Saturday, February 23, 2013

Canada Dry "American Patriots"

Perhaps this should be saved for a July 4 post, but I'm going to post about it today because it's a set of cans I liked the first time I saw it.  In 1976, Canada Dry released a set of nineteen cans, each featuring a different American patriot.  I think the cans have a great colonial look to them.  I can just imagine George Washington urging his Continental Army not to throw their empty cans into the Delaware River on their way to Trenton.  After all, that was way before "Please don't litter" appeared on cans.

But I recently found fifteen of the cans:


They are Abigail Adams, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Henry Knox, James Monroe, John Adams, John Hancock, John Jay, John Paul Jones, Martha Washington, Patrick Henry, Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine.

The four I am missing are Alexander Hamilton, Anthony Wayne, John Hanson and Thomas Johnson (images for these cans came from www.gono.com)


Of course I would eventually like to have a complete collection.  Maybe by July 4 of this year I will have found the other four.  But I'll keep in mind what Benjamin Franklin said, "He that can have patience can have what he will."  Perhaps he was talking about can collecting.

3 comments:

  1. Why do you think they no longer do big can promotions like this? There were the Star Wars Episode 1 Cans, but there don't seem to be any epic can collection that is marketed to specifically collect. (Think about the Uncle Same or United States of America can puzzles.) A case in point, I just got a "LEBRON" Sprite can for their NBA tie-in, but I can not find any information online about other cans in the series. Wouldn't Sprite want me to know what other players they have on their cans so I can try to "collect them all" by purchasing more of their product? What are your thoughts on the (seeming?) lack of push by companies to make their cans collectible?

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    1. I think 20-30 years ago, can sets were produced to be collectables. Now, cans are seen as handheld billboards for advertising. The Dr Pepper website does a good job at showcasing their current movie cans... until the next promotion comes along. Would it take too much time/cost to have one page on each brand's website that archives their cans throughout the years? I guess so. And I'm sure it has something to do with money. Maybe it's too cost prohibitive to print more than 6-8 different cans at one time, that's about the size of sets nowadays. If anyone has anything else to add, please leave a comment.

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  2. This may be pointless, but I just found the paul revere one if anyone wants it for $3 + shipping? If so, please e-mail me @ lgclist2014@gmail.com, Thanks!

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