by Steven Wessling
stein
that I purchased on Ebay approximately three
years ago. This stein has a very unusual feature,
a music box with the green Mettlach Mercury
mark on the wood. It also has the original label
with the name of the song it plays, "Komm Karlice
Komm", typed on it. Since this is way out of my
field I called Bob Wilson, a recognized expert on
Mettlachs, to get some help. Bob told me that the
Mercury mark should also say "MADE IN GERMANY" and that this was required after 1891 for
export. Mine does, if you use your imagination. He
also told me that 1 in 400 Mettlachs had music boxes
and of that 10% to 20% were meant for export. 
For
those of you who may be unfamiliar with the
Schützenliesl or target girl character, there is a great
article in the June 1990 edition of Prosit by Liselotte
Lopez. I will be glad to send anybody a copy who
would like one. You may also recognize the target girl
from the Blatz Beer advertisements of the past.
The second stein I would like to share with you is also a Mettlach with a music box. This one is unusual in that it plays two tunes. It is a relief # 2130 called "man drinking" in the Mettlach book. This stein was purchased at auction from Richard Hatch (Hatch
Auctions,Hendersonville, NC). The music box wasn't installed at the time of the purchase. It was in a rust stained plastic bag and Richard said it didn't work. Three weeks later, with a few new parts, the music box worked great. It plays two tunes by moving the cylinder left or right by way of an odd rectangular block at one end of the cylinder. The music box starts playing as soon as you pick up the stein and doesn't stop until you set it down. Even then, it continues to play until the end of the song. The next time you pick up the stein it plays the other tune. This stein doesn't have the Mercury mark or a label with the name of songs and I have been unable to find anybody that recognizes the tunes. I don't quite understand the purpose behind beer steins with music boxes but I do have a strong belief it has something to due with some sort of medieval punishment.