Don't Forget to Check Craigslist

Shelf 1 - left

A search for soda cans in my area on Craigslist rarely turns up anything.  So I was surprised two days ago when I checked (for the first time in a long time) while getting ready for work and found a listing that had been posted just several hours earlier. 

Shelf 1 - center

The listing said, "800+ cans ($50)."  It was both soda and beer cans.  And it was only about 15 miles from where I work.  I didn't want to call the phone number at 5:45am, so I waited until I got to work and settled in.  Then I called and found out I was the first caller!  I could either pick them up that day or Friday (today).  I didn't have the cash on me and my car wasn't big enough, so I said I'd be there today.

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So this afternoon, with money in hand and at the wheel of my wife's mini-van, I headed to the house on my lunch break.  The family who had lived in the house moved and left what they didn't want to take with them, which included this can collection.  The guy who listed the cans said his company empties houses.  When they saw the cans, his coworkers wanted to recycle them but he thought a collector may want them, that's why he put it on Craigslist.  I was at the right place at the right time.  For once. 

You can tell from these pics the owner had a nice setup.  He'd built plenty of shelves to display his collection.  The crew that was there emptying the house was kind enough to provide boxes and even helped me carry them to the van.

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One of the guys that was disassembling a glass display case saw a couple of old Schaefer beer cans and said it reminded him of his grandpa who used to drink that brand.  I told him to take them.  I don't collect beer cans.  I might try to use the ones I got today to trade for more soda cans.  Anyway, he was very grateful.

After the wife and kids were in bed tonight, I sneaked out to the garage and separated the beer cans from the soda cans.  I took some better group photos of the soda cans.  Eventually I will take individual pictures and get them on my main collection site. 

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Final count on soda cans:  726.  And probably a couple hundred beer cans.  It's funny that last
week marked the two-year anniversary of when I started collecting cans. 

Shelf 3 - left

I mentioned I had hoped to have 3000 cans but fell a couple hundred short.  And now a week later, I have around 3500 cans!

Thanks for making your lists, Craig!

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Two Year Anniversary

It was two years ago today that I decided to start a soda can collection.  In case you missed them, here are a couple of relevant posts:

My first post on this blog
My one-year anniversary post

My official collection website currently says I have just under 2400 cans.  I also have around 300 I haven't put on the site yet.  I had hoped to hit 3000 by now but I'm happy with what I have.

It's hard to tell what the next year will bring, but I know I'll keep grabbing those cans I don't have!

A Truckload

Yes, those bags are full of soda cans!!!

But I didn't know who owned the truck or where the owner was, so I had to hold back the tears and keep walking.  Who knows how many cans I could have scored from that find?  But as I always say... another big find will eventually come along!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter

 

* It's the closest thing I have to an Easter can

I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here

Two months ago I made a post about my job and how they are moving my department to a different building and closing our current building.  I wondered how working at the new building could affect my can collection.  Today I found out during a visit to the new building.

While exploring the break room, I found  an entire fridge stocked with free soda for employees.

And a nearby storeroom revealed the stash of soda to stock the fridge.  It took a few minutes to wipe the smile off my face.  And so I partook in my first soda at the new building...

A Sprite can I didn't have yet.  I'm not sure yet what can set this belongs to, but now I'll be watching for more NBA Sprite cans.

And by the way, a couple of my former co-workers who lost their jobs in this move found immediate work at another company.  So I'm glad for them.

And about this new building for me, I think I'm gonna like it here...

Joe Weider (1919-2013)

I'm not very knowledgeable when it comes to the wide world of sports.  So when I woke up this morning and saw on CNN.com that bodybuilding icon and fitness innovator Joe Weider had died at the age of 93, his name rang a bell not because I knew who he was prior to that CNN article, but because I have two cans with his name on them.

If you're like me and not very familiar with him, it's worth a few minutes to read about all the things he did. 

As a side note, after I got those two cans I wondered who Joe Weider was but hadn't looked him up.  So now I know.

My Newest Batch of Cans

Last week a fellow collector contacted me and asked if I was interested in some cans he found.  Of course.  I said I'd take whatever he didn't want.  I got the package yesterday.

It's a really good batch for me.  Some of the highlights:  a New Coke can, a Pepsi ad for the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing (I'm a space nut), two versions of the Pepsi bicentennial can from 1976, a Pepsi Challenge can from the UK, and my first 8 oz Coke can.

Thanks G!!!

A Trivial Find

I helped set up for a trivia night yesterday at a local school.  While walking down the hall, a sign that read "CANS" caught my eye.

 

I stopped and opened it.  There weren't many cans in there, but there were a few I didn't have!

I grabbed the three I needed (and yes, I did replace the ones I took with some other cans.)  Unfortunately, one of them had been drunk by a "squeezer," the term I call someone who squeezes their can when they're finished.

I performed an emergency "reflate" surgery on the can when I got home and now have three new cans for my collection.

That's more payment than I expected to get for my three hours of work. 

Missouri Valley Conference

Last week was the Missouri Valley Conference in St Louis.  My company does some work for a few of the events throughout the week.  One of my co-workers was onsite at the Scottrade Center and was able to score this 2013 MVC Pepsi can for me.

It's another example of others watching for cans for my collection. 

Thanks Tammy!!!

Can I Have That Can?

So, what do you do when you're on a business lunch with your Regional Vice President of Operations and you notice he is drinking from a can you don't have in your collection?

You ask, "Can I have that can when you're done with it?"  That's what I did earlier today.

I am used to the funny looks.  I am used to explaining that I have a can collection.  I am used to the awkward silence after asking someone for their trash.  But it's that awkwardness that helps them think of me the next time they have a can in their hands.  I have had the conversation about my collection with several people that have come back to me at a later time with another can and asked if I have that one yet.  I think it makes people feel good when they feel like they've contributed.

So if you're ever in public and someone comes up and asks if they can "throw that can away for you when you're done," it just may be me you're talking to.

The Can Fairy

I got home from work today and found this can on my front porch:

I brought it in and tried to clean it up.  Here it is after I messed around with it:

Not much better.  It's an extruded steel can with a tab top.  The can dates back to 1982-1987, those were the "Pepsi Free" years before the "Free" was dropped.  Since 1987 it's just been known as "Caffeine Free Pepsi."

There are a few people I think it could have come from, but until I find out for sure I'm going to assume it was the Can Fairy.  You're never too old to believe in the Can Fairy, right?

ShowYourHeart

I've posted about Diet Coke's "The Heart Truth" campaign before, but last week at the store I noticed the new can design.

 

All of the previous cans have had the red heart as the focus of the design, but this is the first to have words inside the heart:  #ShowYourHeart  (Twitter)

I'm not sure if this is the first in a new set or just a one-off, but it's good to see a fresh design nevertheless.

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.

Comin' and Goin'

Howdy!  Today's post is a short one.  It's a can design I've liked for quite a while.  The soda is Sioux City Sarsaparilla (made by White Rock) and is still sold today.  This particular straight steel pull-top can dates back to the 1970's.  Here you can see the front and back of the can.

Comin'

Goin'

Recent Can Additions

The stars and planets have aligned just right that in the last two weeks I have had quite an influx of new cans enter the house.  Over 300 to be precise!  They came from online auctions, antique stores, friends, family, fellow collectors, etc. 

So now begins the fun of "processing" the cans and getting them in my collection.  I'm sure there are a few more stories for the blog buried in this pile of cans, so stay tuned...

Who Ya Gonna Drink? Ghostbusters!

In a recent batch of cans, I found this Hi-C Ecto Cooler.  I had never heard of it before.  Here's what the Hi-C wiki says about it:

Ecto-Cooler was a product tie-in with the cartoon series The Real Ghostbusters, based on the 1984 live-action film, Ghostbusters. Hi-C struck a deal in 1987 to promote the series by developing a drink. Expected to last only as long as the series, the drink was successful beyond expectations and continued after the series' 1991 cancellation to be produced for more than a decade. The Ecto-Cooler box featured The Real Ghostbusters character Slimer, as did the commercials. Slimer left the box sometime around 1997, but Minute Maid did not discontinue the product until 2001, at which point it was renamed Shoutin' Orange Tangergreen. Slimer was replaced on the packaging by a similar-looking blob of lips. The product was still noted as ecto cool on many store receipts. In 2006, Shoutin' Orange Tangergreen was renamed Crazy Citrus Cooler. In 2007, Crazy Citrus Cooler was discontinued.

And with this post, I finally got some use out of that papercraft haunted house I built for Halloween a couple of years ago.

My Return to An Antique Mall

Last August we went to an antique mall that used to be a grade school (read about it here).  The place is huge!  I scored five cans that day.  Since we didn't have enough time to totally check out the place, today we returned with no time constraints (and no kids). 

There were more soda cans scattered throughout the place this time, so it was hard for me to decide which few to buy.  These are the six "special" cans I chose:

Last time we were there I found a booth that had trays of 24 cans for $8.95 per tray, but they were beer cans.  Today, the booth was still there but it didn't have as many trays as last time.

I noticed there were more soda cans today than last time.  So I was able to find exactly 24 sodas sprinkled throughout the trays, which includes the start of my Canadian Dry Bicentennial Patriot collection from 1976 (the info I found said it's a 19-can set.)  That was a well-spent $8.95.

I consider today a successful hunt out in the field.  And the best part... I know there are more cans there which means we will eventually return for another visit.

One Last Look At Where It Started

I started my can collection almost two years ago.  And with my first can came the first post on this blog.  Last week at work we were told they are closing our building.  Fortunately my department was kept but I'm being moved to a different building.  Unfortunately a few of my friends/coworkers will soon be unemployed.  With my time in the building now running short, I recently took a few pictures that are important to the history of my can collection.

My first can

In my first blog post I told how I found my first can.  It had been sitting on top of the water heater for years.  The above picture is a re-enactment of how I found the can.  And yes, that is the exact can that started it all!

Recycle bin

What I didn't mention in the first post was the large blue recycle bin in the break room that was for aluminum cans only.  Years ago when there were dozens of people working in our building, they had a company come in once a week to haul out the full bin and leave an empty one.  By the next week it would be full.  It would have been heaven if I had been collecting back then.  But throughout the last twelve years, they moved some people to other buildings, went through a few rounds of layoffs, and here at the end there are only 8-10 of us left.  And we're not a bunch of soda-drinkers.

The picture below shows how many cans are in the bin as of this week.  And that is many months' worth.  Kind of a sad state, as is everything around the building right now.

I don't know what's in store for me and my hobby at the new building, but more than anything I hope my friends can find jobs soon and we can all put this whole nightmare behind us!

My Oldest Can?

1965 Nehi

In February of 2012, I posted that a local Craigslist purchase yielded my oldest can yet.  It's an orange Nehi from 1965.

In a recent batch of cans I got, I found this old Royal Crown can.  I haven't been able to nail down an exact year yet, but I have found it's from the 1960's.  The condition is obviously poor (if not downright crappy) which is probably why I think it's older than my 1965 Nehi can, which is in excellent condition!

1960's Royal Crown

I know there are collectors out there that are thinking, "1965 is not that old" but I still consider myself a casual collector in the fact that I generally don't go after any certain brands or designs.  I tend to buy/trade for big lots and see what I get.  There are exceptions, of course, when I do occasionally hunt for certain cans.

But when one collects like I do, the cans are usually from the 80's to present day.  So when a can from the 1960's comes along, it's a nice little treasure to put in a special place on the shelf.

March of the Pigs

I've never seen a Piggly Wiggly grocery store in this area.  So when a fellow can collector that lives on the East Coast offered to send me some Piggly Wiggly brand sodas, I jumped at the offer.  Here's what he was able to wrangle up for me...

As a bonus, he sent me a couple of these stickers:

 

It looks like Porky Pig made a career change after they quit making Looney Tunes.  Oops, did I say Porky Pig?  I believe he goes by "Mr. Pig" now.

Thanks Steve!!!

Mineral Water Tip of the Week

Everyone has an opinion.  And my opinion of mineral water isn't a good one.  In fact, you can hear my taste-test review of it here. 

In August of last year, I saw these cool color-changing Perrier cans and had to buy a 6-pack.  I did the aforementioned taste-test so I could add the can to my collection.  And the other five cans have been on my pantry shelf ever since.

I use flavoring in my water at work.  And this morning I had an idea.  Could I use the flavoring to improve the taste of mineral water?  I took a can of Perrier to work and gave it a try at lunch.

The flavor I chose was Great Value (the Walmart brand equivalent of Mio) blue raspberry.  I squirted some into the refrigerated Perrier and took a drink.  It was much better, but still not a drink I would choose to drink.  It gave the mineral water some much needed flavor, but there was still a twang that smacked me the wrong way.

In conclusion, for those of you who like mineral water, you may want to try adding some flavoring to it.  It definitely improved the taste for me.  Kind of.

Peach Juice Drink

A couple of days ago I posted about the chrysanthemum tea my mother-in-law got for me at a Chinese restaurant.  I mentioned she picked up two different cans for me that day.  In addition to the chrysanthemum tea, she picked up this can.

It is a peach juice drink manufactured in Taipei, Taiwan.  Its ingredients are water, peach juice, cane sugar and citric acid. The can says it's 30% juice.

So how did it taste?  Imagine biting into a sweet, juicy peach and sucking its juice out.  That's exactly what it tasted like.  It was SO good.  Again, my kids did the taste-test with me, but after my first swallow I wished I had done this one alone so I could have it all.  Both kids also loved this drink.  So if I go to the restaurant to pick up the other different cans they had there, I will definitely pick up another one of these luscious libations of the Nectarous Peach Gods. 

Chrysanthemum Tea

A few weeks ago my mother-in-law went to a local Chinese restaurant and they had a selection of 5-6 canned drinks.  She grabbed two of them for me.  And this was one of them.

The can says it was manufactured in Singapore and imported from Malaysia to California.  The ingredients are water, aqueous extract of chrysanthemum, cane sugar and colors.

I had never heard of chrysanthemum tea before.  So it was exciting to try a new taste.  My kids and I did the taste-test.  It was pretty sweet (from the cane sugar) and tasted like a honey tea.  It was real smooth and didn't have much aftertaste.  Overall it wasn't the type of tea I prefer to drink, but I was able to finish my portion rather than pour it down the drain.  My daughter didn't care for it but my son loved it.  He even finished her portion.

So now I need to get to that restaurant to grab the other 3-4 cans!!!

Oh, and by the way, Aqueous Extract of Chrysanthemum was my John Tesh cover band back in high school.  HAHA!  I wish.

Can T-Shirts

About a month ago I was contacted by a guy from Switzerland through my main can collection website.  He explained that he makes linoleum prints on t-shirts and asked if he could use pictures from my site for some new shirts.  I try to help fellow collectors/artists out, so I told him I appreciate the fact that he asked permission and I told him he could use any picture on the site.

A couple of days later he sent me pictures of the new t-shirts he'd made.  

If anyone is interested in these or other designs, you can find him on Facebook at facebook.com/rabbicted. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Roundy's Round-Up

A year ago I did a post about a friend coming down from Wisconsin to hang out.  I was able to snag a Dr Pepper Ten from the floorboard of his car.  At the time he said he could get together a box of cans from his area for me.

This afternoon I got a text from him that he was in town again and he had a present for me...

He came by this evening with a box full of different flavors of Roundy's.  He got them from a chain of stores called Pick 'n Save (which I'd never heard of before).  And the best part, the cans are still full.  So I've got a lot of taste-testing ahead of me.

Thanks again Joe!!!

Two More Christmas Parties

Another day closer to Christmas and two more Christmas parties.  As we arrived at the first party I was filled with hope that I'd need to borrow Santa's bag to carry away all the cans I found.  This is what I saw by the driveway...

But if you notice, it's full of Mtn Dews!  I dug down pretty deep and didn't find anything I didn't already have.  So that was a bit of a disappointment.

Later in the day we headed to the second party.  While out in the garage looking at the guy's restored 1938 Ford, I noticed a couple of sacks of cans to be recycled.  I'd say 90% of the cans were A&W cans that I already have, but I did find this tangerine Diet Rite can.

We leave tomorrow to visit some family out of state, so we'll see if any cans turn up on this trip.  If so, I'll blog about it!!!

Christmas Party Loot

Last night we had a small Christmas party where I work.  One of the guys who used to work with us was there and he brought a bag of cans for me.  Below is a picture of what was in the bag.

 

The cans include a Woodstock '94 Pepsi can, a 1992 Batman Six Flags Coke can, energy drinks featuring Mario, Donkey Kong and Pac-Man, a Duff can from the Simpsons and finally a Coke can from Munich, Germany, which he got while on vacation in October.

Thanks Brad!!!

The Brand of the Can

So, why do I have three cans of the same design in my collection?  Pull up a chair and I'll tell you.

When I'm out in the "field" and come across a can I think I already have, I bring it home anyway because I like cans with even the slightest variation.  The above picture is a good example of three can variations of the same design.  But this time the variation has nothing to do with the design of the can but the can itself.

There are three major can manufacturers; Ball, Crown and Rexam.  There are others but these are the Big Three that I've noticed.  You can see the difference in the three pics below:

 

You can also see a difference in the coloring among the three manufacturers.  Look at the color of the footballs in the first picture in this post.

What I haven't been able to find out yet is what determines which can manufacturer a soda manufacturer uses.  I thought maybe the region of the country determines which brand of can is used.  But I found the above three cans within a two-hour radius of my hometown here in the Midwest.

Please leave a comment if you know why the same soda company uses different can manufacturers.  Or if you're a real can geek, what's your favorite can manufacturer?  haha