Bill G

Mark, you didn’t enclose your email address.

Valerie, your stein is a Munich souvenir made in the 1960’s and is worth about $20.

Geoff, SCI members have access to a number of old stein catalogs. Prices shown in these catalogs clearly don’t help with current valuations. The best source you want is The Beer Stein Library, located at http://www.beerstein.net. It requires a yearly fee for total access to the website, but it’s quite worth the cost if you are a stein collector.

I hope the seller really likes that stein. He’ll have it the rest of his life at that price.

Heiner,
I was impressed by this stein on eBay, also. I wish I had some information about the story, but I don’t believe it was made just for display. Three-liter steins were not uncommon with most of the makers. What I was NOT impressed with was the pretty hefty price. Hopefully more of the story will come to us.

You might also check in the BUY & SELL in the STEINTALK click above. There is a connection for the Gateway Steiners in the topic “stein show and sale.”

Julie, the inlaid lid should show the Munich Child and words about the VII Deutsches Bundesschiessen. A different lid would lower the value of the stein, and certainly the damage you described will reduce it considerably. Your stein could have been made in 1912. There is a chapter there, the Gateway Steiners. Click on CHAPTERS above and arrow down for that listing. If you are on Facebook that might be the best way to communicate with them.

Julie, the Beer Stein Library lists the V&B #1130 as a half-liter, etched “Munich Shooting Stein”. It should have an inlaid lid commemorating the 7th German national shooting competition held in Munich in 1881. In mint condition the value is $500-650. There should be a small 2-digit number on the base that would indicate when this one was made, such as 85 for 1885 or 06 for 1906. If the word “Germany” is printed it was exported out of the country, as opposed to your family bringing it out.

Ken,
I think probably the latter. Many of the Höhr and Grenzhausen makers, in a relatively small area, saw the work of the others and assimilated what they liked.

Ken,
Frank does list handle DB10 in red, warning that it might be confused with handles AD3 and AD4. One thing to think about is that Diesinger doesn’t seem to have any steins with a mold number in the 400s.

The second is 409 in the Dümler & Breiden catalog.

Austin, I wouldn’t call your stein a reproduction. I do believe it was made after WWII, which was well after the “Golden Age” of steins. I can’t recognize a maker. Let us know how much you paid for your stein and someone could say whether or not you got a reasonable price. At any rate, congratulations for starting your collection!

Austin, it’s hard to know without seeing it. Can you post a photo? The number 5 as a mold number doesn’t match anything in the Beer Stein Library, but that doesn’t mean it’s a reproduction.

Claude, I agree that this is post-WW2 and think it would be mainly desired by M.I.T. students/alumni. I have a question, though, to other stein collectors: When were steins stamped as “Foreign” rather than “Germany”, “W. Germany” etc.? I have one stamped like that and thought it was post-WW1, but this stein makes me wonder.

Nick, I had seen that but was mentally seeing the “colored paintings” as a transfer, not a relief. You are probably correct. From time to time I forget what it means to assume.