A Bavarian Airship Regimental Stein

The stein is a blue-grey stoneware, Marzi & Remy black handle stein. German regimental collectors often call this body style a Keferloher stein, named for a tiny town near Munich where those blue/gray salt glazed stein were commonly used at inns patronized by drovers in the 19th Century.

The first airship units were organized in 1884 to evaluate tethered, ball shaped observation balloons and by 1896, the Parsival-Sigsfeld “kite” balloons with a stabilizing tail. Finally, by 1906 airship units were testing semi-rigid and rigid early Zeppelin type powered airships.

The stein has a propeller on the face, right above a laurel wreath that surrounds the Luftschiffer Barracks in Munich. Below is a crowned Bavarian shield between assorted military equipment L  ” on the right. Two standing airship soldiers frame the stein’s front. On the left side is a tethered Parsival balloon and a semi-rigid, powered airship. On the right is a ball shaped observation balloon, an early airplane and a rigid, Zeppelin type airship.

Perhaps one of the more interesting features on this stein is the Tschako helmet finial with a golden Bavarian shield held by a pair of lions on the front. Airship regimental steins are highly sought after by regimental stein collectors, but with Prussian airship steins being more rare than their Bavarian counterparts.