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From: Chris - posted for general interest
Remote Name: 86.142.104.199
Date: 07/02/2008
Time: 12:28:02 PM
Buchecker & Co has imported undecorated plain steins from a prominent Westerwald Firm on an exklusive basis to Switzerland since the early 1930s. As we bought large quantities, we had them marked with our badge. We have supplied these steins to nearly all swiss breweries with their badges. All decorations were applied and fired on our premises. With the take-over of nearly all swiss breweries by large foreign breweries the local brews and and badges disappeared. Further the use of steins in Restaurants dwindled, these were replaced by cheaper machine-made beermugs in glass. Between 1970 and 1980 the demand for our custom-decorated steins disappeared. The stein you describe has definitely been produced in the Westerwald with the stamp of our firm. The decoration has been applied with a multicolour transfer and fired (up to 560 Celsius) by us. The pivoting lid was then fitted by a swiss 'Zinngiesser'. Most likely his mark can be seen on the pewter. We believe, that this was a very limited eddition for some Swiss army section. Most likely the engraving on the lid (seemingly a soldier's name) and the lettering on the bottom rim of the stein give more informations. To prove the date of decoration there might be a sandblasted gauge mark on the upper part showing the mark 'LU+68' (68 would be the year 1968 in which the stein was gauged by the official gauge-master of Luzern) and below '3 or 4 or 5 dl.(showing the tested capacity). I hope this helps you. Best regards Egon Buchecker