Beer Steins, Beer Tankards & Beer Mugs
Stoneware or fired clay beer steins present a warm and traditional look and blend well with most home decors and furnishings. The term stein, in German, means stone. Early steins were stoneware, which is Steinzeug in German. American lingo shortened it to stein.
To be classified correctly as a beer stein, a vessel must have a handle, a lid and a thumblift. Drinking vessels without a lid are properly called a beer mug. A tankard is a large drinking cup having a single handle and often a hinged cover, especially a tall pewter or silver mug. Most people use the term stein and tankard interchangeably.
The pewter lids came into use centuries ago, when it was thought that bubonic plague was transmitted by flies. The lids were to keep flies out of the steins. Also, from a practical standpoint, the taste of beer changes with exposure to air and lids limit the exposure.
Most steins are made of porcelain, but some are stoneware and others are pottery, glass, silver and pewter. Most high-quality, collectible steins are from Germany.
http://www.steincollectors.org/
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. A tankard would be more technically appropriate than stein, but these two words are used interchangeably. Be aware that some reserve the word tankard for the all-pewter or all-silver varieties of steins. A mug is universally used as the name for those vessels that have handles but would never have had a lid.
http://www.beerstein.net/articles/bsb-1.htm
For beer stein collectors, the 1990's may well be remembered as the decade that saw two of the oldest and most venerable steinmakers close their doors forever.
The first was Marzi and Remy, founded in 1879 and surviving until 1994, at which point much of what remained of the company fell into the hands of the firm of S.P. Gerz - then Germany’s largest beer stein producer.
Not long thereafter, Gerz too succumbed to the pressures of an increasingly competitive marketplace, ceasing operations in 1999 and ending a steinmaking tradition that had spanned more than a century and a quarter.
Steins originated in the 14th century. As a result of the bubonic plague and several invasions of flies in Europe, Germany established laws to require beverage containers to be covered for sanitary purposes.
Around the same time, techniques to improve earthenware by raising the firing temperature of clay, created stoneware. Thus, there was a presence of stoneware drinking vessels with attached pewter lids for the next 300 years.
By the end of the 19th century, the stein was clearly defined as being made in Europe, primarily of stoneware and primarily with a permanently attached pewter lid. The history of steins includes the development and presentation of steins made with different materials.
Pewter was the material of choice for beer steins in some areas of Europe, especially England. Glass, porcelain and silver steins were introduced several hundred years ago. Many stein-decorating styles and techniques were developed over the centuries, offering further diversity to the stein.
In recent times, the stein and tankard industry remained primarily represented by factories in Germany and England, where skilled craftsmen continue to create steins. However, during the 1980's, Ceramarte, of Brazil, became the largest producer of beer steins in the world.
http://www.steincenter.com/history.shtm
German beer steins are very collectible in their own right, but they also make fabulous gifts for men - for Father's Day, a birthday and even Christmas. Nice gift for the man who has everything - except one of these fine vintage German beer steins!
