Stein-Man offers all the latest stoneware from the following Westerwald beer stein makers. Please click on any Company below to see all the available listed products:
During the late 1400s central Europe was repeatedly overwhelmed with summer swarms of insects. This led naturally to the practice of covering food and beverage containers, and thus greater use of lids. With a thumb lever within reach of the mug handle, it's possible to open a stein with the same hand by which it's held. Lidded steins are now used out-of-doors, in beer gardens, festivals, etc. to keep the precious liquid clear of insects, tree debris, etc. As such they may serve as a sanitary measure.
The origins of steins date back to the 14th century. As a result of the bubonic plague and several invasions of flies throughout Europe shortly thereafter, Germany established several laws in the early 16th century requiring that all food and beverage containers be covered to protect their contents. By combining a lid, hinge, and thumblift, these 'German' containers could easily be opened and closed with one hand.
Tradition tells that the beer boot came into use during the World War I. At that time, German Soldiers, before heading into battle and without any useful drinking vessel, used their own leather boots for the consuption of their beer. With wax they tried to get the boots as watertight as possible and then filled them to the top with beer and circled them around among their comrades. American Soldiers were introduced to this tradition of drinking from a stoneware beer boot while stationed in West Germany after World War II.
The work of Franz Defregger, a prolific painter of scenes from daily life in Tirol, appears on literally hundreds of different beer steins. Another artist whose work appears regularly on steins is Heinrich Schlitt, who’s most well-known work is found on the ceiling of the Munich Ratskeller, but whose often comical depictions on beer steins are highly sought after by collectors. The work of some of the most famous German artists of the Art Nouveau period can also be seen on beer steins, including Franz Ringer, Richard Riemerschmid and others.
The Beer Stein factories of Germany have come and gone over the centuries, each producing stonewares unique to their area and factory. The most famous and most enduring area of stein manufacturing in Germany is the land near the River Rhine known as "Kannenbäckerland" or "Jug Bakers Land". This small area around Koblenz, Ransbach-Baumbach, Höhr-Grenzhausen and Hillscheid is famous since Roman times for its clean white clay resources, and is still to the present day the all time champion of German Beer Stein production.
The most popular and durable glaze color used by Westerwald stein makers is the "Blue Cobalt". The use of Cobalt salts as a coloring material in ceramic glazes goes back more than 2000 years. Commercial
production began in France in 1807. The first recorded use of cobalt blue as a color name in English was in
1777. The world leading manufacturer of cobalt blue in the 19th century was Blaafarveværket in Norway, led by Benjamin Wegner. Cobalt is the most powerful coloring mineral used in ceramic glazes. Less than 1% can give a very strong blue. The Chinese "Blue and White" and the Dutch and English "Delft" pottery are also very famous examples of the use of cobalt.
Salt glazed or salted pottery is created by adding common salt, sodium chloride, into the chamber of a hot kiln. Sodium acts as a flux and reacts with the silica in the clay body. A typical salt glaze piece has a glassine finish, usually with a glossy and slightly orange-peel texture, enhancing the natural colour of the body beneath it.
The unique characteristics of salt glazing were discovered in the Rhineland of Germany, probably in the 14th century. Initially, the process was used on low fire earthenware. By the 15th century, small pottery towns of the Westerwald, including Höhr-Grenzhausen, Siegberg, Köln, and Raeren in Flanders, were producing a salt-glazed stoneware. Westerwald Pottery was characterized by wooden stamped medallions and the use of a cobalt oxide based colorant for decoration. Salt kilns were used extensively in western Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries, particularly in Germany, Scandinavia and the British Isles.
Stein-Man partnerships with the following German Beer Stein companies.
The Original Westerwald Web and Paintshop serving the worldwide collector of German Beer Steins and offering the best access to the Westerwald Stein Makers.
Ceramic Paintshop Peter Willis
Peter Willis
Am Wasserturm 35A
56237 Nauort
Germany
Phone: +49-2601-9139893
Fax: +49-2601-9139893
