ShareThisDear Helaine and Joe:
Would you have any idea of the value, history or maker of this stein? On the lid is "Bavaria M17." On the stein there is lettering including the words "Gambrinus Gerstund."
Thank you,
M.C., Wood-Ridge, N. J.
Dear M.C.:
In much earlier times, beer was not something people drank when they wanted to get a "buzz" while watching a ball game. No, Europeans and others made beer because it was a way to make sure the water that was available from natural sources was safe to drink and would not make people sick -- or kill them outright.
In other words, the alcohol produced during fermentation killed the microbes in the water and this was a good thing. It is said that beer is the oldest and most widely consumed of all alcoholic beverages, and is the third-most-consumed beverage behind water and tea.
The history of beer can be traced back thousands of years. The earliest reference is thought to be on a 4,000-year-old Sumerian tablet that depicts a group of people drinking from a communal bowl using reed straws. From these and other ancient peoples -- including the Egyptians -- the Greeks learned how to make beer and they taught the Romans.
The figure represented on the front of M.C.'s German stein is King Gambrinus, the legendary king of Flanders who is commonly referred to as the "patron saint of beer." He is often depicted straddling a beer keg or shown as a medieval knight.
Whether King Gambrinus actually existed is open to debate. One of Charlemagne's cupbearers was named Gambrinus, and in 1543 the German poet Burkart Waldis wrote that Gambrinus learned the art of beer brewing from Isis, the Egyptian goddess of motherhood and fertility.
Others postulate the character was derived from the Latin word "cambarus," meaning "cellarer" or perhaps "ganeae birrinus" -- meaning "one who drinks in taverns." Still others say the name is derived from Jan Primus, or John I, Duke of Brabant, who is said to have been the inventor of malt-brewed beer flavored with hops.
Another faction says that Jean Sans Peur, who was known as Gambrivius, invented malt-brewed beer flavored with hops. Which of these theories is correct is open to conjecture, but there is no doubt that representations of Gambrinus were widely used as a symbol by late-19th-century breweries and stein makers.
The piece in today's question is made from gray stoneware with a pewter lid. Stoneware is defined as a high-fired porcelain type of pottery that is very hard and nonporous (i.e., does not need a glaze to hold liquids). This piece may have a "salt glaze," which is made by throwing salt into the hot kiln where it vaporizes and then deposits on the surface of the pottery being fired.
This particular German stoneware stein was made sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century, and examples of this type of stein are fairly plentiful. For insurance replacement purposes, this stein, which we assume to be a 1-liter size and in good condition, should be valued in the range of $100 to $125.
(Helaine Fendelman and Joe Rosson are the authors of "Price It Yourself" (HarperResource, $19.95). Contact them at Treasures in Your Attic, PO Box 27540, Knoxville, TN 37927. E-mail them at treasures(at)knology.net.)
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