Collectibles for Beer Lovers

 

QUESTION: Along with enjoying a variety of beers, I've also started collecting beer-related items. So far, I've collected mostly small items—bottle openers, coasters, glasses, and a variety of cans from various breweries. But there are so many things out there, I'm not sure what to do next. Can you help me get some direction to my collecting?

ANSWER: Collecting beer-related memorabilia is one of the most popular pastimes. But because the number of items varies greatly, collecting beer-related items can be daunting. 

The Chinese have been brewing beer for over 5,000 years. The Greeks and Romans revered it as a healthy beverage. But during the Middle Ages in Europe beer drinking was popular because beer was cleaner than the water.

Beer has been a part of American culture since the first Virginia colonists began brewing ale from corn in 1587. Adrian Block & Hans Christiansen's brewhouse at the southern tip of New Amsterdam, now Manhattan, was the first brewery established in the New World. 

In 1935, the G. Kreuger Brewing Company of Newark, New Jersey, became the first brewery to sell beer in steel cans. That year, only about 25 percent of all beer sold was packaged in bottles and cans. Breweries sold the rest in kegs.

Breweries have always been competitive with each other. To beat the competition, they used everything from distinctive bottle labels, foam scrapers, serving trays, brightly colored cans„ neon signs, tip trays, cups, T-shirts, hats, and countless other items so consumers would remember one brand over another.

Today, the market for vintage brewery collectibles is hot. But there are so many different items. Key categories include beer cans, beer steins, beer trays, beer signs, beer bottle labels, and bottle openers, plus more unusual items such as tap knobs and bar statues. Many collectors also focus on specific brands.

Beer collectibles consist mainly of bottles, cans, and advertising. Advertising comes on coasters, matchbooks, shirts, beer tap knobs and handles, statuettes, labels, and signs.

One of the most popular beer-related collectibles is beer glasses. They include everything from early hand-blown glassware to modern pint glasses covered in  advertising. In the 18th century, people drank beer in glass goblets at meals. Early stemware designed for beer often bore engraved hops-and-barley motifs.

The glass cups and mugs of the 18th century were simple and smaller compared to today’s versions, as the ale was much stronger than modern beer. Beer mugs were generally made in a cylinder or barrel shape with a handle and no foot. Because they were manufactured in glasshouses that produced bottles and windows, early American mugs were almost always made from colored glass.

In the 1820s, the development of a glass-pressing technique by John P. Bakewell allowed glassware patterns to be mass produced, quickly diversifying the shapes and styles of beer glasses. Though glass manufacturers found it difficult to blow even the simplest-looking tumblers with smooth sides and no foot by hand, pressed glass molds made this form commonplace.

During the 1880s, as breweries expanded and pasteurization allowed them to send products longer distances, beer-glass advertising became popular. A few of these early advertising glasses used color-embossed logos, but most relied on an acid-etching silkscreen process. 

And since  the U.S. has never instituted legal restrictions on beer serving size, American bars have used a variety of serving glasses, including tall pilsner glasses, with a slightly indented waist near the base and the goblet or tulip-shaped glass mounted on a short, sturdy stem.

Though people considered these objects "throwaways" in their day, collectors worldwide now vigorously pursue them. Prices for these collectibles vary widely, so focusing a collection is important from the start. To begin, you might build on what you already have or start in a new direction of interest. It's easy to start small, with something inexpensive like coasters. Serving trays, signs, a cans produced after Prohibition are all good places to start.

So what determines pricing for brewery collectibles? As with other antiques and collectibles, it's condition, condition, condition," since most brewery collectibles have been used. Pristine examples can command high prices, and they can be difficult to find. While rarity is important, for collectibles where multiple examples exist, condition rules.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "Advertising of the Past" in the 2023 Spring Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Let’s Have a Cold One

QUESTION: Ever since college, I’ve been a great lover of an ice cold beer. And today, with all the microbrews out there, I’ve become quite the beer afficionado. Along with enjoying a variety of beers—I even have a special refrigerator in my garage to keep my collection of microbrews cold—I’d also like to start collecting brewery memorabilia in earnest. I have a few items—coasters, bottle openers, and a variety of cans from various breweries. Can you help me get some direction to my collecting? There are so many items that I’m not sure where to start.

ANSWER: It’s appropriate that you’ve contacted me this week since the Fourth of July is probably the leading holiday at which people celebrate with cookouts and coolers of icy cold beer.

Beer has been a part of American culture since the first Virginia colonists began brewing ale from corn in 1587. Adrian Block & Hans Christiansen's brewhouse at the southern tip of New Amsterdam, now Manhattan, was the first brewery established in the New World. Ever since then breweries have opened all over America.



Michael Combrune published The Theory and Practice of Brewing in 1762. This was the first attempt to establish rules and principles for the art of brewing. In 1808, members of the Congregational Church in Moreau, New York, formed a temperance society. From that point forward, a major struggle between beer drinkers and those who disapproved began, culminating in Prohibition. Until the rise of these societies all over the country, the only competition breweries had was from whiskey manufacturers.

During Prohibition, breweries produced "near beer," a nonalcoholic beer, which people  greeted with a lukewarm reception at best. The breweries also made "health tonics," ice cream and many other products to keep themselves afloat during this time.

In 1935, the G. Kreuger Brewing Company of Newark, New Jersey, became the first brewery to sell beer in steel cans. That year, only about 25 percent of all beer sold was packaged in bottles and cans. Breweries sold the rest in kegs.

The breweries have always had competition, from other alcoholic producers as well as other breweries.  To beat the competition, they used strong print and media advertising campaigns, elaborate visuals, and colorful giveaways. They used everything from foam scrapers, brightly colored cans, distinctive bottle labels, neon signs, tip trays, cups, hats, shirts, serving trays and countless other items in an attempt to make the consumer remember one brand over another.



Today, the market for vintage brewery collectibles is hot. But there are so many different items that beginning collectors have a very good chance of finding ones to fit their tighter budgets.

First, a beginning collector should buy what he or she likes and can afford. Prices for these collectibles are all over the map, so focusing a collection is important from the start. To begin, a novice collector might build on what he or she already has or perhaps start in a new direction of interest. That can include beer bottles or cans, unique advertising signs, and even beer coasters from around the world. Often, these can be had for the cost of a cold beer.

Beginners should select a collecting theme early or risk accumulating too much material to handle. It's easy to start small, with something inexpensive like coasters, as long as the beginner always buys items in the best condition. Beginning collectors of brewery collectibles usually start with signs, trays and cans produced after Prohibition. Advance collectors collect the pre-Prohibition era material and usually zero in on the geographic area in which they live or grew up.




So what determines pricing for brewery collectibles? As with other antiques and collectibles, it’s condition, condition, condition," since most brewery collectibles have been used. Pristine examples can command high prices, and they can be difficult to find. While rarity is important, for collectibles where multiple examples exist, condition rules.



One of the priciest examples is the Clipper beer can, which sold on eBay for more than $19,000. Lithographic factory signs have sold for $7,500 to $15,000, die cuts for $1,000 to $2,500, tin lithographic serving trays for $250 to $1.000 and tip trays for $250. While these are the priciest items, there are lots of others selling for much less.. Signs with reverse painting on glass and calendars are especially prized by collectors.

The variety of brewery collectibles is astounding, so much so that they offer lots of possibilities for collectors at all levels. The bottles and cans produced today may someday be worth more than the contents they hold as will signs, lights, mirrors, tap handles, and labels.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Article section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the other 18,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about western antiques in the special 2019 Spring Edition, "Down to the Sea in Ships," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques & More Collection on Facebook.