Featured One of the strangest things I've ever found at GdWill

I recently came across this at a local GW.It's one of the odder things I've ever found at a Thrift.It was made somewhere btw 1936-1941.It has pictorial instructions on how to use a can opener (?).
What I really enjoy abt it is it's condition-the old real steel cans suck up moisture (ie: rust) like a sponge.
Def not a 'highbrow' piece,but I get a kick out of vintage industrial design/advertising.
PS-Mr or Mrs Pre-War still didn't get the concept of a 'church key' can opener,they used an ice pick !

 

I LOVE it, bosko!

 

Thanks Bro-I've found a few under houses but they were 'dumpers' as the can kids say,ie: 'roached' !

 

Very cool! There must be a side seam.

 

That is fun.

 

Def a side seam & strong as a battleship-it's fun lowbrow industrial pop art.

 

Condition is amazing. Nice find

 

Thanks Sabre.

 

Nice. Good rescue too. Looks like somebody opened it with a hammer and an icepick.

 

Fantastic condition. This one sold for $100 and isn't as nice...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/3948817697...8FlfNMFXebkVJN4VTl7gEkjU8=|tkp:Bk9SR7T5op3XYg

 

The brewery was only open 7 years (1933-1940) according to the internet.

Debora

 

For the fairly valuable cans-they'll remove the orig top/bottom,run the printed part thru a press to take all the dings & creases out,then reroll & apply a new base & top.The giveaway is of course the pristine base & lid-but advanced collectors still pay big money for the restored cans.

 

Good Grief! Make that 'retarded collectors'...talk about guilding the Lilly! What in the world is the matter with some folks?

 

Here's the two most expensive cans I've found after a quick search-
1.Crown Cork & Seal Prototype Can (circa 1935) - Sold for $24,150: This rare can is considered the Holy Grail of beer cans.
2.Krueger's Cream Ale Can (circa 1935) - Sold for $21,510: This can is significant as it was the first-ever beer can sold after the end of Prohibition in the United States.
-it's a Mad,Mad,Mad World my friend.

 

Nice! I collected cans in the heyday of the mid '70s, in grade school - my dad enjoyed helping by trying new beers, but I got a lot by rummaging the recycling drop-off at the local hippy emporium. My best few were some my granddad had used for holding bolts in his lawn mower shed.

Brown Derby was an LA-based restaurant chain started in 1926, quite famous for a while, so I speculate this was either brewed for them or an obvious rip-off.

 

Have dabbled in selling some beer cans as I stumble on them. Have done best with the cone tops, even finding a few for very little in the thrift stores. Here are my last thrift store finds from several years ago.

 

Ah, conetops were the Holy Grail to my young collecting mind, but I never found any I could afford that weren't rusted to near illegibility. Sold most of my collection a few years ago at the antique mall, $3 a can. Maybe could have made more on a few of them on eBay, but time is money, too....

 

I think I've seen one or two for sale, but marked with Yesterday's price tags. Left them as found. I've never seen one in the wild.

 

You wonder why someone would donate an old beer can to a thrift store.I've seen a half used box of Huggies ,a used Twinkie maker,a straight jacket,resuscitation mannequin-but why a used beer can ? Either you know they're worth something and keep it,or you toss 'em in recycling or a dumpster-but donate it ?