Bottle/Can Collections

[CNOIZE]

Hello, I am new to this forum and have enjoyed reading the conversations posted. One of the things I am curious about is those of you who collect bottles / cans. I have been collecting these for about three years and wonder how popular this is as a hobby. I do not personnally know anyone else who collects, so I have not seen another collection first hand. I am wondering how you all manage your collections?

Do you save empty or full cans / bottles? Do you save duplicates? I read that the largest collection in the world is 11,644!, and I read that rabidbeerjunkie has ~3,500. How many is a decent sized collection? Do you keep a log of what you've got? Just wanted to hear the thoughts of some veterans.

[chazwicke]

Both bottle collecting and can collecting are large hobbies. I sold my can collection of over 4000 back in 1980. I still collect but only specialty items. I have probably 250 cans now. Ask steveh how much a single can can sell for. I sent him an ebay auction recently that featured a Senate Ale can from the Christian Heurich brewery which closed in 1956. It was in Washington DC where the Kennedy Center now sits. I knew both the seller and the buyer. I have one of these cans too but in better condition. Anyway, I used to collect bottles but only of beers that I drank. One of each. I left that collection in a house that I lived in
back in the mid 80s. My former roomates sold it in 1986 to a fraternity for the frat house. There was over 500 on the shelves at that time. Including many rare brews and early microbrews. Collecting is a great hobby and there are several national collectors clubs. I am not at home right now but if you are interested, PM me and when I get back this week I'll send you the links.

[Seymour]

Originally posted by CNOIZE
Hello, I am new to this forum and have enjoyed reading the conversations posted. One of the things I am curious about is those of you who collect bottles / cans. I have been collecting these for about three years and wonder how popular this is as a hobby. I do not personnally know anyone else who collects, so I have not seen another collection first hand. I am wondering how you all manage your collections?

Do you save empty or full cans / bottles? Do you save duplicates? I read that the largest collection in the world is 11,644!, and I read that rabidbeerjunkie has ~3,500. How many is a decent sized collection? Do you keep a log of what you've got? Just wanted to hear the thoughts of some veterans.

Hi, CNOIZE. I'm relatively new here, too, and a (former) Mississippian. I've been collecting about 10 years. Right now, most of my collection is in storage (est. maybe 100-200 bottles). I mainly collect to document what I've tried, though if the can or label or bottle is really striking, I'll keep it as a conversation piece for my "pub." I also collect pint glasses, growlers, steins, and coasters. Recently I got into just saving the labels. My sister collected several hundred of those we've tried the past few years, and made an awesome collage, framed and everything. Probably worth very little, but sentimental value is HUGE! Plus, it looks great in the pub.

[BREWERDLUX]

I collect like Chaz, only the ones I drink.... No value I guess... I have around 400 bottles in my garage on a shelf.. I also collect bottle caps. I have around 1000 different ones I think...

[newportstorm]

I have a collection of bottles that I estimate is over 500 now. It won't fit in my apartment so it's in storage for the time being in the basement. I consider recycling it every now and then but never do - either for sentimental reasons or pure laziness (don't want to unwrap them all and fill my bins 10 times over!)

There is a guy on BeerAdvocate that I've traded with in the past who has a collection of over 1200 bottles (full!!). You can see some pics here:

http://home.comcast.net/~lighthousesandbeer/Home.html

Cheers!

[Fly Creek]

I collected cans many years ago. They're in boxes in the barn right now. There are some pretty cool old flat tops and some rusty cones in there. No place to keep them on display for now.

I do collect trays from extinct upstate New York breweries. They can get REALLY expensive as do a lot of old cans. Check out some of the prices for cans on e-Bay. Who has all this money to spend????

[Jughead]

I collected cans as a kid with my father's help. We collected a couple hundred, nothing worth money. They now cover the entire wall that you face on the way down the basement stairs. We call it the "Wall 'O Beer" .

[HerFTyDrF]

I started collecting bottles/cans back in the early 90s but I would continually recycle them once I ran out of room, and thus start over. Starting over again in 1999 I quickly got to 350 or so bottles and was running out of room. Instead of recycling them and starting over I decided to just start my own website and showcase them on there.

www.nwmicrobrews.com (http://www.nwmicrobrews.com)

I eventually gave all my bottles & cans (all empty) to Ron Werner who I believe still holds the Guiness World Record for having the largest bottle (empty or full) collection. Right now I am sitting somewhere around 2,500 bottles on the site, and I'm still collecting (and drinking them of course :D ) Since January of this year been doing lots of trading to get brews not available in the Pacific Northwest.

[Jake]

Back when I was a teenager a friend and I started a beer can collection. I ended up letting him have it. I like to know what is more valuable to collect bottles or cans? It seems to me more art is involved with cans. Whereas a bottle only has a paper label pasted on it. It seems ironic that someone who would only purchase bottled beer for consumption would have a beer can collection.

[chazwicke]

Cans are certainly more valuable. Not sure what the world record sales price for a can is anymore but I know it is over 20,000. Bottles are also collectable. Especially the older Pre-pro embossed bottles. I collect both only I keep it highly specialized. ONly Virginia and DC area breweries. I have an extensive label collection as well. Recent bottles are not worth that much. I sold my first beer can and breweriana collection in 1980. I had lots of stuff. Over 4,000 cans. After I sold it I promptly started collecting again. I guess it is in my blood.

[matth76]

I've narrowed my collection down to specific requirements. Here they are:

Bomber size
Painted or screened bottles
and I've drank them

This limits me to what I collect but I still enjoy it.

Cheers!

[Jake]

I've started my own collection out of necessity. I have had several shipments from my beer club and have gone to various breweries. I cannot return these bottles at my local stores for my 10 cent deposit. I don't have the heart to just throw away such beautiful bottles which some of the labels are a work of art. So what do I do, start a collection. I've always thought cans were better than bottles to collect but I drink nothing from a can. I'm not sure yet if I should just collect those I drink or try trading the duplicate bottles I have.

[chazwicke]

Originally posted by matth76
I've narrowed my collection down to specific requirements. Here they are:

Bomber size
Painted or screened bottles
and I've drank them

This limits me to what I collect but I still enjoy it.

Cheers!


Good common sense to keep it limited. Otherwise it can quickly become an obsession or get out of hand.

[Wolf359]

I'm quite picky with my bottle collection - the only thing that I hold on to are Rogue bottles. I've been building this collection since the mid 1990s, and probably have 90% of products that Rogue has released over the years.

[Banjo]

BCCA has a nicely bound resouce guide to beer can values. They can tell you anything you want to know about beer can collecting
www.bcca.com
:cool: good luck

[chazwicke]

Agreed. I've been a BCCA member since the 70s. They are currently working on a new book featuring tab tops.

[Banjo]

I have the original book, very cool, I'll watch out for the new edition.

[kevin]

besides a few bottles that I keep I also like to keep the 6'er transfer carrying case, or whatever you call it

[Mikejesmike]

I've got 118 bottles and cans,if anyone cares to see I'll post them.

[danno]

I've recently started soaking and carefully peeling labels off bottles. not much of a collection, I maybe have a dozen so far. I'm envisioning garage wall art, or maybe a tempered glass bar top. (probably sacrilege to the serious collector, but I also am collecting only what I've drank myself...)

[chazwicke]

I collect mainly older labels from breweries long gone. I also collect Newer or current DC or Virginia labels.

[chazwicke]

Portner Label: