All of the steins offered at GermanMart.com are handcrafted and the way some steins are produced did not change in the last century. A very interesting aspect of beer stein is the wide variety of material used for steins. Here a few examples of materials used for steins you find at GermanMart.com

Stoneware Steins

The history of stoneware beer mugs reaches back to the 15 th century. Stoneware beer mug were mainly produced out of clay. Formed on a pottery wheel, the raw clay was fired at 1250 degrees Celsius. After firing the stein for several hours, the clay vitrified into a dense fluid holding material similar to today’s known pottery products. The Mosel and Rhein valley as well as the famous Westerwald are the historical origin for most of the stoneware steins. During the years pewter lids and pewter bottom rings were added. Steins manufactured in the old tradition are often decorated with a blue or gray salt glaze. This glaze will give a shiny look and smooth surface to the stein. Today GermanMart.com is proud to be able to present stoneware steins manufactured in old tradition and style.

Faience Steins

GermanMart.com offers you an entire category of faience steins. Faience steins are dated back into the 17 th century. During the 17 th century the influence of Chinese porcelain put pressure on the the traditional stein manufacturing techniques. By modifying the material and manufacturing process, European craftsmen were able to create an affordable alternative to the expensive Chinese porcelain. GermanMart.com. offers a variety of historical replicas, representing this change in the tradition of the European beer stein. Compared to the traditional stoneware, the faience stein was fired multiple times. After the first firing of the stein, the stein was dipped into a milk-white metal glaze which produced a very smooth, porcelain like surface. This surface was painted with colored glaze and then fired a second time. Faience steins offered by GermanMart.com are manufactured in accordance with old traditions which is, even with today's technology, as time consuming as it was a hundred years ago. All our faience steins are 100% handcrafted and hand painted, using glaze recipes based on traditions handed down from father to son over many generations. Due to the slightly modified mixture of raw materials, Faience steines are much more fragile than the traditional stoneware steins. To protect the steins from chipping, most of them are enforced with pewter bottom rings.

Glass Steins

Even though the glass steins seems to be a product of present times, the German tradition of glass steins reaches as far back as the 16th century. The German glass stein was famous during the 17th and 18th century and became an object of daily life. The traditional glass stein was hand blown and high quality crystal and quartz were used as base materials. Today the traditional glass stein is being replaced by mass produced touristic glass steins. Still, GermanMart.com is able to offer glass steins still manufactured in old fashion out of highest quality lead crystal. Most of the steins offered by GermanMart.com are decorated with either simple pictures or hand engraved designs representing the traditional way of production.

Porcelain Steins

Beginning in the late 17th century the porcelain steins became more and more famous. Inspired by the Chinese influence, Germany became the center of the European porcelain. Produced by using Chinese clay (kaoline) and a wide variety of modified traditional recipes for the clay material, the European porcelain was bo rn. Once fired, porcelain is a very hard material. Porcelain was painted after firing which is completely different from any other tradition. Meissen was one of the famous German porcelain manufacturing places and still today "meissner porcelain" is known world wide and stands for highest quality European porcelain. Due to the different characteristic of porcelain vs. stoneware, many porcelain steins include lithophanes. The lithophanes are in the bottom of the stein and reveal pictures of historical scenes or persons. GermanMart.com does not maintain a special category for porcelain steins but many of the steins offered in our store are produced from German porcelain, using authentic porcelain mixtures.

Earthenware Steins

Some sources that Earthenware and Stoneware steins are identical but they are not . The typical characteristic of the earthenware stein is a little more porous. The Sarthenware Stein is not fired as long as the Stoneware Steins. To make up for the porous characteristic earthenware steins are ususally covered in very heavy glaze in order to make the stein impermable. Most of the relief steins offered by GermanMart.com are earthenware steins.