Antique Pewter German Beer Stein Walzenkrug Engraved Occupational Farmer dated 1809. Description: This very interesting and impressive beer stein was made in Germany about 200 years ago or more. It is a so-called “Walzenkrug” – a cylindrical form beer drinking vessel that was very popular in the 1700s – early 1800s. The thumblift is a hollow ball – please note that the hollow balls for the thumblift are a very good sign of authenticity. They never made solid balls for the thumblift before 1850 – 1860 and there are no repros with hollow balls – I guess it is very hard to reproduce. The stein has a pictorial engraving covering the entire body. It show a farmer plowing the land with a horse driven plough and another one planting the seeds. It is also engraved with the words: Ackern und Pflügen ist mein Vergnugen, darum muss ich pfugen. Farming and plowing is my pleasure, so I have to plough. I think there is some word play with the last word “pfugen”, but my German isn’t good enough to be absolutely sure. The stein belongs to the “Occupational” category for the occupation of shoemaker. This is a highly collectable category. The lid is engraved with initials J. This is a typical Saxonian pewter stein with large wide base and raised lid. The inside of the lid shows the pewterer’s marks. The marks belong to Traugott Friedrich Pilz who worked in the Saxonian town of Freiberg from the late 1700s – eraly 1800s. The date “1778” on the mark is the date of the pewterer’s shop established. The stein is in a very good condition – the pewter is very solid, there are some minor age-related dings and scratches, but there is no major dents, damages or repairs whatsoever. The stein is 10 tall, 1L capacity. Get images that make Supersized seem small. Track Page Views With.