I Have 2 athentic German Beer Steins with 0.5l K.S and another with same but has the letter W?

Question

This is stamped in near handle on both 05l is on top and then a line and then under that is K.S And my other stein is the same stamped in but with a letter W. Does 05l Mean Half a liter? and the K.S. means person who made it? or the place it was made? Let me know steins are great collectables. Thanks.

Answer 1

probably the persons initals

Answer 2

These lines are called "Füllstrich" or "Eichstrich" (something like calibration mark) in German.

Every glass or stein in gastronomy in Germany must have these things so the customers can check if the innkeeper filled it correctly.

When your beverage or drink is filled up to this line it's exactly what the number says. In your case 0.5 liters so half a liter yes.

The letters normally belong to the producer of the glass/stein. There's no need to print it onto it but most of the glass/stein-manufacturers of course do it.

I'm very sure that your K.S.-stein was made by "Klaus Ströder GmbH & Co. KG". You can visit their website here:

http://www.klaus-stroeder.de/

Sorry, i don't know what the W. might be but normally as above that's part of the name of the producer.

Another example:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...

This one shows 0.5 liters (again when in this case the beer  is exactly at the line) and the producer is sahm

( http://www.sahm.de/ )