Prost! Skål! Cheers! The Europeans raise their steins to toast. Eric Salzano, a member of the Stein Collectors International organization (SCI), owns a little museum inside his house of different kinds of them which quickly introduces you that drinking vessels are often amazing works of art.
The marvelous craftsmanship of these antiques is the reason why so many drinking vessel collectors are serious students of the subject and spend hundreds to thousands of dollars to add them to their collections. The ceramic tourist steins you find now labeled West Germany or Ceramarte from Brazil, or Asia on the bottom are mass produced and although fun will not add much value to your shelf.
Salzano said that he believes that collecting the antique vessels “is the most misunderstood area of all of the antiques to collect because the depth and width of the field is astronomical.” To understand his excitement and the artistry poured into the creations, first
