452 - Four figural porcelain beer stein lids, paperweights, police dog, cow, parrot and frog

Four figural porcelain beer stein lids, paperweights, police dog, cow, parrot and frog Porcelain, polychrome painted, glazed, four figural beer stein lids as paperweights, animal heads, partly humorous and richly detailed, unmarked, condition commensurate with age, 1) police dog with green peaked cap with black-red-gold emblem and silver-coloured chain, 14x10x14 cm (HxWxD) 2) cow with blue baseball cap with "JOHN DEERE" logo, cow heavily chipped, 11.5x11.5x14 cm (HxWxD) 3) parrot with light blue sunglasses, 9x9x10.5 cm (HxWxD) 4) frog with red fez cap, cap of the frog rubbed, 8x6.5x7 cm (HxWxD) Lids on beer steins were meant to keep insects, leaves and tobacco ash away from the beer and to keep it cool for longer; since the Black Death in the 14th century, covering drinking vessels had been one of the protective measures against epidemics. Lid and hinge were usually set in a pewter mount, so that a pewter lid could be fitted to another stein if the glass broke. In the 19th century porcelain medallions became fashionable as inlays in pewter lids, whose motifs, often humorous, gave each stein its own character. Steins with pewter or silver lids were more expensive and hardly affordable for poorer drinkers.