Introduction:
---- Collectors:
--Following the Krueger Brewing Company's introduction of the beer can to the public in early 1935, there were a number of persons who had fun collecting the "new" beer cans, which had advantages over beer bottles:
(1) brewers could describe and promote their product better with a label covering all of the container.
(2) for sellers and drinkers, a beer can was individually lighter in weight; wasn't associated with the heavy/bulky wooden cases; and could be efficiently stacked.
--There is some information on a number of "original" collectors who lived around the United States and in a few other countries. Occasionally information on additional early collectors is uncovered from past newspaper articles or from descendents, but as time passes the chances lessen for additional information being uncovered about the earliest collectors.
In the New York metropolitan area, among a number of "original" collectors were:
(1) Ernie Oest, BCCA#108 and the first BCCA Hall of Fame member is probably the most documented of the early collectors. Ernie said he began collecting labels from beer bottles around 1930 when living in the Ocean Hill section of Brooklyn; then including beer cans when they were available and becoming more active with beer cans as the years passed..
(2) Paul Daniels in New Jersey saved a number of 1930's cans that later were divided up among Ernie Oest, Joe Veselsky, and Joe Allis - some of those cans, or the brands, are pictured on this website.
(3) In the Bronx was a musician, who sold an early can collection to a BCCA member on Long Island; who in turn sold the cans in the mid 1980's - most of these cans had the tops cut out such as a trio of New Yorkers, Pilser's Half and Half, etc.
Many other states besides New York had a number of "original" collectors who started in the 1930's but typically backgrounds on them are fragmented. As an example of another state with at least three known "original" collectors is California:
(1) Charles Coffey started collecting in the summer of 1936 driving a truck for a summer camp near a small Sierra Nevada town. He saw beer cans discarded in trash cans behind stores, and began assembling a collection that over the next 15 years grew into an organized and diversified collection of around 250 beer cans. Those cans have been preserved in several collections, with many of them or the same brands, pictured on this website.
(2) Marvin Schantz, who worked on the road crew for US Rt 50 across the Sierra Nevada, picked up one example of each brand he saw along the highway from the mid 1930's to around 1950. A picture of his collection is in a BCCA magazine article by Matt Menke.
(3) A couple started collecting in 1935 when traveling around California, and the widow later lived in Clovis - some of those cans are also pictured in a BCCA Magazine article as well as on this website.
---- Cans:
--While there are likely many "original" collectors about which little or nothing has been recorded - the cans they collected are known in collections today. Occasionally some beer cans will be seen that have markings connecting them to those past collectors, such as the 1940's-'50's paper labels on the seam placed by an "original" collector, J.K. Schmidt of Cleveland; and better known, later collectors such as Clay Tichelar with his 701.
Also for a history record, the stolen cans from Will Anderson's collection that were recovered by the FBI, have "FBI Laboratory" inventory stickers on them. Will Anderson left most of these stickers on his cans when he sold his collection (among the examples around, two such labeled cans have been saved by Don Wild.)
While mostly not connected directly with the "original" collector or finder of the cans, there are stickers on numerous rarer cans now that were part of the large collections sold by Jim Garard, Wally Gilbert, Dave Stark, or Bob McCoy. Along with photographs of former collections, comments by collectors, and such markings as the above on some cans, a number of rarer beer cans have at least some provenance, but for many other rarer cans, their background is often limited.
--This website focuses on beer cans that are thought to have been filled with beer (or ale, etc.) and were actually sold to the general public for their drinking enjoyment, which could be called "authentic" beer cans, i.e., those cans sold over-the-counter to anyone wanting to drink the beer, and sometimes be a collector too, had they been around at the time.
In contrast, there is a smaller category of cans that might be described as "cans connected with brewery insiders" that were handled by brewery employees for "test" purposes, etc., or flat sheets that were later "rolled" into cans - nearly all of which likely weren't sold "over the counter" with beer to the public.
(These "insider" examples are similar in type to what has happened in coin collecting, in which U.S. Mint employees have been connected with coins not officially distributed to the public, such as the 1913 Liberty Head nickel and 1933 Double Eagle - coins that while not "official" have collecting interest to some collectors.)
With limited information now on many 1930's/1940's beer cans by persons who actually drank the beer, or photographs of persons drinking from the cans/showing cans displayed in stores - a good alternative for learning if a can brand actually held beer and is "authentic", are examples found discarded in buildings, dumps, etc. with other discarded cans/bottles, etc. Many collectors focus on such "authentic" beer cans to avoid ending up with "test", "rolled", or restored cans.
Beer cans might be grouped generally by condition into three broad categories:
--"inside" or "on grade" cans - well preserved examples saved by collectors or found discarded in walls, attics, etc.
--"under-the-house" or "too-long-in-the-cooler" type cans that still have some characteristics of an "inside" can.
--"outside", or dumper examples that were left to the vagaries of the weather, etc. and are found in varying conditions.
---- Sources:
--For this website the goal is to offer information that has been, or is known, by one or more collectors or based upon other confirming sources to give some verification. Accordingly, this website reflects the generous input from a number of collectors who have had experiences with many of these subjects, along with other contributors who offered information on specific topics. Among these persons are:
Will Anderson, Gene DiCicco, Dick Caughey, Tom Leo, Don Wild, Ken Ostrow, Ed Scoglietti, Dan Scoglietti, Bill Lester, Dan Baker, Clay Tichelar, Tom Waggoner, Glenn Hintz, Marcia Butterbaugh, Matt Menke, Keith Belcher, Marc Tracy, Adolf Grenke, Dan Morean, Howard Strohn, Todd Brubaker, Wally Gilbert, Dave Stark, Ted Larsen, Rich Bentley, Bob Myers, Pat Franco, Don Monroe, Larry Handy, Robin Scott, Rich Wagner, and Susan Appel. Also letters/information from collectors such as a 1976 letter from Ernie Oest, 1980's letters from Dave Stark, etc.
In addition to such verified background material, could be other information that has been "heard around", but still is a step or two from having some confirmation. By needing verification, inevitably "gaps" are left in provenances, that haven't been filled by fictionalizing possible "stories". When these uncertainty "gaps" are encountered, they may noted with a question mark (?).
---- In conclusion, as with some historical accounts, beercanhistory.com is considered a "work-in-progress" awaiting more backgrounds on collectors and particular cans -- additional information is welcomed.
webmaster: beercanchester(at)yahoo.com
Copyright © 2007-2009 www.beercanhistory.com, All Rights Reserved. Last modified 12-8-09.
|
