Canton icon and Avon resident Walter Lowell, thought it would make a great souvenir to send back home. So in 1954, while overseas in Germany, Lowell began working with a local artisan in Heidelberg, to create a handmade, commemorative, porcelain beer stein.
Lowell hand drew colorful symbols, that would appear on the stein, representing some of the key experiences of his lifetime: basic training at Fort Dix and the Army Honor Guard on Governor’s Island in New York.
There would also be a flaming sword representing his unit in Germany and a meticulous depiction of the University of Heidelberg as well.
Even his alma maters, Kingwood Oxford and University of Connecticut’s School of Agriculture, were beautifully rendered on the stein.
Showing his well-known sense of humor, Lowell added one more special portrait to the stein. A tiny naked lady.
You couldn’t see her from the outside of the stein. But, once the final drops of beer were enjoyed, she appeared on the very bottom, in a pose reminiscent of the Gibson or Varga Pin Up Girls of the times. Artistically posed, just a little naughty and quite chaste by today’s standards
“Look at this one, this is something!” Lowell remembered saying after seeing a sample stein with the tiny Pin Up inside. “That’s the one I have to do!”
And, so he did. Lowell drew up his plans on scraps of paper and they were, “followed just perfectly.” He stuffed the original drawings inside the stein where they remain today, until he brings them out to allow others to admire the lady in the stein.
