Many of us have collections. My interest is German beer steins, but I'm curious what items you have on display

My mother said everyone should have a hobby or collection. That advice stuck in my family.

My sister has accumulated so many Hallmark Keepsake ornaments that she could decorate 50 full-size Christmas trees. My brother’s interest is narrower, focusing on Star Trek ornaments. Another sister collects Fenton glassware, and a third sister, well, she seemingly collects stray cats.

As for me, I collect German beer steins.

My interest started with the purchase of a few inexpensive souvenir steins in 1981 while I was a high school exchange student in Boppard, Germany. It since has evolved into a pursuit of century-old works of art by master designers and craftsmen from distinguished companies like Villeroy & Boch and Reinhold Hanke.

One of my recent acquisitions is a 5½-liter stoneware stein depicting a scene from “The Trumpeter of Säckingen,” an epic poem about the star-crossed romance between a lowly trumpeter and a baron’s daughter. The stein dates to 1894, stands 21 inches tall and has relief decorations of medieval armor on the sides.

I serve as president of die Lustigen Steinjäger von Wisconsin, which translates loosely as the Jolly Stein Hunters of Wisconsin. It's one of 23 chapters of Stein Collectors International (SCI).

SCI has members with far more impressive stein collections than mine. Some pay thousands of dollars for a particular stein. I haven’t spent thousands on a stein, but I have spent hundreds.

I consider my steins to be functional art. I've drunk beer from all of them, save for the very large ones that were manufactured as serving steins for pouring beer into smaller steins or mugs.

My steins and the history they represent are one of my passions, but I know collecting German beer steins isn’t for everyone.

My mother’s statement about collecting, though, I think is more universal.

If you have a collection and want to share it with readers, reach out to me by email at dbehnke@gannett.com or by phone at 920-993-7176. Maybe you collect Rubik's Cubes, harmonicas, license plates or leg lamps from “A Christmas Story.” If it’s interesting, valuable or just plain weird, The Post-Crescent will consider it for a story.

My colleague, AnnMarie Hilton, wrote about a Sheboygan man who has a custom-built home to house his extensive collection of Indiana Jones memorabilia. I think there are more unique collections out there than most of us realize, but I need your help to find them.

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Back to my collection of German beer steins

Beer steins date to the mid-1600s, if not before, so there’s a lot to collect. For me, each stein must have a handle and a hinged lid. Without a handle, it’s a pokal. Without a lid, it’s a mug. Without either, it’s a beaker.

I’ve limited my scope to steins made in Germany, so I don’t collect Avon or Budweiser steins. I gravitate toward stoneware steins, but also have porcelain, crystal, glass and pewter steins. I buy them during my travels to Germany or through online auctions. I also have received some as gifts from my family.

Each of my steins has a story to tell about a significant milestone in German history (the coronation of Kaiser Wilhelm I, for example), a place I’ve visited (Berlin, Heidelberg, Munich, Nuremberg, Rosenheim, etc.) or German culture (festivals, folk dancing, zither music).

My collection includes steins shaped like a chess rook, a church tower, a beehive and a stack of pretzels.

The steins represent different artistic styles like Historicism or Art Nouveau. They range capacity from 25 milliliters to 6 liters, which is way more than beer than anyone should drink in one sitting.

What makes my collection unique, at least in my mind, is that I have researched every stein I own. With a few exceptions, I know the manufacturer of the stein, the materials and methods used to make it, and the history depicted on the stein body and lid.

My fact-finding can be exhilarating when a discovery is made, but the process also can be frustrating because historical records from the late 1800s and early 1900s are spotty. As part of my quest for information, I traveled to Höhr-Grenzhausen, a town in Germany that's long been a hotbed of stein production due to the area’s high-quality Rhenish clay deposits. While there, I arranged a personal tour of KING-Werk, one of the remaining German stein manufacturers.

To no one’s surprise, I left with two modern steins, one of which was assembled on the spot after I selected the components.

Contact Duke Behnke at 920-993-7176 or dbehnke@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DukeBehnke.