Hello–
This is not a typical question you might find in this forum. I am a long time (25 years) collector and historian interested in beer cans and other brewery advertising items. During remodeling or renovation projects of houses, warehouses, churches, etc., beer/brewery items such as beer cans, beer bottles, bottle caps, signs, serving trays, bottle openers, etc. have been found. I am always interested in acquiring more items for my collection, especially old beer cans that used a “church key” (can opener) to open them or the cone top cans with a bottle cap on them (these look like old brake fluid cans). The beer can first was available for sale to the public in 1935 (Richmond, Virginia) so cans may be found in 1930s-present vintage buildings or from older renovation projects. I would be very interested in purchasing these types of items from those people that might happen to find these things during your remodeling project. Feel free to contact me at any time, even if it’s just to “talk beer” or brewery history. I am not an antique dealer looking to sell these items, just a collector who truly appreciates this part of American history. Many of these old labels are true works of art! I’ll look forward to hearing from you!
IP
Replies
Well, I already sold it.
But I use to collect them and had found an old Koeler cone top in the rafters of a shed once. Still have some boxed up around someplace but no cone tops. Kinda wish I still had it for the kitchen.
Half of good living is staying out of bad situations.
The other...proper application of risk.
I wonder why I don't find more beer cans and other junk when we open up old houses,probably because most people throw their trash in a pile, or trash can, unless there was a rocker, who just took the last swig on a soda can he was holding, puts it in the wall, when somebody hands him a sheet of something to nail up. Found a bottle of "witch hazel" in a cieling once, I guess the worker who put it there had his back hurting him, guzzled it down and was to lazy to collect trash, so he tossed it in the cieling and nailed up some more lath. I'm usually on the lookout for old coins, so if I find a beer can it might get tossed aside <G>, just about every thing that gets found gets carried back to the office and gets put in or around an overflowing display case the boss has for junk like that. Someday I'm going to find that forgotten bunch of silver certificates or some other mother lode that some looney tune buried in a wall and forgot about.
I got some sixpacks of Harley beer from the early '80s guess I'll put them on ebay or something.
None for sale, but in 1973 or so, I was rebuilding (should have torn it down) a little house in Toledo, OH, and found 3 Buckeye cone tops, sealed, but empty. Buckeye, as you are probably aware, was a Toledo brewery, ceased production about 1969-70.
My Dad had been GM at Buckeye when they were bought by Miller, and I worked there in High School. I was a sign painter, neon repairman, and general gofer. The sign shop was next to the driver's tap room. Each department had it's own! When the brewery closed, we filled 2 huge dumpsters with advertising stuff, everything from table tents and coasters to complete neon signs! I kick myself everytime I see a neon sell for $300.00!
If you like, I can email a picture of my one remaining cone top.
Paul Shotola
Paul, you still around Toledo? Meet you for a beer.__________________________________________
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
I'm in the third year of a large remodel and in the outbuilding of the house there was a hole in the wall with a screen over it. When I broke into the wall, a cascade of beer bottles(sorry) came out. I have filled up at least six trash cans and they are still coming out. There were only a few cans- 16 oz. buds with the tab- top label. I did find a few cone tops in the main house walls but they are not in collector's condition. Good luck with your hunting.
Ken
If they are cone tops they are in collectors condition.Half of good living is staying out of bad situations.
The other...proper application of risk.
Nope. No beer cans. Lots of useless junk. Some old toys, a few coins (not real old ones). Mostly disappointed with lack of finding anything interesting. Walls in my own house are papered with the local newspaper from 1892, and the original carpenter's signature was dated 187_--don't know the last digit as a previous sawzall had chopped it out for an electrical box.
the only cool thing I've ever found was a really old Colt pistol. It had a hexagon barrel, .22 cal. and held seven shots. The handle was half missing and it was pretty rusty. I held onto it for years but sold it about 10 years or so ago.
That's it.
Trenching out behind a 100 year old house we found a brick work pit that the owner used during the '20s to service his vehicles (owned a lot of trucks for hauling). We estimated that the pit was dug around 1924 because that was the year the city had run gas, water and waste thru the neighborhood.
The pit was full of trash (broken dishes and bottles) and there were a few shards that were interesting enough to save as souveniors. But no cans that were not fully rusted away.
The neatest thing was finding an almost pristine 1924 Mercury Head Dime.
I guess that one of the workers dropped it during the original work and it waited there for us to find it.
It took the longest time to figure out what the work pit was for- too shallow for a root cellar, too square for a water cistern, and it had a P Trap in the bottom that connected to the city sewer system. Since it was located right in front of what used to be the garage (now the side yard) I guess that he just drained all his oil and coolant into the city service!
Times sure do change.
One other neat piece of trash that came out of the trench was a cast iron nick-nack sort of thing (like maybe you'd put on your bar at home, about 4" tall) of a drunk hanging onto a sign post that says "New Orleans" on it. Maybe that was from the '50s? I'm not sure...
Norm
I do quiet a few remodals and renovations a year, and a habit i've gotten into is to take whatever change i have in my pocket or wallet at the time and seal it up behind the sheetrock in a wall. Just think it will make for some interesting coversation in the future when it's found by the next crew doing work there. I've found a few old coins, newspapers, etc. in the past.
I think the funniest or strangest thing i've found are walls and ceilings that were full of coal. Must have thought it would be good insulation or something. Took several pick-up loads of it from that job to a friend with a coal stove.
Redo-it
Maddog
I found a similar gun in a wall. 7 shot, 6shells. Fit in the palm of your hand, barrel as long as your index finger. Made by a gunsmith, no national manufacturer. Gun shop called it a gamblers gun from around the turn of the last century. Soaked it in naval jelly and pene. oil for a year, got the trigger to move, the hammer to almost retract and the chamber to move a bit. Refinished the walnut handle to look like new. Gave it to the homeowner the next time I worked there. Sure added a bit of history to his old home.
Found an old wood whistle. Size of a kindergarten pencil, bout 8 inches long. Old coins, beer bottles and all sorts of stuff that go from the attic down in balloon framed walls. Cig packs, matches, boxes, labels, bills, man oh man, whatever who was building threw away or accidently dropped. Stuff I have no idea what they do. Gives an archeological feeling.........unearthing old stuff. You mentioned writing, or signatures left by former workers. Some of the fanciest caligraphic names I come across belonged to paper hangers. They would scroll out their names, the date and other pertinent information in the most beautiful handwriting. Another pc of history that tells a story: on a barn wall "Tom Chamberlain, august 18, 1929 no more chores".
I enjoy finding that stuff so much, on complete guts I'll usually cover up a time capsule with memorabilia of the resident family. Their kids usually get into it with their drawings, pics, some little toy. One enterprising boy gave me his report card to seal up..........
Like a previous writer, still a thrill to open up something I've left for posterity. Have uncovered a couple "Impeach nixon, now more than ever" bumper stickers that we made in the early 70's. Ah, brings back memories.__________________________________________
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
We put a time capsule in the wall of our addition last year. My wife and I happened to be in the UK during 9/11. So we included a British newspaper that came out on Wednesday after the attack. We also included some first year Euro dollars and coins, some old LP records, pictures, and other everyday stuff. I also included a Sports Illustrated special on the Patriots winning the Superbowl. That shoudl definitely be a collector's item; it may never happen again!
If ignorance is bliss then apathy is sheer heaven...
>'...will never happen again.'
HA HA HA HA
signed: Drew BledsoeHalf of good living is staying out of bad situations.
The other...proper application of risk.
He he he...
Drew, at least you finally got one ring. Not bad for someone who's only job was keeping Brady's bench warm. But if you're as good as Kelley, you might get to the superbowl again. Maybe you can even break his record for consecutive superbowl losses by a quarterback...
If ignorance is bliss then apathy is sheer heaven...
Found this a few years back.
Half of good living is staying out of bad situations.
The other...proper application of risk.
ah, yes.. good olde huntley.. have u poured a couple fingers for a taste ?Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
heh heh. She was dry as a ...er never mind. She was bone dry when I found 'er. Them yankees waste not a thing ever ya know.Half of good living is staying out of bad situations.
The other...proper application of risk.
so what's in there now .... tea ?
damn son, you had my hopes upMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Funny thing years ago when my dad use to buy old oak barrels by the truckload to resell at his cidermill. Came from a whiskey producer charred on the inside and would be used only once. I discovered sometimes they wouldn't empty those barrels real well before the shipped them out. heh heh!Half of good living is staying out of bad situations.
The other...proper application of risk.
I try to make a practice of thinking ahead to the next guy and always leave a newspaper stuffed under a landing or in a wall someplace.
Once I hid a NYTimes under an eliptical banquet seat figuring that it was so expensive and special that it would be a long time before itr ever got changed.
Two years later we were tearing it out to make it a kidney shaped seat and i got to find my own souvenier
Other than that, stuff I remember is limited to a slip of paper in a Newel post with the old carpenter's names and a pair of oriental flip flops of woven bamboo in a wall cavity.
In crawl spaces a lot of opld batteries or what was left of them from early attempts to light up the house, and hundreds of 'medicine' bottles.
I just remembered- when I was a kid about twelve - we found a few old bottles. Some were that cobalt blue kind of glass and others of unique shapes. We thought, "These will be worth something someday" and so we dug and hid them at the base of a big old pine on the property.
I wonder.....
Excellence is its own reward!
Hey--thanks everybody for posting replies to my "Beer cans in the wall" question. I hope others will continue to post messages here. I've never heard of people using coal for insulation, something not likely to be found here in the northwest.
Just for a little history lesson on beer cans, the first cans were not available for sale to the public until Jan. 1935 in Richmond, Virginia. The Krueger Brewery in Newark, New Jersey took the plunge into canned beer. They chose a test market away from their home distribution area just in case the can test failed, they didn't want it to ruin their image in Newark. The first beer in cas was Krueger's Finest Beer and Krueger's Cream Ale. The experiment was highly sucessful and the rest is history as they say. If anybody wants to see some pictures of what these cans looked like, send me a note and I'll send the pictures, not sure how to post pictures on this message forum.
I'm looking forward to more stories of what's been found in walls, attics, basements, crawlspaces, etc. And when some old beer can is found, I'd be happy to take it off your hands and add it to my collection! Steve aka nickkessler
Glad you found your way in here.
BTW, That's the first time I ever heard of anyone from Newark concerned about their 'image' LOL.
Excellence is its own reward!
Back in 50's my father used to take the steel beer cans and make decortavie watering cans out of them. He would solider on a handle and spount and my mother would paint them.
Last night on PBS Antique Road Show some one was doing some work on there home build back around 1850's. There was a section of crawspace where they have been doing their cutting and it was full of saw dust. That is also where the carpenters would eat lunch and through the cans in the crawspace.
Those that landed on the saw dust pile where mostly as good as new. The ones that hit the dirt where nothing but rust.
I forgot the exact value, but it was in the thousands for the 20 or so cans that he had.
Most I usually find during demo renos are old newspapers that people stuff in the wall to do drywall or plaster repairs. Found a NY Times in a wall once in its entirity about the Beatles coming to the USA.
I save special newspapers and I have the one about Kennedy being shot.....John Lennon being shot...etc etc.....
I think when I close up the walls to the bathroom I'm renovating in my 1680 house I'm going to put the newspaper about the Beatles coming to America and the one about John Lennon being shot as well as the current paper about Iraq in the wall. ("Iraq in the wall" hmmmm.freudian slip ?)
Another thread should be started about having buildiers load the walls with a mandatory act called "current newspapers for future renovators to find".....well, not "load" the walls unless theres so much going on at the time.
Be well read
Namaste
andy"Attachment is the strongest block to realization"http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
I'd found an old playboy mag in a reno I was doing. Couldn't resist taking the centerfold and adhering it to the backside of the plumber's wall I'd built. Someday, sometime in the future, someone will get a laugh when they unscrew that wall and see Miss September starin' back at 'em.Half of good living is staying out of bad situations.
The other...proper application of risk.
I know a guy who works for a heating company and while on a service call to repair a furnace he found a box of old beer cans next to the furnace. Unfortunately he stole them, only to find himself on the six o-clock news due to a hidden camera. Turns out this was a sting operation set up by the local news. Yes he still works for the same company.
Just remembered another job where I was tearing out a plaster ceiling and a mouse nest made up almost entirely of old postage stamps came tumbling onto my head. They were old stamps, but mostly postmarked, peed on or chewn. Must have been some interesting arguments about who was stealing their collection.
Ken
Beer cans used to be made of steel, so rusted fragments are all I've found of the ones in my crawl space. One of them was from a brand called "Lucky Lager". I'm not sure if I left it in there or tossed it.
So far, I haven't found much inside the walls. There was a 1936 dime on top of a header for one door, and in the crawl space there were lots of stub ends of used up arc carbons, and the remains of a couple camp fires. It looks like the vacant land was used for night exteriors in silent movies just before the buildings went up. One of the fires had fragments of a newspaper from May of 1926. The building permit was pulled that July. There's also the infamous mummified cat.
The only really good thing was left behind by a tenant, along with loads of junk. It's a pre-Columbian urn from the Nicoya culture in Costa Rica, circa 500 - 1000 AD. Worth up to $1200 according to one appraiser.
-- J.S.
Found some old beer cans while trying to patch the foundation in my brother's shop which was built in the 40's. Part of the foundation, it's the only steel in there.
The crawlspace to my house is just full of bottles and cans. Most of the steel cans are pretty well rusted away, but the bottles are in pretty good shape. It's always entertaining when crawling around and you lean on a buried can only to have it collapse. We were digging a trench in the yard and came across all kinds of garbage, bottles and junk that somebody had buried. Most of it appeared to date to the 20's.
Crawling around the attic I found a child's hockey stick, which is kinda neat as we live right on a river that's perfect for playing hockey. The other day, we opened up a wall only to find a old chrokey (sp) ball that had fallen in. A couple of years ago, I even found some signed prints that had been lost by some prior owner. We now have one of them hanging over the mantle. I don't know where the second one is. Guess we lost it...
This is somewhat related to the topic:
When I was a kid, my parents were having a new septic system put in. The guy doing the excavating turned up the headstones of two people who died back in 1863. It was pretty cool to tell my friends, but it made the yard pretty creepy at night.Steve Aitken, Assistant Editor
Connecticut, zone 6
Hi Tim--
I'd be interested in hearing more about the beer cans you've found in the crawlspace. Even though the cans are not in perfect condition, they still might be desirable by collectors such as myself. As much as I like to add nice and shiny old cans to the collection, I also have some that are rusty, have scratches, small dents, etc. If you've got any that aren't crushed, I'd at least enjoy seeing a picture of what you have. What kind of bottles are you finding? Any beer bottles? Will look forward to hearing more about your finds.
Once upon a time I was a theatrical carpenter & electrician, meaning I built scenery and installed & ran lighting for shows. A now very successful company in Chicago was at that time just moving out of its starvling startup years and was renovating the stage in the converted milk factory that was its home. I'm not sure who built the original stage, but it was obviously done on a budget that stressed procurement methods such as midnight requistion, etc. The stage was framed in essence as a mosaic of 2x8 sleepers, arranged in whatever geometry the length of lumber piece permitted. Or perhaps they were laid to fit the shapes of the plywood scraps used as decking. Lots and lots of triangles....
At center stage we found an area of some reverence to the carpenters of yore, for they had made a sort of ceremonial altar in which they entombed a six-pack of Guiness cans each carefully laden with an offering of urine.
With due reverence to these unknown wiseguys' offerings to the Ghost of Christmas Story Past, we very carefully (ensuring minimal spillage) deposited the shrine and its contents in the trash.
oh man that was rich!
Half of good living is staying out of bad situations.
The other...proper application of risk.
Edited 2/12/2003 12:18:41 PM ET by rez