I missed the deadline for the last newsletter, as I was deep into researching my upcoming opinion piece, which I hereby submit for your consumption. Bon appetit! This time the subject is Beer Cans, their prices and the ubiquity of these vessels. The reason for this, is because I just recently viewed( and was asked to give my opinion on) a collection of roughly 4000 cans. My opinion was not readily accepted or digested. So, that got me thinking about what I based this opinion on. It also got me thinking about this beer hobby in general.
As to some background, I( and Teri) have been to 15 BCCA Canventions, plus a couple of ABA and NABA conventions, at least 30 Guzzle & Twirl events, and far too many other shows to even begin to count. I have dug beer cans in outdoor dumps and indoor dumps. Have been a member of a dozen different BCCA chapters and contributed many articles, was Sec./ Treas. of the Rusty Bunch for 7 years, have been to at least 400 breweries, have homebrewed, viewed numerous collections, bought and sold 10 cent cans on up to a 3000 dollar can, hit antique shops, auctions, museum ' s and made friends from around the world because of beer cans and far too much else to list and I have been doing this since the early 1970 ' s, which gives me roughly 40 plus years of experience. I feel those credentials make me at least, minimally qualified to give viewpoints on Beer cans and such similar things. Others may disagree and you are certainly entitled to disagree. So, here we go.
For those that are on Facebook and follow sites such as BCCA, Road Runner Chapter, Rusty Bunch, and a Flamboyance( a group of Flamingos) of others, the amount of cans that are still currently be found in dumps, walls, ceilings, garage sales and what have you, is quite staggering in my view. Now, this is not a new phenomenon, these " finds " have been going on since this " hobby " started, so nothing new here as far as that goes. All I ' m saying is there are a lot of beer cans out there.
Now let ' s look at Craigslist, E-bay, Breweriana Buy Sell Trade, Vintage Beer Collectables and a, Charm( a group of Hummingbirds) of others, there are tons of cans for sale and I mean pot loads. Again, nothing new here as far as that goes. Just saying there are a lot of beer cans out there. Now let ' s look at the " Obituary Section " of your Bi-monthly BCCA magazine, many collectors not doing so well, if ya know what I ' m saying. Again, nothing new here, you can ' t beat death( although I succeeded once). Just saying these collections( and many others) go up for sale and the " crème de la crème " gets upgraded back into other collections and once people upgrade, their unwanted flotsam then goes back into circulation. Or stashed in a closet. So, again I ' m just saying there are a lot of beer cans out there.
Next observation, the Buy / Sell / Trade shows. We were at Ft. Wayne Canvention, 3 years ago and the amount of beer cans there was a mind numbing, Exaltation( a group of Larks) of Beer Cans. Also, a large rental truck showed up with around 20,000( yes, 20,000) Beer Cans in it. They set up shop in a parking lot across from the hotel and let the feeding frenzy begin. By the way, it was a sight to behold. Where did all these cans go? You can find most of them for sale at the next show you go to. Just saying there are a lot beer cans out there.
This last year we were at Milwaukee Canvention and the amount of beer cans on the " trade " floor was, let ' s see what word can I use, it was a mind numbing, Steam( a group of Minnows) of Beer Cans. Just a guess here but, I would bet that at Milwaukee Canvention there were probably 2 to 3 hundred thousand cans available. I arrive at this GUESS by the number of tables( 400) and I estimate 500 cans average per table and I think that ' s a conservative number. At any show you go to, almost every table will have a Parliament( a group of Owls) of Beer Cans and the prices are most always quite high, when compared to the amount of the same cans on other tables. Many collectors and dealers have totes and boxes of the same cans. So, I ' m just saying there ' s a ton of cans out there.
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