Regimental stein value question

[Mike Coleman]

First, I'm not sure this is the proper forum to ask this question of so if it is not excuse me and the moderator can move it to the correct forum. Second, I am not an imperial collector or a stein collector which is why I am asking this question.
A very sweet old lady and widow of a WW II American vet is trying to sell some of his war souvineers to generate some cash. She is trying to sell a flag (on the flag forum) and a stein. She has asked me what I think the fair value of these items are and not knowing I told her I would ask those more knowledgable than I.
The stein in question is a 1/2 liter ceramic piece with a silver metal lid (pewter?) and hinge piece atttached to a single handle. There are no markings on the bottom nor could I find any on the lid. The inside is plain white and on the bottom are two figures, side by side, that are barely discernable as a man in uniform standing next to a woman. The outside has four panels of pictures of various military scenes related to engineers around a central crest and on each side of the four panels are a list of what I believe are names of members of the company. There are about 30 to 40 names in each column. So as one looks at the stein the columns of names are on each side of the handle and the central crest is on the side of the stein opposite the handle. Around the stein are the words " 3 comp. Wurttb pioneer battalion #12 Ulm 1906 - '08" ( at least that is my interpretation of the old fraktur type). The ceramic is in good shape as are the pictures. The problem with the piece is that the previous owner turned it into a lamp by removing the soldier figure from the top ( the woman still has it and it stands upon a metal disc about 2 cm in diameter that sits in a dpression atop the lid) and drilled a threaded hole about 1/4 inch diameter through the center of the top. The soldier figure easily covers the hole when placed back into position. He then cut out a rectangle from the lid next to the hinge about 1 x 1 cm for the lamp cord to exit the stein. All the lamp hardware have been removed. I assume this is some sort of a remembrance piece for someone that has fullfilled his enlistment time in this particular company.
So what is the verdict on the relative value of this altered piece? Thanks for any forthcoming opinions.
Mike Coleman

[Bobby lee]

Hi Mike, As an old stein collector I can say that it is usually with some difficulty to state a value on a stein without being able to see it. It sounds like a stein from a pioneer or engineer unit (Wurtt). For stein collectors, such a stein in excellent condition would go in the neighborhood of $475-650 depending on design, service depictions, finial and thumblift, etc. From your description it likely is only worth what a curio collector would pay as its value as a Reg't stein is kaput. Even with the finial (the figure on top of the lid) still available, the drilling and otherwise defacement makes it worth little to a stein collector. The lady's hope is that someone would buy it for the curio display it surely would make. Sorry, but there it is.

[CollectRussia]

Someday a psychiatrist will become famous by explaining the mania that causes people to turn objects into lamps.

[Chip M]

Mike,

Don't get the impression that this stein is worthless. Even if it had no lid, imperial collectors like this sort of thing for display. Of course, a stein collector would turn up his nose, but there are many more general imperial German militaria collectors that would buy such an item. From what you describe (not having seen it), I would suspect that you could get somewhere in the $100-$150 range for it.

Chip

[Mike Coleman]

Thank you all for your replies. I will pass that information along to her and you are correct - how someone could take a perfectly good vessel to hold cold brew in and turn into a useless lamp is beyond me. 'Tis better to drink one beer than to curse the darkness. Or something like that.

Mike Coleman