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From: Devi in San Francisco
Remote Name: 70.137.147.26
Hello, I recently inherited some beer steins that were my mother's. She had a boyfriend during WWII who was stationed in Europe at the end of the war and I'm sure that he brought her these steins. The most interesting one is what I think, must be blue salt glaze. The stein is pot-bellied, has no lid, it is probably stoneware - it appears to be very hard and not porcelain-like. It is heavily embossed with gray raised filigree, flowers, leaves, scrolls, herringbone, and a man and woman in 18th century dress dancing. On one side is written in raised letters "Was bitter und trub" (umlaut on the u) and on the opposite side is written "Tragt (umlaut on the a) alles die Lieb' ". Literally translated, this appears to mean "What is bitter and dull, holds all the love" (?). But I'm no German-speaker, so this may not be accurate. The background is dark blue. The handle is scrolled on the bottom, with a leaf, like an acanthus leaf on the outside of the longest part of the handle. There is no factory mark on the bottom, but the numbers 1 0 3 4 are embossed on the bottom with an A beneath the letters. On the rim the numbers 3/10 with a couple of lines are embossed. The is a small hole on the top of the handle, looks like it was there from the manufacture, but does not go through the entire handle. The top rim is gray, however there is some reddish tint. The stein stands almost 5" high, is almost 3" in diameter across the bottom, 2" across the top, and about 3.5" across the pot-bellied part. I'm not even sure this is strictly a "stein" since it has no lid", but I'll leave it to you experts to tell me. I have taken digital photographs, but I don't have a website to post them to, however I could e-mail, if someone would like to see pictures. I have two other interesting steins, one possibly porcelain (lidded and tall, hand-painted flowers) and one like a little wooden barrell with a swastica and the name Xaver Schroff on the top. I'm interested in learning a little of the provenance of the items. Thanks very much. Devi In San Francisco