LB&C was most likely L. Bauernfreund & Co. a pewter foundry/finishing shop/distributor, established in Munich in 1883. In the 1880s they had 30 employees and remained in business until WorldWar I. They sold "pewter installed beer jugs" in porcelain, stoneware, faience and glass. They exhibited their wares in Nuremberg in 1885 and in Amsterdam in 1887.

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Here we have an LB&C "Austrian Soldier" character stein. Note the beautifully done, large, "type 3" capacity mark. The stein is marked with the lower case, cursive "b" decorator initial and a small, four square, QC mark. The "geseztlich geschutst" mark is the same size and font as that used on HR porcelain steins. Note the LB&C mark and the missing thumblift typical of Freising character steins. There are no model numbers on LB&C steins.

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This is the LB&C, "Monkeys on the Bottle" character stein. Note the large, "type 3" capacity mark along with the Q.C. and Decorator marks, indicating Hauber and Reuther early era (1882-1886) manufacture.

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"Schlaraffenland" (BG)

"Schlaraffenland" (ST)

Before Merkelbach & Wick produced a variation of this theme for Hauber & Reuther, Hauber & Reuther was making these for LB&C. On the left is the stein made for LB&C by HR and on the right, the one made for HR by Merkelbach & Wick, model #407.

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We find some porcelain character steins made by a factory other than Freising but in the narrow bodied early Freising style that have "LBCM" stamped into their pewter, usually on the shank. Mike Wald noted that he had encountered an LB&C stein with "LBCM" stamped on the shank, making the connection between the two marks.

Here is a comparison of the porcelain LBCM Fox on the left to the stoneware Freising Fox on the right and as you can see the relationship is fairly obvious. While the relationship is obvious, and both foxes may have been designed by the same person, the porcelain fox is NOT an HR stein.