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The word stein is from the abbreviated form of Steinzeugkrug, which is German for stoneware jug or tankard. Today’s collector usually refers to steins made from anything other than stoneware, (glass, plastic, silver or pewter) as tankards. Steins usually hold a pint. On this page any steins that hold anything other, will be decribed as such. What’s the difference between a stein and a mug? Steins come with a hinged lid. The reason for this, is a law passed in Germany in the early 1500’s requiring that all containers be covered to protect from contamination. After the bubonic plague or Black Death in the mid 1300’s these sort of precautions were becoming common place, in the fear that the plague would return.
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