German Steins

The word stein is a shortened form of Steinzeugkrug , which is German for stoneware jug or tankard. By common usage, however, stein has come to mean any beer container — regardless of its material or size — that has a hinged lid and a handle.

Some historians state that the German Stein orginated as a result of the Black Plague (1348-1350). In an effort to protect the contents (beer) from black flies and other possiable virus carriers lids were invented to cover the mug. As a result of the bubonic plague and several invasions of flies throughout Europe shortly thereafter, Germany established several laws in the early 16th century requiring that all food and beverage containers (in our case it's beer steins) be covered to protect their contents. The guild system was firmly entrenched in European society at this time. The pewter guild, combined with the heightened awareness for hygiene among food containers, created an environment in Germany that would ensure the presence of permanently attached pewter lids on stoneware drinking vessels for the next 300 years. By the end of the 19th century, the beer stein was clearly defined as being made in Europe, primarily of stoneware and primarily with a permanently attached pewter lid.

Strictly enforced regulations concerning the quality and transport of beer in many of the German provinces resulted in a tremendous improvement in the taste of beer, and also had an impact on stein making. Many records show that average beer consumption increased to about two liters per day in many places. Beerhouses, city hall cellars, and taverns began to proliferate in the 1500s. There is an old saying: “The German will place great value on that which brings him his food or drink.” Everyone in Germany needed a personal drinking vessel to be proud of.

Local brews in many other parts of Europe were still being made with rotten bread, cabbages, eggs, and anything else at hand. Soon the Bremen, Hamburg, and other clean northern Germany beers became famous and were exported throughout northern Europe, and even as far as the East Indies and Jerusalem. Such beers raised a new need for relatively inexpensive, but durable, large containers — the search for appropriate materials was on.

Beer drinking from a Pewter beaker with lid - a Stein

The well to do German had in the 1400's had pewter beakers. A few of the wealthiest even had silver vessels. These metal containers, and those made of glass, remained too expensive for general use or for large containers. Some wooden beakers were used, but other than wood, porous earthenware was by far the most common material for beer beakers, mugs, and the larger containers. However, both the wood and the earthenware broke easily, which may have been a blessing because these materials absorbed beer, giving off a smell that got worse with each subsequent use.

The high cost of stoneware steins, especially after the covered-beverage-container law required lids, made steins worthy of some fine decorative ceramic art. Renaissance artists supplied many designs for applied and carved stein decorations, and colored glazes complemented these designs nicely. A clear saltglaze had been invented about 1400, and a blue glaze from cobalt oxide was also known at that time. A chocolate saltglaze was invented in the 1600s, and a manganese oxide purple glaze was invented around 1650.

Tankards were soon decorated with shields and historical, allegorical, and biblical scenes. Beer drinking had now also become a pleasure for the eyes! And the landless day laborers, the masses that had survived the Black Death, were in a position to command higher wages for their services. This meant they could afford a few modest luxuries, and the personal tankard became an important status symbol and display piece for these Germans. By the ate 1600 a material called faience was invented. Faience is earthenware with a porcelain-like white glaze made from tin oxide

In the early 1700 faience steins were popular through out Europe as was Beer. Hundred of Breweries flurished in Germany and other Eruopean countries. The Scandinavians had also perfected a method of making a nice all-wooden tankard, complete with a wooden hinge. The English prefered Pewter or Sliver Steins. European porcelain was invented in 1709 but remained a chose of the very rich
untill the 1800's

The 1800's brought about numerous changes in Europe the Napoleonic Wars (1799 – 1815 ), the rise of the middle class. The 19th century (1801–1900) was a period in history marked by the collapse of the Spanish , Portuguese , Chinese , Holy Roman and Mughal empires. This paved the way for the growing influence of the British Empire , the German Empire and the United States , spurring military conflicts but also advances in science and exploration.

By the 1820's steins were made from various materials. The most common were made with the white clays of the Kö1n area to make stoneware steins with Renaissance allegorical motifs. These steins have gray saltglazed relief decorations and often have inlaid porcelain lids. By 1850, art instruction consisted entirely of having students copy the forms and designs of the archaeological finds from the Renaissance and Classical periods. The faience factores gone.

In the second half of the 1800s, glassmaking techniques had progressed enough to allow molds to also be used to mass-produce glass steins. The surprising sturdiness of the thick molded glass steins no doubt helped to increase their popularity. Other glassmakers' tricks were also applied to glass stein production. Multicolored glass overlays, acid etchings, staining, and pewter overlays were used to make some rather spectacular glass steins.

Advances in the use of moisture-absorbing plaster molds helped the porcelain stein manufacturers. These molds allowed novel shapes to be produced, making the so-called character steins much more common. Also, due to the variation in the thickness and thus the translucence of the porcelain, molds could be used to create the lithophane scenes that are visible in the bottom of many porcelain steins.

By the 1900's steins became a Collectable.

Antique stein collecting has been a major force shaping stein manufacturing in the modern period. First in about 1900, then again in the 1920s, good quality reproductions of antique steins were made, particularly in faience and pewter. Many of these early reproductions are clearly marked and are obviously not intended to fool antique stein collectors. The exceptions to this are some unmarked reproductions of Renaissance stoneware, early pewter, and some rare faience pieces that had reached remarkably high prices in the marketplace, even at the turn of the century. These are the steins that require the closest scrutiny to determine authenticity. It has really only been since the 1960s or 1970s that most types of antique steins have attained a value high enough to consider reproducing steins for the purpose of deception.

One major new direction in stein production in the Modern period, especially since World War II, has been the introduction of tremendous numbers of relief pottery steins.

The last forty years have seen many changes, with economics playing a key role. America has been the primary market for new beer steins of most types, especially the limited editions. Some companies have been very successful, while others failed to cope with the competition and have stopped producing steins.

In the early 1970s, Ceramarte of Brazil entered the stein-producing business, rapidly becoming the largest producer of beer steins in the world.

 

Resources:

German Culture.com
The Beer Stein Book: a 400 Year History, 3rd edition, 1999, Glentiques, Ltd., Coral Springs, FL.

 

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