((TRT: 06:15))
((Topic Banner: The Stein Man))
((Reporter/Camera/Editor: Philip Alexiou))
((Map: Pamplin, Virginia))
((Main characters: 1 male))

((NATS))
((George Adams
Stein Collector))
I'm second-generation German. As I remember it, everything in our house when I was growing up was junk, and not only that, would be antiques. They [my parents] bought silver and brass and copper. In the dining room was a shelf with all these pieces on it. On the very right-hand corner was a stein. It was a fairly large stein. It was made out of wood and it was chip carved. In other words, it was carved by hand. This thing had a lid on it. You know, during that period of time in the [19]40s, I'd only knew one thing that had a lid on. It was a syrup pitcher. And you pulled the handle back and poured the syrup. Now, here's this thing. Now what is it? The lid actually fascinated me what was on the stein. And I was just a boy six, seven years old. And that's how it started.
((NATS))
((George Adams
Stein Collector))
This is chunk pewter. Put it over the fire. It's getting liquid. See the color of the pewter now? It's turning kind of black looking. See it? I would pour it in. The shank was cut off and the shank part, which is this right here, would sit right on top of the handle. This was molded around it with raw clay, and then you would pour that into the mold, and it would weld the shank to the strap.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((George Adams
Stein Collector))
My name is George Adams. I'm the owner and operator of Steins Unlimited. And I've been collecting steins since I was a little boy. I can't tell you exactly but seven years old, maybe six, seven years old. Stein is, in German, is Steinzeug Becher mit Zinndeckel. That means a stoneware mug with a pewter lid. This is my butcher stein from 1960.
((Text on screen: After the bubonic plague, a decree was passed to have lids on steins to protect them from disease spreading mosquitos and insects.))
((NATS))
((George Adams
Stein Collector))
During the [bubonic] plague that killed a lot of people, and they knew that they had to do something, and it was a law that if you were in public with your container that contained a liquid, it had to have a lid or you were fined. That could be milk or water or whatever liquid, but it had to have a lid on it.
((NATS))
((George Adams
Stein Collector))
These four steins right here are called, The History of Steins. I actually designed these steins and had them made in Germany. This stein is from Raeren [Belgium] and it's 1603. Right here's the date. It’s a period stein. Actually it was made in Germany, in Siegburg, Germany in the late 13[00s], early 1400s.
((NATS))
((George Adams
Stein Collector))
A week after I moved here and I set up a show in Richmond, collectors flock to Fairground. That was a first show I ever did here at the Richmond Fairground, and I set up in a toy show. That was a lady from the Antique Trader [magazine] did that. She came by in Charlottesville when I was set up in the mall there, and did an interview right in the mall. This was at Duck Creek Plaza in Bettendorf, [Iowa]. Somebody came out from Lynchburg and did this one. I did at least 20 years of shows, and I did well. If I did a bad show, I didn't go back. There's nobody promoting shows now. I had a lot of good years.
((NATS))
((George Adams
Stein Collector))
This is World War I dated. That would be a Munich regiment. This is 1933, 1934. This means free worker. He was a free worker, Otto Fabian. He was in the Third Reich. Oh, this one has a swastika here. Yeah, just a swastika here in 1944. See, he's a baker. He's a musician. He's a butcher. He actually was a butcher or meat cutter.
((NATS))
((George Adams
Stein Collector))
Last time I did any inventory and move steins from Big Red [shed] to the trailer, and I inventoried everything, and I tried to inventory what I had on display and what I had in the house and all over. And I came up with just shy of 10,000 [steins], one of the largest in the world, one of. I'm not saying 'the', I'm just saying it's a large collection. I don't compete with anybody. I just am doing my thing, and that's what I like to do. I'm actually a kind of a recluse. I don't like people very well, but I like steins. So I accept people, so I can talk to them about steins. I like beer though. I’m a good German and I like beer.
((NATS))
((George Adams
Stein Collector))
This stein was produced in Germany. It is hand-painted and signed by the artist. It's 32 liters, actually a full keg, and it was made to be the world's largest stein. And now, actually now, there's one by Girmscheid in Höhr-Grenzhausen, Germany. It's a little bigger. For years, this used to be the biggest stein in the world.
((NATS))
((George Adams
Stein Collector))
That's been up there. Let's see. I've been here 27 years, I think it is. That's been up there about the second year that I came here. About [19]97, we've had the steins made. I'm enjoying what I'm doing. I'm taking care of what I have, and I'm enjoying it, and that's as simple as it is.
((NATS/MUSIC))