Featured this month is a German hobnail glass stein with pewter lid and eagle finial. This style is listed in an early 20th century catalog as a Deckelschoppen ("covered pint"), but more commonly referred to as a Tübinger Igel (Tübingen hedgehog) because of the raised dimple design of the glass is reminiscent of the animal's skin, or sometimes just simply, a Tübinger. On the pewter lid is a bronze piece with a raised image of Lichtenstein Castle and a dedication which reads "Claire Haueisen Tübingen Somer 1899".

This thick-walled, spherical beer mug was traditionally used primarily by the Akademische Verbindung (A.V.) Igel (Hedgehog Academic Association) at Eberhard Karls University in Tübingen, and is still used there today. Founded in 1871, this association was confined to Tubingen, was unaffiliated with any other organizations and was devoted to the patriotic ideas of the new German Reich. Initially it dissociated itself from the dueling and color bearing fraternities. In place of the brightly colored cap and breastband, its members wore a hedgehog skin and a breastband striped in shades of black and gray.

There is no student association dedication on the lid, only the inscription “Claire Haueisen Tübingen Somer 1899". Claire may have been a girl friend of an Igel or just a visitor to Tübingen.

My interest in this stein is not in its peculiar design nor its association with the German student associations whose steins I collect, but by the castle (Schloss Lichtenstein) on the lid, which I visited on a 3rd grade field trip in 1953. The castle, situated on top of a large rock formation and accessible only by a drawbridge made quite an impression on my youthful mind. The castle is located about 20 miles southeast of Tübingen and has been described as the "fairy tale castle of Württemberg." The modern castle was inspired by the novel Lichtenstein (1826) by Wilhelm Hauff and was built in 1840–1842. The ruins of the medieval castle that inspired the novel are a few hundred meters away. The name Lichtenstein translates as "shining stone”.

"My" castle has been depicted on many other items, Mettlach plaques, stamps, books, and postcards as shown below.

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