Now I’ve been collecting for almost 30 years and
never in Minnesota or Iowa have I seen one of
these for sale. I’ve seen them in collections and
the museum at the brewery, but never ran across
one that was available. The owner was Bob Post
and he wasn’t sure how much he wanted, but he
did want information. He asked if I ever saw one
before and I said yes. We discussed its age and
then he dropped a hint. He was thinking $3,500 or
maybe more. Holy Pie in the Sky, Batman! That
things out of my league. Well I can’t say I was
surprised by this from what I’ve witnessed with
some of these kind of pieces lately. He did receive
a legitimate offer of $2,500 that day and turned it
down. I’ll have to keep looking for one. It gives me
something to do right? I scored at few other things
that day besides the Schell’s bottle. I got Grain
Belt cardboard from Bill Baburek with the 3 triple crown winners on it. A cool Pabst Blue Ribbon tray that I had
never seen, 8 cool Grain Belt matchbooks with Stan and Albert that Judy got from Steve Hartong, a Heidelbrau
ashtray from Mike England and some Nebraska beer from Sam’s Club. So it was fun and fruitful. The Omaha
boys put on a nice show and Omaha is a fun town that really grows on you. They have a great beer scene
there and soon Grain Belt will be served there once again. As luck would have it we weren’t able to go to
Springfest at Evert McClay this year as I was full
up with appraisal work and Judy was busy boxing
and sorting for a big 2 auction we have coming up
in May. Of course I’m getting the Facebook feeds
and Barry’s live video from the show. I was
wishing I was there and seeing Big Bird load this
truck with all kinds of goodies from the show.
Then this past weekend (Mar 30th) we’re in
Winnebago for a big Schwingding at the Steele
Wheel and Miner says I saw a Grain Belt neon at
Evert McClay that I’ve never seen before. To which
I replied and why didn’t you send me a picture?
He said “ I went to get my phone and when I got
back to the table it was gone”. Well crap I said! Wait a minute Steve said, I’ll ask Barry if he got a picture? He
didn’t but he did say it was Mike Mullaly’s sign. So I texted Mike and asked for a picture which he sent me. I
didn’t recall seeing that one before either. I was so busy having fun at the Steele Wheel that I forgot to ask Mike
what he wanted. So on Sunday when I got home I wrote and asked. He called
and left me a message and shot me a fair price
on it. I said I’d take it. So I’ll get it from him at our
Springding at Schell’s. So I got something after all
from Springfest even though I didn’t get to go this
year. Speaking of Schell’s we’ll have BCCA
President Cheryl Boyles and her husband Past
President Bill Boyles in attendance this year. Let’s
hope we get some good weather and show them
a great time.
Tom #2885