing thelederhosen, has his left hand on thethumblift of the stein and has lifted thelid to toast the Oktoberfest. But muchto his surprise, he has found that hiscompanion Hops is inside the stein andhas already drained its contents. Hopsis wearing the lid of the stein as his hatand is holding a German coin. The coinpictures a sheaf of barley and is in-scribed with a German phrase thattranslates to “What you sow is what


you reap.” A teddybear sitting in thehandle of the stein symbolizes Ger-many’s Black Forest.

Zermatt (Figure 4) is named for theSwiss town near the famous Matter-horn. Since that mountain is near theborder of Switzerland and Italy, Zermatthas a coin from each of those coun-tries. This Swiss woodspirit wears Ty-rolean dress just like his friends Hopsand Fest. He has just found a pipewhich has a bowl that resembles astein, even to a pewter lid. But Zermattdoesn’t know that it is a pipe. Since hehas always wanted to play a musicalinstrument, he thinks it must be a Mat-ter Horn. In his hand is an Alpine cow-bell, because Zermatt will smile at youuntil the cows come home.

Tom Clark’s creations cover a widerange of subject matter. But his weefolk, the woodspirits, are the ones mostlikely to capture your imagination andbring a smile when you look at them.This modern-day Heinrich Schlitt, withhis artistry, ingenuity and sense ofhumor has provided us with figurinesthat make great go-withs for the steincollector.

The editor gratefully acknowledges theauthor for permission to reproduce thisarticle which originally appeared in theJanuary 1991 edition of the BuckeyeBerichte, then in Stein Zeitung, andnow in Prosit.

Zermatt

Another branch of the family of littlepeople is being popularized by a NorthCarolina artist and sculptor, Dr.Thomas Fetzer Clark. They are wood-spirits, distant cousins of gnomes, butdifferent from gnomes in many re-spects. While they also stand less thana foot high, they are better dressersand wear brighter colors. Woodspiritsdo not cast spells or behave as mis-chievously as gnomes or trolls, but in-stead bring good luck, kindness andhappiness to those they know. Theyare full of humor and spend their timeenjoying life, often living to be 400years old.

Tom Clark was inspired to create hiswoodspirit figures when, while grievingover the loss of his dog Shady, he wasconfronted by a woodspirit namedHyke. Since that time, he has produceda wide variety of woodspirit sculptures,including those shown in Figures 2, 3and 4. They are sculptures in clay byDr. Clark, after which a silicon-rubbermold is made and the statue is castwith a medium that includes clear-based resins, crushed pecan shell flourand woodchips. The process that isused provides the highly sculpturedand intricate detail that makes the fa-cial features of Tom Clark’s woodspiritsso distinctive and impressive. Aftercasting, each statue is touched up,hand painted, goes through an an-tiquing process and is finally hand-lac-quered with a special sealing agent.With each of his figurines, Dr. Clarkprovides a fanciful and whimsical storyabout that particular woodspirit.

Figure 2 shows a woodspirit namedFrank, who has his right hand restingon the thumblift of a beer stein that isalmost as large as he is. This figurinein known as Frank-’N-Stein. His stein,which is his most prized possession,has the figures of a gnome couple inrelief on the body, illustrating the kissof the hops. Tom Clark usually incorpo-rates an appropriate coin onto each ofhis figures and in this case, a 1969German coin is mounted on the steinhandle. Frank loves his beer and willuse this coin when he goes to the Mu-nich Oktoberfest with his friends Hopsand Fest. But Frank has to drink inmoderation because when heoverindulges, he becomes a monster!

Frank-’N-Stein

Hops and Fest

4

3

2


By Ron HartmannSt. Louis Gateway Steiners

While celebrating my 80th birthday withfamily in 2016, my nephew presentedme with this ½ L pottery mug that hediscovered at a resale shop while onvacation. The rather comical scenedecorating the mug made the sale.

The mug is relatively modern and likelya souvenir brought home from a trip toGermany. It is unmarked except for anthe capacity mark being unusual withthe manufacturer’s or designer’s initialsbeing added.

Looking closely at the scene on themug, it became obvious that somethinga little naughty was going on here! Ofcourse I had to translate the words andfind out more about what “Frau Wirtinhatte einen” was about. The wordingreads:

Frau Wirtin hatte einen…GELDBRIEFTRÄGER,Der ward bekannt als Glückser-reger,doch statt Trinkgeld anzunehmen,bat er sich da so Sachen aus,der Sollte sich was schämen.

An internet translation gave me arough idea of what the scene depicted,but it took my friend Peter Meinlschmidtto explain the story behind “Frau WirtinHatte Einen…” Peter wrote, “The texton your mug refers to a well-knowntavern song from Hesse to whichhundreds of stanzas have beencreated, often bawdy verses especiallywhen the song is sung by soldiers ortipsy patrons. It is about the ladyhostess at the Tavern on the Lahn(river) but the “inn” was also a brothel.”The verses vary on all 800+ stanzasmaking up this song. On this mug FrauWirtin has a Geldbriefträger (a moneybringing postman).

Frau Wirtin has a …GeldbriefträgerWho was known to be a studWho - instead of accepting tipswanted completely different thingsthat he should be ashamed of.

Searching online for “Das Wirtshaus ander Lahn” and “Frau Wirtin has a …”brings up numerous stories about thisdrinking song and how it was enjoyed.A number of books were publishedabout Frau Wirtin and the many versesfor the song. There was even a moviemade, “The Landlady of the Lahn.” Ifinterested, take some time to explorethe various tales about the naughtyFrau Wirtin.

Searching online, pictures of this samemug will occasionally show up. A fewsuch examples refer to them beingmade by Gerz Company. While mymug has no maker’s mark, perhaps theunusual capacity mark will be a clue toits manufacturer. The Beer Stein li-brary does show three steins that men-tion Frau Wirtin. These are Girmscheid980 (6.0 L signed GK), Merkelbach1167 (0.3 L), and Mettlach 1526 / 592(0.5 L).

While not a rare antique stein of note,reading about Frau Wirtin and the “Inn”she ran did make me laugh. Hopefullythis tale will put a smile on your faces,too.

Frau Wirtin Hatte Einen…


The love of beer has been addressed in many an aphorism,witticism, epigram, and rhapsody. But perhaps the simplestand most accurate description of the noble beverage – at

least as far as its aficionados are concerned – is the old one fromOxfordshire: “Life itself.”

Those who truly love their beer would never think of drinking itstraight from the bottle; that’s just plain disrespect. Nor are theglass mugs you get in restaurants quite special enough for a rich,honest, brew. There are many who feel strongly that the vessel fromwhich beer is drunk should be as substantial and as pleasing tothe eye as the brew is pleasing to the palate.

The English and German have apparently held this opinion forcenturies, if the staggering number of gorgeous ceramic and metal-lic steins and tankards are any indication. In the spirit of celebrat-ing history’s various lager and ales and porters and stouts, we offera gallery of beer vessels from those countries; the example we cho-sen… are every bit as attention-getting as the liquid that fills them.

Hunting scenes full of exquisitely rendered detail were pop-ular motifs for beer steins throughout the 18th and 19th cen-turies. The examples seen here were made in Nuremberg inthe early 18th century and are the work of Mathias Schmidt.A hallmark of the German decorative style that both demon-strate is the penchant for filling every available inch ofspace.

From Northwest Orient magazine, June 1985

Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bequest of Emma A. Sheafer, 1974

Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Irwin Untermeyer, 1964

PORTFOLIO


A short article in the December 1974issue of Prosit is the earliest mentionthat I have been able to find of a groupof steins which have drawn the atten-tion and appreciation of collectors overthe years. Although widely admired, lit-tle information has been discoveredabout them.

That first brief article took up abouttwo-thirds of a column in Prosit, mostof which was dedicated to a photo ofthe stein seen here in figure 1a.

“Pate-sur-pate. A truly magnificentporcelain stein, this large 2 literpiece is an appropriate backgroundfor the legendary story of Ulysses'encounter with the Sirens. Thegreen and white marbleized back-ground and lid represent the sea.The lid peaks into the crest of awave. The siren's veil swirls throughthe scene and forms the handle.Ulysses clings to the bow of hiswrecked ship while the sails disap-pear under the waves. The detail isextraordinary. The Siren's hair, thebird's feathers, even the fingernails,are described by its owner and pho-tographer Dennis Wilson, as ‘truly afascination.’ The interior is whiteporcelain. No marks appear on thisbeauty.”

Jim Stevenson’s first book, AntiqueSteins: ACollectors’Guide, 1989, de-picted this stein in a different color mar-bleized background, as well as asecond stein seemingly sharing thesame origins.

“2L Porcelain, ‘Ulysses’ Encounterwith the Siren’s’ from Homer’sOdyssey, pate-sur-pate, white fig-ures against [marbleized] blue back-ground.” (figure 1b) ... and

”1L Porcelain, pate-sur-pate gentle-man playing lute for lady, bust of

cavalier on lid, white figures against[marbleized] green background,marked 3791 under base.”

Since these early writings a number ofsteins bearing similar characteristicshave appeared in auction catalogs.They often have blue or green mar-bleized backgrounds, figural modeledlids, pewter attached directly to theporcelain lid without the aid of a pewterrim, no capacity mark. A three-digithand-inscribed model number may ap-pear on the base. I was largely contentto view photos of these steins in auc-tion catalogs and books until a fewyears ago when I acquired the steinshown in figure 1a. Not being a studentof Homer, I interpreted this scene inmore modern terms, as the Loreleiwhose beauty lured sailors onto therocks of the Rhine River at Sankt Goar-shausen. A more general title might be“Siren’s Song.”

Figure 1b shows the same stein withblue marbled background. Figure 1c ismarkedly different, in that the clay ofthe body was not colored or marbled,and a simple two-color scheme hasbeen used to highlight the relief design.Note that in this application the coloredglaze can be applied without requiringa high degree of precision, and if nec-essary, it can be wiped off the white fig-ures before firing.

The unglazed base of the green mar-bled Ulysses / Lorelei stein is seen infigure 1d, including the hand inscribedmodel number - 378.

Figures 2a-2c show a different decora-tive theme in the same variants - greenmarbled, blue marbled and two-color.There may very well be other modelsmade in the same three colorschemes, and other colorations mayexist, but these are the only ones forwhich I have photographs or refer-ences for all three of these variants.

This second example depicts a womanin a wooded setting with a dog and aswan. The large figural lid is a dog’shead. My initial temptation was to inter-pret this theme as Leda and the Swan,but it doesn’t really have a sensual orerotic air about it, and the dog does not

1aBeautiful PorcelainWorks of Art

By Walt VogdesSCI Master SteinologistPacific Stein Sammler

2a

Prosit, June 2018

fit into that theme. My only otherthought is suggested by the awkwardpositioning of the woman’s arms andhands as though she is graspingsomething, and the appearance of awhite curved line visible in figure 2dwhich is suggestive of a bow. Is thissimply wishful thinking, or is this figureintended to represent Diana, Romangoddess of the hunt? An examinationof other examples will be necessary toconfirm this conjecture.

Page 33

1b 1c

2b 2c

1d

2d


Who made these steins?To the best of my knowledge, the firstsuggestion of the source of thesesteins appeared in the TSACO auctioncatalog of September 6, 2017. Lot#6135 (figure 3) was described as“Porcelain stein. 1.0L., relief, markedKarl Ens, pate-sur-pate, porcelain lid,mint.” This scene of a reclining womanin a forest setting looking upward at astag and with a dogs head figural lid iscertainly a mate for the stein shown infigures 2a-2d and seems to confirmthat this is a representation of Diana.(Both Diana and her Greek counter-part, Artemis, are often depicted with abow and a dog in a hunting scene.)

The photo of the mark on this stein wastoo small to be used for identification.In order to do further research into thequestion of manufacturer I placed avery short article in the December 2017issue of Prosit asking our readers formore photographic evidence. SandyWoods very quickly sent me photos ofsteins in his collection, including thestein in figures 2a-2d. Figure 4 is aphoto of the base of that stein, model400; figure 5 shows one of severalmarks used by Karl Ens from theKeramik-MarkenLexikon

Karl Ens founded the hard paste porce-lain factory bearing his name in 1899in the city of Rudolstadt, Thuringia. Anabundance of raw materials - kaolin,feldspar, quartz and pegmatitie - madeThuringia a fertile ground for porcelainfactories, both large and noteworthy, aswell as small and sometimes short-lived. In this environment, tangled rela-tionships of ownership and craftworkers were not unlike those of thestoneware industry in the Westerwald.With the single exception of the factoryin Götha, all of the Thuringian factorieswere owned at one time or another bysome member of the Greiner family.Ownership of the Karl Ens firm transi-tioned into the hands of the Sitzendorffirm, and then to Albert Stahl. The KarlEns factory focused on luxury porce-lain, and an internet search today re-veals fine porcelain figurines, with birdsan apparent specialty.

How were these steins made?There are several aspects of thesesteins which raise questions about howthey were made. A careful examinationof the stein in figure 1a reveals two wellhidden mold lines, one in the back, be-neath the handle, and the other ap-proximately 180 degrees from there,running vertically just to the left of theSiren’s swirling veil These lines are de-tectable by touch, but the marbledbackground helps to hide them. Con-firming the fact that the bodies were

molded is an examination of the interiorsurface of the stein - insofar as myhand was able to reach inside! In mul-tiple areas the interior surface showsthe reverse of some of the exterior dec-oration. This is a direct result of press-ing the clay into the mold. At the sametime however, there are areas on theinterior surface which are raised in cor-respondence with raised parts of theexterior decoration. At first unexpected,there is a simple explanation for this,one which confirms a second aspect ofhow the steins were made.

The high relief areas of the decorationwere made separately from the body,then laid onto the body and secured bypressing them into place. The areas ofattachment were then carefullycleaned so there would be no evidenceafter firing of the pieces being sepa-rately formed. Figures 6a and 6b showa view of the interior and exterior sur-faces of the upper part of the body ofthe Siren Song stein. The recessedareas seen on the interior correspondto the low relief parts of the decorationwhich were molded as part of the body.The raised areas on the interior showthe result of attaching the high reliefportions separately.

3

4

5

6b

6a

head ofthe Siren

head ofthe Siren


BeischalemBierundsauremWeindamagderTeufelfrölichsein.

With flat beerand sour winethere the devilmay be merry.

Some Other Examples

This vase, whose image was found onthe internet, was unidentified. Canthere be any question that it was madeby the same factory as steins 1-3?

7

8

10a

9

10b

10c

11


What about that marbled body?The marbled body on these steins isnot an effect we see very often, and itleads us to wonder how it was created.

From the Encyclopedia Britannica:Marbledpottery: a type of ware ob-tained by mixing clays of various col-ors to imitate natural marbles oragate. The working of marbled pot-tery can be traced back at least asfar as the 1st century AD in Rome,and samples of the ware were pro-duced as far from Rome as China.Techniques included the use of dec-orative bands of white-, brown-, andgray-marbled clay; tortoiseshell, ob-tained by mottling glazes with man-ganese brown; laying the slabs ofvariously colored clay on each otherand beating them out into a homo-geneous mass (agate ware); andmingling colored clay slips (liquidclay) on the surface of a clay form.

Figure 1d, the base of the green mar-bled Siren Song stein, clearly showsthat the marbling is not a surface effect,but that two different colored clayshave been mixed together. And wehave already observed that the bodieswere formed by pressing into a mold.

Preparing clay for turning on a wheelor pressing into a mold requires aprocess known as “wedging”. This in-volves folding and kneeding the claymass to remove air bubbles. To mixtwo colors of clay together, slabs ofeach color are layered together, thenrepeatedly cut and layered again. Fig-ures 12a-12c show how this processprogresses. With each successivelayer, the intermingling of color in-creases. The subsequent wedging cre-ates veins and swirls of different colorsin the clay mass which provide theagate-like appearance in the final prod-uct. (There are many online referencesshowing how this is done, see “Refer-ences” for a few of them.) Care mustbe taken not to overdo it; taken to anextreme the clays will blend togethercompletely and the veining effect willbe lost. The wedged mass of clay caneither be turned on a wheel, or, as inthis case, rolled flat prior to beingpressed into a mold.

What is “pâte-sur-pâte”... really?” Literally this French term translates as“paste on paste,” and it refers to theprocess of building up layers of porce-lain slip to give a translucent, three-di-mensional effect in low relief. CeramistWilliam Burton described the techniquein 1902 as “The most charming anddistinct porcelain decoration of thenineteenth century.” Its cameo-like ef-fect was achieved by applying succes-sive layers of thin slip in delicategradations and by fine carving withmodelling-tools, finished off with abrush. The process was perfected byMarc Louis Solon at the Imperial man-ufactory of Sevres, France, following amisguided attempt to immitate a Chi-nese decorative technique. Time con-suming and artistically demanding,Solon himself observed that "We werenever limited as to time and cost", aluxury in any industry.

The technique remained a French mo-

nopoly until the Franco-Prussian Warof 1870 when work at Sevres wasbrought to a stop, and Marc LouisSolon came to England to work forMinton, which became the dominantcenter of pâte-sur-pâte production.With Solon's death in 1913 and the ad-vent of the First World War, an era hadended for pâte-sur-pâte. Attempts toresurrect this artistic technique follow-ing the War were hampered by the lackof artisans possessing the requisiteskill.

The pâte-sur-pâte technique was cre-ated as a means of showingdelicate,ethereal designs in low relief.Translucence of the white designagainst a dark background was the pri-mary artistic purpose. Flat, or almostflat, surfaces were most suitable. Thetechnique was artistically demanding,time consuming and expensive. Fig-ures 13 is a plaque signed by LouisSolon. Figure 14 is a plaque producedat Minton. Figure 15a is another plaquesigned by Louis Solon, while figure 15bshows detail from this piece. Note howthe technique has been used to pro-vide translucence to fabrics and cloth-ing. Subtlety and detail are paramount.

12a

12b

12c

13

14

Prosit, June 2018

The steins which are the subject of thisarticle are not low relief, they display lit-tle to no translucence at the margins ofthe molded designs and they are cer-tainly not subtle!. The use of marbledbackgrounds would be an undesirabledistraction from the primary pâte-sur-pâte aim of translucence and delicacy.Sevres and Minton are the recognizedcenters of the pâte-sur-pâte technique,and its spread to other locations washindered by the artistic difficulty andthe expense involved. In the face ofthese observations and the absence ofany documented reference, I don’t findany justification for using the pâte-sur-pâte moniker for these pieces.

Some other wares by Karl EnsThe factory of Karl Ens continued toexist until taken over by VEB Sitzen-dorfer Porzellan in 1974. (VEB is anabbreviation for VolkseigenerBetriebwhich signifies a state-owned firm. Thiswas the main legal form of industrialenterprise in East Germany. Suchcompanies were formed after mass na-tionalization between 1945 and theearly 1960s, and the handing back in1954 of some 33 enterprises previ-ously taken by the USSR as repara-

tions.) By the 90’s the firm’s operationshad been folded into those of AlbertStahl.

Figure 16 shows the various marksused by Karl Ens prior tol World War II.The mark found on model 400 (see fig-ures 3 and 4) and the dates of thesemarks seem to place the date of thesesteins to between 1900 and 1919. Thisis also consistent with the Art Nouveaucharacter in some of the designs.

Steins, with or without lids, marked withan Ens trademark and produced post-WW II can occasionally be found today.Figures 17a and 17b show an examplewhich is marked with the “windmill”(weather vane?) mark of the firm.

Figure 18 shows another example.This particular body shape was pro-duced with variations of the side panelsto appeal to various cities, municipali-ties and tourist sites. It is most oftenmarked by Sitzendorfer.

CreditsPhotos provided by Ron Fox, Julie

Hughes, Sandy Woods, Phil Masen-heimer and various internet sources

Research into the firm of Karl Ens byRon Gray

References1. Prosit, December 1974, p.2.2. Pâte-sur-Pâte,TheArtofCeramicDecoration,1849-1992, Bumpus B.,1992

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pâte-sur-pâte

4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF2bMl0n4fM

5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p2IXiSNb6s

6. https://ceramicartsnetwork.org/daily/ pottery-making-techniques/wheel-throwing-techniques/how-to-make-agateware-vessels-on-the-pottery-wheel/

7. http://potteryblog.com/2007/08/how-to-mix-two-different-clays/

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15a

15b

16

17a

17b

18

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P�te-sur-p�te

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P�te-sur-p�te

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF2bMl0n4fM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF2bMl0n4fM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p2IXiSNb6s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p2IXiSNb6s

https://ceramicartsnetwork.org/daily/ pottery-making-techniques/wheel-throwing-techniques/how-to-make-agateware-vessels-on-the-pottery-wheel/





http://potteryblog.com/2007/08/how-to-mix-two-different-clays/

http://potteryblog.com/2007/08/how-to-mix-two-different-clays/


By Jon HoffmannThirsty Knights

. . .it wasn’t a great beer stein or a bar-gain-priced stein! I felt I was rescuingit from a terrible life, a life that wouldprobably go something like this: An e-Bayer would remove the lid and resellit on eBay. And the stein itself (whichhas several cracks) would end up onthe side of a computer as a pencilholder for a while, then in a garage asa rusty nail container and finally in adumpster.

So, I bought it and just put it on theshelf that runs along my ceiling of mydining room. It looked so happy thereamong other German steins, whichmade me feel like it was money wellspent!

I thought nothing more of it untilThanksgiving, when my wife, Lynn, an-nually removes all the steins to cleanthem and dust the shelf. She told meshe found a note in the stein, andthought it was interesting!

Besides not finding the note, I hadfailed to notice that the stein had a setof numbers on its bottom which left nodoubt that this stein had come from aMuseum! The Newark Museum to bespecific!

A quick internet check told me that themuseum was located in the mansionwhich the Ballantine Family (the beerbrewing family) had built and subse-quently donated to the City of Newark,New Jersey.

I just had to go! So, Lynn and I made aday of it! And quickly found a singleday would not be enough. Not only wasthe museum itself too interesting toview in a single day, the staff were soengaging and helpful they gave usother avenues to explore.

The Docent Ruth Hutter explained indepth about the museum, its art andhistory, as she toured the museum withus. Her enthusiasm and interest in theojects brought the Victorian mansion tolife! She had guided people though thisplace for ten years and her love for it isstill fresh! (Maybe I can get her to joinSCI, she is a natural steiner).

Ruth explained that Ulysses Dietz, adescendant of Ulysses S Grant; is theCurator of Decorative Arts. Yale edu-cated, a very interesting, high-energyman, he is someone who could answerall our questions! But unfortunately, hewas off that day! She explained to mehow the code on the bottom of my steinwould reveal many things about mystein’s heyday as a museum piece.She then brought us to the Ceramicssection of the museum where therewere only a few steins. But there werealso a few steins scattered in almostevery room of the mansion! Some were“Ballantine” steins, having come fromthe family brewery, others just be-

longed to the family and some camefrom the many German neighborhoodsthat existed in Newark during its hey-day!

We left the Museum when it was darkoutside, with many of our beer steinquestions answered and many moreformulated.

This beer stein has a highly engraved,embossed lid of a forest, a castle,buildings and “Heidelberg” written on ascroll!

I Bought this Beer Stein the other day! And. . .


The stein itself is a tan stein with awhite interior (possibly an unsignedMettlach) and calligraphic script adornsthe front of the stein, which translatesas follows:

The Germans venture all if honorand duty demand.They can endureeverything . . . but Thirst!

So, I have e-mailed the Museum Cura-tor and am awaiting a reply. I will gathermy questions for him and make a sec-ond trip to the Ballantine Museum tofurther pursue the provenance of thisstein. AND I will report to you all I findin a follow-up article.

Did you know Newark, New Jersey,which now conjures up thoughts ofpoverty and crime, was settled by agroup of Puritans from Connecticut (in1666) and named “New Ark” in refer-ence to the Ark of the Covenant, laterchanged to Newark by the Dutch! Bythe end of the Civil War, there were 242Brewers in Newark, 242 were Germanborn. There were 50 Breweries in NewJersey, 25 were in Newark!

I am getting more “action”, “fun” andsatisfaction from this low-cost stein,and our subsequent short-day trip tothe museum of it origin, than travelinghundreds of miles and spending thou-sands of dollars to obtain a Royal Vi-enna or a rare Mettlach at an auctionhouse, to show off at a stein meeting.

Stein Collectors International is aboutlearning, teaching and having fun! TheThirst Knight’s chapter, is paving the

way back to this philosophy throughexample.

The only negative experience I havehad while exploring this antique steincame during a computer search. Icame upon a history of Newark’s 18thcentury, written by a historian, who wasso tainted by his own political viewsthat he had to tie it into the politics ofthe 21st century. An excerpt follows:

“Fortunately in the 19th century wedid not have politicians campaign-ing on the promise to build a wall tokeep out immigrants, because it wasthe flood of German immigrants intothe U.S. that made beer brewing aserious business. They broughtknowledge, they brought ingredi-ents, and they brought lager, thetype of brew that would eventuallybecome the defining style of Ameri-can beer.”

As SCI continues on, let’s build amodel of acknowledging the intrinsicvalue of each stein, not just the mone-tary value, as you search for the infor-mation about the people whofashioned it, bought and sold it,dis-played it, cleaned it, used it and pre-sented it as a gift to loved ones, for thesake of each stein and the many peo-ple who held and valued it during itslife. And the spirit of unpaid docentsand curator who shared the beauty ofevery item of antiquity at BallantineMansion and Newark Museum, overand over again with people whopassed through. And acknowledging

Curator Ulysses, whose museumshowcases not only Puritan NewArk, and Victorian Newark, but alsoPortuguese and African art and jew-elry of the Ironbound neighborhoodof Newark today. This curatorial ge-nius shines through with no indica-tion of his own politics, only themuseum’s wish to stay relevant, asa teaching and learning place foreveryone entering its doors and atestament to history of the people ofNewark and the United States.

P

Built in 1885 for Jeannette and JohnHolme Ballantine of the celebratedNewark beer-brewing family, this brickand limestone mansion originally had27 rooms, including eight bedroomsand three bathrooms. Part of TheNewark Museum since 1937, Twofloors of the Ballantine House are in-terpreted as a suite of galleries called“House & Home,” which includes eightperiod rooms, two hallways and sixthematic galleries—all filled with thingsthat might have been found in people’shomes from the 1650s to the present.

The Newark Museum, in Newark,Essex County, New Jersey, is thestate’s largest museum. It holds finecollections of American art, decorativearts, contemporary art, and arts of Asia,Africa, the Americas, and the ancientworld. Its extensive collections ofAmerican art include works by HiramPowers, Thomas Cole, John SingerSargent, Albert Bierstadt, FrederickChurch, Childe Hassam, Mary Cassatt,Edward Hopper, Georgia O’Keeffe,Joseph Stella, Tony Smith and FrankStella.

SCI 2018 Convention Auctionin Richmond, Virginia

Fox AuctionsP.O. Box 693

Rodeo, CA 94572631-553-3841

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Vol. 2, No. 106 The Beer Stein Magazine June 2018 · study of beer steins and other drinking...

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