Featured Stein: July 2010

~ A Daubenkrug Stein  ~ by  Jerrry Berg

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Daubenkrug is the name used for a type of wooden stein which first appeared in the mid 1600s. These steins consisted of oak staves within a wrap around pewter design that was inlaid into the oak staves. Originally the staves were carved with the design, arranged cylindrically to form the body, and hot pewter was poured into the carved areas, locking them together. Later production techniques allowed for producing the wrap around pewter design in a separate mold and carving each stave to fit within the pewter design.   One of the best known, and most respected, producers of the Daubenkrug was F. (Frans) Santesson of Stockholm, Sweden. Frans was born into a pewter smith’s family, and learned the trade both by working with his father, and by working for firms in Europe and in the United States. In 1862 he took over his father’s workshop, applied for membership in Stockholm’s Pewter Guild, and after painstaking examination of his work, was accepted. He operated as a pewter smith in the City of Stockholm until his death in 1916.

This magnificent Daubenkrug was made by F. Santesson in the late 1800’s and displays the official Coat of Arms of Sweden in the center front portion of the pewter design. Flanking the Coat of Arms and continuing around the body of the stein is a very intricate filigree design. All of this is, of course, inlaid into the wood staves. Above and below the wrap around design are pewter friezes, and atop the lid is a medallion featuring King Oscar II of Sweden. This stein will be a treasured addition to anyone’s stein collection. Information included in this article was culled from both “The Beer Stein Book – Third Edition – A Four Hundred Year History” by Gary Kirsner, and from a two part article in Prosit (September & December 1989) by Master Steinologist Stephen L. Smith titled, “F. Santesson – Stockholm Pewtersmith”