[Jonny]

Hello all and thanks in advance for any info!

Family stein bought at auction in the 70’s.
You can feel the raised buttons on the uniforms.
Nothing on bottom of stein.
1907-1909 Radio telegraphers battalion 2 based in Frankfurt

I believe this to be an authentic regimental reserve stein. I know it was purchased prior to 1978 and has been in the family since. I reserve the right to be unknowledgeable of authentic steins and have this be a terrible reproduction.

[Jonny]

Not sure if pics worked, based on google drive. Will check back later and repost if they failed. My apologies.

[Jonny]

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[Jonny]

Yet another attempt. My apologies. Images can be difficult, yes I read the how-to.

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[Jonny]

[Ron]

Jonny,

Every photo you posted works. I believe your question is whether or not this is an authentic reservist stein. Hopefully a reservist stein collector will see it and give you the confirmation you are seeking.

[Jonny]

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, I am seeking to see if this is a very good repro or authentic, and how rare the Telegraph ones are.

[Ron]

Jonny,

It doesn’t look like our reservist collectors are visiting SteinTalk, so I will take a stab at it. While I do have some reservist steins in my collection, I am not considered a collector of reservist steins nor an expert.

Your telegraph stein is listed in Deutsche Reservisten-Bierkruege by Siegmund Schaich and published in 2013. There were Eight Telegraph Battalions (although one was not attached by 1914). Since your reservist was in the 4th Company, each would have had at least four companies, or 32 for all the battalions. Most Army reservists were Infantry, Artillery or Calvary. Telegraph steins would be rarer compared to ones from those three branches of service. Funkentelegraphen means radio telegraph.

The red shoulder strap features the yellow lightning bolts with “II” for the Second Battlaion. The soldier standing by the shoulder strap differs from the one in the book. Your soldier has a white sash, but I don’t know what the significance is. The decorator would had the unit, roster and highlight the buttons with paint to give the impression of it being hand painted. Sometimes the decorator would add his name and city (bottom inside of the rim or under the handle).

The unit was garrisoned at Frankfurt an der Oder (on the Oder river), not to be confused with Frankfurt an der Main (on the main). The motto of the unit is Gott mit uns (God is with us). There are seven radio operator scenes. Right of the handle features colonial soldiers near two radio cars in South-West Africa, the tall “Leidl” mast being attached to the radio car, and a disassembled radio station being transported by horses. The top center shows a radio officer working the Morse telegraph. A soldier is riding a bike to furnish the power (an early exercise bike!). Left of the handle shows a six-horse hitch transporting a gas balloon. Another team is noving the telegraph station. The top scene again shows the radio cars.

The lithophane is shown in the book. I don’t see any spider lines in the bottom of the stein. When the reservist dropped his coins and keys in the stein, it could cause cracks or lines in the lithophane.

The finial on your stein is the German Imperial Eagle. It should have a Stanhope near the mouth. Pictures would be inserted in here, but repeated washings could destroy them. If you have the original picture, your stein would be more valuable.

As far as I can see, your stein appears to be in mint condition, with the exception that I can’t see the Stanhope.

In my judgement, you have an original Reservist stein. I do not know the current value. If a Reservist collector does not offer an opinion, you could go to the Reading section and visit The Stein Auction catalogs to see what mint condition Telegraph steins are going for.

[Jonny]

Thank you for that information, Ron! Very interesting!
I could not locate the stanhope on the eagle. I know they can be small, and my eyes aren’t what they used to be, but I couldn’t find it. Perhaps that was an option at extra cost and this soldier didn’t splurge…
At any rate, this was part of my grandfather’s collection which my father inherited, and I through him when he passed. My father’s sister want’s the stein and is willing to pay for it.
Having served in the military myself, I can understand what this stein personally meant to the original soldier, apparently these were equivalent to today’s class ring. No offense to my aunt, but I think I appreciate this more than she ever could. She didn’t really know what it was. No doubt my grandfather knew, as I believe it was the prize of his collection.

Thanks for the info!

[Ron]

Jonny,

If you could post a close-up view of the Eadgle’s head, I could see if there was a place for the Stanhope.

[Art]

Jonny – everything Ron told you is 100% correct, but the Funkertelegraph was unusual, they were the first wireless radio units in the German Army. So, you do have a very collectible Regimental Telegraph stein, I have one in my collection and being a collector for many years, I have seen less than 1/2 dozen. The only thing I question is the thumblift without closeup pictures. Regards, Art

[Jonny]

[Jonny]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VD7hQys0sIbgEdnBGnolhsG2Q5Tq37sY/view?usp=sharing

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[Jonny]

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[Jonny]

Thanks for the reply and information, both Ron and Art!

Much appreciated!

New pics added of thumblift

[Jonny]

Also, new information discovered, this was purchased in the 1950s at an auction house and has been in the family since.

[Ron]

Jonny,

The eye of the Eagle looks like it might have had a stanhope at one time. The book I cited says only a small percentage of Reservist steins had a stanhope and only about 10% still have the photograph.
The thumblift is the face of Medusa. The book also cites it as being found on Telegraph steins. Don’t stare at it too long or you might turn to stone.

So it was purchased in the 1950s! If you still have the original invoice, I will be glad to match that price so you don’t take a loss on selling it! I would imagine there is quite a difference in values from 1950s to 2019, even with the recent decline in stein prices.

[Jonny]

I’m sure Grandpa kept the invoice from the auction, but it was thrown away after he passed. I was looking for a deeper hole, I see now where the right eye would have accepted a small glass cylinder, it differs from the left in that the left eye isn’t pocketed. I also now understand how these were easily lost.
My Aunt was interested in it, as she was a little girl accompanying her father to the auctions when this was purchased.
She said she’d not pay more than $100 USD for it.
As a former service member, this stein is far more valuable to me in knowing how personal it was to the service member, it was likely a prized possession, “In memory of our work”! (Not to mention the names of those working alongside, the value in that for memory is priceless to the original owner)
I told her thanks but no deal.

I would be interested in finding out more of the original owner.

[Ron]

Jonny.

If it was a stanhope, it should have gone through the other eye. This would provide the light to see the photo. I have a stanhope in the eye of the lion on a thumblift, but unfortunately the photo is long gone. You might have had glass eyes in the eagle, but they should both be the same.

[Author]

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