P.W. Tavern Scene

Matthias Girmscheid - mold 285

From the collection of Mike Finn

This blue and gray stoneware stein with a "Tavern Scene" in about 10" tall. It has a 1/2L capacity mark, mold #285 and P.W. on the base, but no Germany. It looks identical to a Diesinger #31 including the handle (2 colored steins) but I don't have one to compare it with.

I emailed Frank Louvi (Beer Stein Library) years ago and this is his reply. Diesinger rarely produced anything in blue and gray stoneware, and never in sizes larger than miniatures. Moreover, #285 is not in the range of numbers currently believed to be applied at the Diesinger factory.
Despite the fact that the base number duplicates one already listed in the Girmscheid catalog, your stein is almost certainly a Girmscheid product. Unfortunately, absent any extant Girmscheid catalogs, there's no way to tell which of the of the two identical numbers was applied in error. Note, however, that the stein currently listed at Germscheid #285 has the same handle, as do several others in that number range, so whichever one is incorrect probably isn't all that far off.

The bottom two pictures are of #285 Germscheid "Tavern Reckoning" and the handle does look like the one on this stein and also the one from Diesinger. I searched and found that P.W. may stand for Peter Willems and I have seen a couple other steins on ebay with the same P.W. Maybe P.W. obtained ownership of the mold? Or Diesinger or Germscheid made some with the P.W. #185 for Peter Willems? If anyone can add to this please respond!

View the collection of Mike Finn

type	stein	material	stoneware
producer	Matthias Girmscheid producer info	mold	285
designer/decorator
capacity	1/2L
design date	1900?
height	25.3 cm (appx. 9.9 inches.)

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