The Reading Room

The Reading Room contains links to approximately 100 informative articles and resources for stein collectors. This material is  organized into general categories as shown below. For ease of navigation, you may click on any of the categories and your browser will take you directly to that section. Or, of course, you can navigate the list by scrolling up and down.

Some references below are only available with an SCI membership. You must log in with your credentials or join SCI to access some of these references.

In addition after that sentence please add “Some references below are only available with an SCI membership. You must log in with your credentials or join SCI to access some of these references.”

All articles for the reading room should be in the reading room, however certain restricted articles or references which I provided previously should provide a pop-up stating “this reference is restricted to SCI members only, to access, please log in or join SCI.”
These restricted links are:

Sources which deserve special attention are:

• • Featured Stein Archive – more than 200 short articles about specific steins.
  • Cumulative Index of Prosit – Table of Contents for every issue of Prosit going back to 1965.
  • Translations Illustrated provides hundreds (thousands?) of translations of expressions found on steins.
  • SteinMarks – an extensive library of information about manufacturers, designers and marks
  • The Beer Stein Library – an extensive library of information about manufacturers, designers and marks

If you can’t find what you are looking for here, perhaps you can find it in one of the External Links of Interest.

Getting Started: An Introduction to Stein Collecting

• Collecting Beer Steins – An Introduction to the many types of steins
• The Rastal Collection of Historic Beer Vessels – A broad treatment of the history of steins
• It Dates From Around the Turn of the Century the Golden Age of Steins – some history about steins.
• Old or New? – A discussion about identifying steins
• Anatomy of a Beer Stein – The basic terminology explained
• Beer Stein Ceramics Simplified – Stoneware, Pottery, Porcelain, Faience, Earthenware?
• Glossary of Terms
• Glossary of German Terms
• Humorous Look at Terminology
• Caring for Your Steins
• Featured Stein Archive (often referred to as the Stein of the Month Series)
  It is often said that the best way to learn about steins is to handle as many of them as you can, as often as you can. The corollary to that advice is to read about as many as you can, including a wide variety of types, materials, themes, etc., and the perfect way to do that is to browse the past Stein of the Month articles.
  
• Wrapping and Packing – helpful suggestions for how to ship steins

Specific Areas of Collecting Interest:

• 4F Gymnastic Steins – Turnvater Jahn, Turnfests, Phys Ed
  
• German Kinderkrüge – Children’s Steins
• German Christmas Miniature Steins
• German Student Societies, History and Traditions: A Bibliography
• Jordan Vandenberg’s HB Stein Blog
  (External site) A plethora of information on HB beer steins.
• Jugendstil Steins – A Pictorial Essay
• Mettlach Look-Alike – A striking comparison of two student steins
• Occupational Steins – An Introduction
  
  
  Regimental (or more correctly, Reservist) Beer Steins
  These articles are intended to provide footing for the newcomer to Regimental steins
• Regimental Steins – a first glimpse into collecting Regimental steins
• Understanding Regimental Beer Steins – a broad view
• Regimental Steins – A Brief History – More about history and the variety of Regimentals
• Some General Remarks about Imperial German Regimental Beer Steins
• Regimentals – Old or New? – How to identify reproductions
• Myth of History: Regimental Steins – A Pictorial Gallery (external)