Topic: Mettlach “mystery” number | Stein Collectors International

This topic contains 13 replies, has 4 voices, and was last updated by AdW 1 month ago.

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August 22, 2023 at 9:10 pm #60542 Reply

AdW

Does anyone know the absolute range of these or have numbers 1 and 99 been noted? Are most or all within a small range…or does anyone even know?
August 22, 2023 at 9:26 pm #60544 Reply

AdW

Also, what is the highest (greatest) mystery number you have or have ever seen? Thanks
August 23, 2023 at 1:20 am #60546 Reply

John Piet

AdW,
Have you read The Essential Mettlach Marks by Walt Vogdes in the Reading Room? The article is not new, but I don’t think much information on Mettlach has been added since then.
August 23, 2023 at 7:54 am #60547 Reply

smazzone
Participant

Walt’s article doesn’t really deal with the question AdW asks. What the article says about the mystery number is: (1) The number “1” is actually in one of the examples in the article, so we know that “1” has been used and seen; (2) “The ‘mystery number’ is still a mystery, although it has been suggested that this number is indicative of the area in the factory where the item was produced, or perhaps identifies the primary decorator.” The article doesn’t address what the highest value is that has been seen. Unfortuately, I can offer no help on this.
August 23, 2023 at 12:27 pm #60549 Reply

AdW

So, I think I figured this out…at least in my mind. It seems that it is mostly in the same font as the year of production mark AND always on the opposing side of the form number. As vb Mettlach seemed very much into q.c, why would this not be the “week” of production? I’ll just bet noone has a mystery number greater than 52. (ok, that’s a challenge). Please look at your Mettlachs anyone….dying to know, Eric 🙂
- August 24, 2023 at 12:21 pm #60558 Reply
  
  Walt
  Keymaster
  
  You should have read The Mettlach Book where Gary Kirsner states it can be as high as 57.
August 24, 2023 at 6:44 pm #60559 Reply

AdW

I have, page 26, but I challenge that. He only says “most certainly not the week of production” with nothing else said. Maybe there’s only one case where someone thought it was a “57” where the 2 could have been misread as a 7. Possibly 53-57 are special runs. I dunno. Still waiting for anyone to see if they have any examples of any number over 52. Maybe I came to the wrong place?
August 25, 2023 at 10:08 am #60564 Reply

smazzone
Participant

Hopefully, it indeed the “right place” and folks are checking. I checked my Mettlachs and none have mystery numbers above 52.
August 25, 2023 at 6:34 pm #60566 Reply

AdW

My highest is 35
August 27, 2023 at 2:10 pm #60569 Reply

John Piet

My highest is 34.
August 27, 2023 at 2:23 pm #60570 Reply

John Piet

AdW,
I think the best way to prove your theory would be to collect the secret marks and date marks from a large number of Mettlach steins, at least 200, and look at the distribution of the secret marks. If it referred to a week of manufacture, you would find a distribution over all 52 weeks. No specific numbers would stand out. You could also check the distribution by year to see if there was some correlation between the year and the secret numbers.
August 30, 2023 at 11:13 pm #60600 Reply

AdW

Hi John, I thought of that, but I wont be able to come up with a big enough sample size. I am a bit surprised that most people are content with just calling it “mystery number” and leaving it at that without much conversation to speak of.
August 31, 2023 at 7:47 am #60602 Reply

jstrassberger
Participant

AdW – I have a Mettlach piece with the mystery number of 54. It’s a vase, mold number 1808 made in 1914.
I have 13 other Mettlach pieces made from 1872 to 1900. Their mystery numbers range from 3 to 36. What’s interesting is the distribution of the numbers. There are 2 with a single digit, 3 in the teens, 5 in the twenties, and 3 in the thirties. None in the forties. This is certainly not a scientifically valid sampling. However, if the mystery number truly was the week of manufacture, you would expect a forty-something number to appear as often as any other number between 1 and 52. Or did Mettlach shut down production for the last two and half months of every year? Not bloody likely, as my Aussie friends would say.
You don’t have to wait for others to respond because you do have access to a large number and variety of Mettlachs. There are currently 290 Mettlach pieces listed on the US ebay. Search on Mettlach beer steins…Germany. There are also 265 Mettlach pieces listed on German ebay (ebay.de). Search on Mettlach Bierkrug….Alle Kategorien. Almost all Mettlach sellers know to include a picture of the bottom of the piece. That’s a lot of mystery numbers just waiting for you!
August 31, 2023 at 11:53 am #60603 Reply

AdW

Ahh, I thought of all of that. Shut down production for a couple months? Why not believe that? Maybe clay mining stopped due to frozen conditions? Maybe transportation slowed? Maybe production stopped due to decreased demand in early months of the year as is now? I also looked at Ebay…too time consuming and many numbers I found tough to read. Hey, I get it, I’m interested, noone else is. Just trying to get an idea going…..one that I will keep pondering. Thanks for the feedback anyway
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