✅ SOLVED German glass

[15karobinson]

Hello! I'm trying this site as my own searching has turned up nothing. I got this mug (Stein?) in a box of other glassware I wanted at a yard sale - as I didn't want this piece I plan to sell it on eBay but I can't find any information about it. I don't like selling things without being able to tell the buyer the dates and makes, feels rude. All I can gather from the sticker is it was made in Munich. It's possibly from the 70s as that was the date of most of the other glassware in the box. Any information would be helpful!

 

[Red-Coat]

Welcome to Tnet.

Yes, it would be called a stein, although traditionally they were made from stoneware pottery (“stein" actually means “stone” in German), but the word now has a looser meaning for beer mugs in general.

It may well have been made in Munich, but the sticker is for the shop that sold it (Köppl), not the actual maker. It’s a relatively common German surname. The shop was located on the Rindermarkt, which is one of the oldest streets in Munich, and apparently sold süsswaren (confectionery), spirituosen (spirits) and geschenkartikel (gift items.)

I would put the date between about 1996 and 2010, based on two clues. In 1996, the “German orthography reform” specified that the use of the ‘eszett’ (ß) to represent a double ‘s’ after a long vowel should be replaced with the actual letters ‘ss’. So, before 1996, the word for confectionery would have commonly been written as “süßwaren” and from 1996 onwards as “süsswaren” (as on your stein). It’s not a hard and fast rule, since ‘ss’ was also sometimes used before 1996 on printed items if the font set happened not to have an ‘eszett’ character. Also, since there’s a six-digit telephone number, it can’t be after 2010 when Munich switched to ten-digit numbers. There doesn’t seem to be a shop of that name currently on the Rindermarkt.

 

[15karobinson]

Welcome to Tnet.

Yes, it would be called a stein, although traditionally they were made from stoneware pottery (“stein actually means “stone” in German), but the word now has a looser meaning for beer mugs in general.

It may well have been made in Munich, but the sticker is for the shop that sold it (Köppl), not the actual maker. It’s a relatively common German surname. The shop was located on the Rindermarkt, which is one of the oldest streets in Munich, and apparently sold süsswaren (confectionery), spirituosen (spirits) and geschenkartikel (gift items.)

I would put the date between about 1996 and 2010, based on two clues. In 1996, the “German orthography reform” specified that the use of the ‘eszett’ (ß) to represent a double ‘s’ after a long vowel should be replaced with the actual letters ‘ss’. So, before 1996, the word for confectionery would have commonly been written as “süßwaren” and from 1996 onwards as “süsswaren” (as on your stein). It’s not a hard and fast rule, since ‘ss’ was also sometimes used before 1996 on printed items if the font set happened not to have an ‘eszett’ character. Also, since there’s a six-digit telephone number, it can’t be after 2010 when Munich switched to ten-digit numbers. There doesn’t seem to be a shop of that name currently on the Rindermarkt.

Wow! Thank you so much for your reply - that's so much information I could never have gathered on my own, I truly appreciate you taking the time to share it with me! The thing about the change for the 'ss' is very interesting - you really do learn something new every day haha. I've marked this as solved because you've given me way more than I expected to be able to find already! Once again, thank you so much, have a great day! :+)