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This unusual antique German beer stein is made of hand-blown glass with an attached ribbon-shaped handle and hand-painted enamel decoration.

The stein was made around 1780-1790. The decorations show two sitting doves over a heart with floral side motifs and a tied ribbon underneath. The symbolism of the decoration is clearly matrimonial - the stein was specially ordered as a wedding gift. The beer steins were quite expensive at the time, and were a good wedding or anniversary gift in the middle-class society.

There is a large pontil mark on the bottom indicating the manual blowing process.

The lid is pewter with a large hollow ball for the thumblift and a large closed-type hinge consistent with the late 1700s time period.

The stein shows a crack coming from the upper handle attachment to the upper rim. Other than that, there are no problems or issues.

The stein is 0.5 L  capacity,  8.75" tall to the top of the thumblift.