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.

Signs of the Times

 

QUESTION: I love old cars and have visited several antique automobile museums. Several of them, including the Antique Automobile Club of America Museum in Hershey, Pennsylvania, also have gas station signs on display. I’m also a big fan of the cable TV show American Pickers. One of the guys on that show had a real passion of old filling station signs. It didn’t take me long to purchase my first gas station sign. Now I have about a dozen. I buy and collect what I like, but I don’t know too much about why there were so many different signs used in early filling stations. Can you help me expand my knowledge?

ANSWER: Petroliana, the collecting of automobile and gas station memorabilia, is one of the hottest categories of collecting today. The signs used by these stations are just one of the many different items collectors love. While many were discarded after no longer being needed, many ended up stashed in old barns and garages. Signs from major oil companies 

, or antiques related to gas stations and the oil business, is a collecting area focused on advertising, with key subcategories being gas pumps, gas-pump globes, oil cans, road maps, signs, and major names like Mobil, Texaco, Standard Oil, Phillips 66, Shell, Sinclair, and Esso.

The first filling station was a city pharmacy in Wiesloch, Germany, where Bertha Benz, a German automotive pioneer, refilled the tank of her automobile in 1888. Other German pharmacies quickly entered the filling station business.

A filling station constructed at 420 South Theresa Avenue, Saint Louis, Missouri, in 1905 was the first filling station built to sell fuel and oil. Standard Oil of California built the second in Seattle, Washington, in 1907.

By 1910, over 500,000 automobiles roads highways and byways of the United States.  With that volume of cars on the roads, filling tanks from fuel barrels wasn’t efficient. Gulf Refining Company opened the first drive-in filling station in Pittsburgh on December 1, 1913.

Many early filling stations doubled as service stations and sold automobile-related products, as well as candy and soft drinks, and offered toilet services. 

In the early days of automobile travel, service stations were unfamiliar and often poorly lit at night. So lighted gas-pump globes and other oil company signage were key to reassuring and drawing in motorists. And since pumping gas was a new experience, early pumps allowed motorists to see if the gasoline was clean through a small glass window, and later to watch the price as they pumped the gas.

While some cities today have a gas station on every corner, complete with huge signs illuminating a variety of multinational oil giants’ slickly produced logos, the industry was a whole lot different when cars first appeared on the roads in the early 20th century. Gas stations were extremely rare, generally doing business only in larger cities and on the busiest highways.

In the 1910s, the market began growing, as did the competition, especially among lubricating oil companies. The first signs advertising lubricating oil, produced in a variety of materials, including baked enamel, sheet steel, and tin, appeared in grocery stores: Sign makers used lithography to print signs on tin and silk screen to print signs on sheet-steel.

These signs allowed a store to tell its customers which automotive products and brands it sold, which, in turn, lured customers inside. The signs were often clever and engaging. One particularly rare sign by Oilzum Motor Oils and Lubricants, for example, featured an attractive graphic of a man in a hat, along with this tongue-in-cheek slogan: “If Motors Could Speak we wouldn’t need to Advertise.”

In the 1920s, gas stations became more common, as did gas pumps, which brought about a new type of sign—the pump plate. Attached to gas pumps, they advertised the pump’s brand of gasoline. The plates came in a variety of shapes—round and otherwise—and a wide range of sizes, from as small as five inches across to more than a foot wide.

The Burdick Sign Company of Chicago produced the majority of these of porcelain, which made them both attractive visually and more durable in almost any kinds of weather. Porcelain signs remained common through the 1950s, despite a decrease in production during World War II.

People collect signs bearing a variety of company names, though the most coveted are often the smaller, regional brands—Signal, Gilmore, and Wilshire, with its distinctive Polly brand gas and parrot logo. Of course, signs from bigger brands such as Shell, Standard Oil----as well as its descendants, Mobil, Exxon, and Esso—and Philips 66 have large followings, as do signs from oil-and-gas brands like Sinclair, Pennzoil, Valvoline, Zerolene, Sky Chief, Tydol, Derby, Derby, Conoco, Union 76, and Frontier.

Aside from plate pumps, some people collect “lubesters,” the signs attached to oil and grease dispensers. Warning signs are also popular with collectors. “No Smoking Stop Motor” signs, for example, are one popular niche within this category. Finally, some of the rarest gas-and-service signs are those used at marine and aviation stations.

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 the "Pottery Through the Ages" in the 2022 Winter 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.

When It Comes to Coca Cola Collectibles—Buyer Beware

 

QUESTION: Several years ago, I began collecting advertising items made for Coca Cola. I have several calendars, stuffed animals, and matchbooks. They seem to be everywhere, so it wasn’t hard to begin collecting them. Recently, I purchased a serving  tray, supposedly dating from the 1930s, with a woman in a yellow swimsuit holding a bottle of Coca Cola at a local antique show which features mostly lower to middle priced late antiques and collectibles for sale. This was the most expensive Coca Cola piece I had yet purchased, so I was a bit hesitant at first. But the dealer assured me that it was authentic. Considering its age, I was surprised how bright and crisp the colors were, but I just assumed it had been used very little. How can I tell if the tray is authentic?

ANSWER: Because Coca Cola has been around for over 130 years, there’s a huge number of collectible items on the market. And with the launching of online auction and sales sites, the number has steadily grown. But this means there’s an even greater chance that some of these items are reproductions or outright fakes. 

John Pemberton, a pharmacist, created Coke syrup in 1886. He convinced a nearby soda fountain in Atlanta to add carbonated water and give it a try. At first the drink was only a modest success, Pemberton and his partner, Frank Robertson, came up with the  name Coca-Cola, scripted in a flowing hand by Robertson. That, plus a series of hand-painted banners encouraged passers-by to "Drink Coca-Cola," was the beginning of a successful marketing campaign that lives on to this day.

Coca-Cola has used its particular shade of red in its merchandising for more than a century, and its distinctive trademark has remained virtually unchanged from the original. 

Coca-Cola collectibles can be found at a variety of prices all over the Internet. EBay alone lists over 200,000 collectibles for sale, ranging from original 6.5-ounce glass bottles for 99 cents each to lifetime assortments well into six figures. Restored and working vending machines can cost $10,000 or more. Early porcelain signs and those with original neon enhancements frequently sell for thousands as well. And because of the huge variety of merchandise, many collectors tend to specialize by era, type or size.

Even though Pemberton and Robertson founded the company in the late 1890s, collecting Coca-Cola advertising items---beautiful models printed on trays, calendars, signs, and even tiny pocket mirrors—didn’t begin to get popular until the early 20th century. Coca-Cola print advertising onto just about anything and gave these items out at state fairs and schools in towns all across the country.

Coke’s advertising department placed many of the large, gorgeous cardboards and metal advertisements with store owners and gas stations as temporary promotional displays intended for seasonal use. Many ended in the trash just like those of today. People used signs to patch holes in roofs, line attic walls, or for target practice.

The overwhelming number of reproductions in this category makes it imperative that collectors learn as much as possible Coca-Cola items. Beginners can learn a lot from price guides and online forums.

Collectors typically like items produced from the late 1800s to the 1960s. But with so many items on the market, it’s only natural that some will be fake. The difference between a reproduction and a fake is that there never was an original item like the fake. At first, the Coca-Cola Company made it easy to make their reproductions look like the originals produced 50 to 100 years before. For example, the reproduction trays from 1974 had only a small written notice on the rim of the trays to say they were recently made. But savvy sellers could easily remove the notice by scraping it off with a pocket knife. 

Reproduction serving trays from the 1930s have a note on the back saying so. The original had sharper lithography with a dark-colored back while the reproduction trays had less-than-sharp lithography and a light colored back.

The location of the trademark notification has also varied throughout the years. Early on, the trademark appeared inside the long trailing C in “Coca.” Starting in the 1940s, The company moved it to a position under the entire word “Coca-Cola.” That happened because the Coca-Cola Company lost a court case. The result was the loss of the trademark control over of “Cola” since the trademark notification was only under “Coca,” not under both parts of the logo.

This change was great for collectors who want to date Coca-Cola items as being before 1940 but can lead to many problems for dating items made after 1940. Naturally many novice collectors don’t know the difference and end up paying way too much for items produced more recently.

It’s a good idea for beginning collectors to do research before making an expensive purchase and to consult more than one source for information.

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 the "Pottery Through the Ages" in the 2022 Winter 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.

Shining a Light on Flashlights

QUESTION: Throughout my life, I’ve owned a variety of flashlights. When I was a kid, my dad had a bulky one made of metal that was rather heavy. I’ve owned all sorts, from big ones that took four “D” batteries to a small one that took one “AA” cell. I still have several of these and was thinking of starting a flashlight collection. Are flashlights collectible? And can you tell me how they originated?

ANSWER: Flashlights are definitely collectible. Plus they have an interesting history beginning with the first one invented in 1888.

Most people most likely believe that the flashlight first appeared in the early 20th century. But actually its invention occurred much earlier. The development of the flashlight went hand in hand with battery production. A portable flashlight depended upon a portable battery, which first came to market in 1888. These early batteries, used to power telephone and telegraph lines, were six inches tall, so people referred to them as "#6" batteries. Around 1896, battery manufacturers began producing a smaller battery, known today as a “D” cell.



The earliest flashlights did not have an on/off switch, just a ring or tab that would push against a button or band of metal. These early flashlights suffered from inefficient bulbs and weak batteries that were short lived. People called them "flash lights" because the user would flash them on for a few moments and then turn them off. If just switched on, the battery would die within minutes. However, these were still a great improvement over candles and lanterns. As the technology improved, the bulbs gave off more light and batteries lasted longer.

Before 1920, consumers had to buy a multi-battery pack fitted to their flashlights. Owners of long tubular flashlights had to buy a battery pack with two or three cells permanently attached in a long, one-piece tube. Anyone with a vest pocket light, that was about the size and shape of a cigarette pack, bought a battery pack with the cells attached side by side. Merchants had to carry a variety of battery pack arrangements. The single battery or "unit" cell first appeared around 1920. After that, merchants only needed to carry unit cells.

Flashlight company batteries are difficult to come by since hundreds of companies came and went. Battery companies thrived and bought some of these flashlight makes. They knew that people could keep one flashlight for years, but they would need batteries every few months.

Battery companies began selling flashlights at cost during the 1920s to promote battery sales, causing many smaller companies to go out of business. Even Eveready, a well-known brand today, was bought by the National Carbon Company (NCC), which was Eveready's main supplier of the carbon used in making batteries. NCC also bought other flashlight companies, too. Eventually, NCC changed its name to Union Carbide, a union of carbon companies, to reflect what it had become.

 advertising campaign in 1916 attempted to change the name of the flashlight since flashlights could now be turned on to produce a steady beam. There was no longer any reason to call them "Flash Lights." In 1917, the company held a contest to select a new name for its product. The winning name for the flashlight was “The Daylo," a contraction of the phrase, "To and Behold, it is daylight."

While the campaign was a sales success, unfortunately the new name was not. Only Evereadys could be called Daylos. Other flashlight makers still called them flashlights so that's what the public called them.

Union Carbide dropped the Daylo name in 1921, which helps to date flashlights marked Daylo as having been made between 1917 and 1921. Daylo signs had been distributed to hardware companies across the nation. When the name charged, retailers discarded the Daylo signs and catalogs to make way for the new ad campaign. Only a few of these colorful advertising pieces remain, so they’re highly sought after by collectors.

Flashlight collectors also seek the advertising items put out by earliest flashlight makers. The brochures and catalogs provide information about what lights the companies’ produced  and when they sold them. Early flashlight maker companies included Ohio Electric, Electric Novelty Company, American Electrical Novelty and Manufacturing Company, Reliable Electrical Novelties, Interstate Electrical Novelty. and Western Electric.

As with other collectibles, there are rare flashlights that can sell for more than $1,000, while common ones can go for as little as $2. Generally, flashlights are, for the most part, very reasonably priced. Most people think of flashlights as being tube shaped which is the most common. There are thousands of nickel-plated or black tubular Eveready lights from the 1920s and 1930s that sell for only a few dollars.

One of the most valuable flashlights is the 1898 Eveready. It isn’t marked "Eveready," The patent dates are stamped on a metal ring around the middle of the light. There’s no switch, just a metal ring that presses against the metal band. The end caps don’t screw on, but the lens side is held on by friction and the other end cap has a bayonet latch. Most collectors will gladly pay $1,000 to acquire it.

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  La Belle Epoque in the 2020 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.