Another Day, Another Flea Market

My wife and I spent another day at another flea market and a dozen antique shops yesterday.  The first soda can find was an old cone top Pepsi can.  They were asking $75 for it but I'm not ready to take that big of a step for my collection yet.  I'll stick to the tabbed cans for now.

It can be frustrating searching for soda cans because I don't see very many at these places.  But there are TONS of bottles and beer cans. 

I did find a couple of Coke cans but they were sports-related and I'm just not into sports (despite yesterday's post about RC baseball cans.)  Plus they were wanting $5 a piece for them and they just aren't worth that to me.

But in the end, I did manage to find an aluminum bottle I didn't have yet.

I also found a kitschy statue of a Japanese person (I set it next to my new aluminum bottle to demonstrate its size.)

 

I'm not sure which my wife is more displeased with; another can in the house or the "hideous" treasure I found.

RC Baseball

Last weekend my mother-in-law called from a flea market where she found a guy selling RC cans with baseball players on them.  I told her there were two sets; one was from 1977 and had the players' stats/info in a square text box and the other set was from 1978 and had the stats/info printed on a picture of a baseball.

I pulled up my can collection website and had her start reading off the names of the cans he had.  In the end, he had ten cans that I didn't.

 

 

But I have them now.

I am in no hurry to complete these two sets.  I now have 15 of the 70 cans from 1977 and I have 54 of the 100 cans from the 1978 set.  It's a slow process, but hopefully someday I'll have complete collections from both years.

Gold Yoda and Storm

While on a recent flea market and antique mall road trip, my wife and I checked out a shop in Washington, Indiana.  I was drooling over the vast selection of boarded Star Wars figures when she found me and said there were a lot of soda cans near the back of the store.  So I made my way there and found this:

It was a selection of cans from the 1999 Pepsi Star Wars Episode One 24-can set.  Since I already have the set, most of the cans didn't interest me.  Except for two.  Buried among the bright blue and white cans was a gold can.  I picked it up and realized I was holding the rare 25th can... the Gold Yoda!  I've seen these go for $20 and more on eBay and just wasn't willing to spend that much.  I knew I would eventually come across it in my travels.  The next question was "how much?"  I turned the unopened can over and saw a tag for $5.  It was mine!!!

Also in the pile was a Jar Jar Binks can I had never seen.  It was a Pepsi Storm can!  What the what?  So I bought it for $1.  I researched it when we got home and found out Storm was Pepsi's 1998-1999 attempt at a lightly carbonated, caffeinated lemon-lime drink.  Since this was being tested during their Star Wars campaign, they released a Storm and Light Storm Star Wars can (those two cans were not numbered since they weren't part of the main 24-can set).  Storm never made it out of the test market.  It was dropped in favor of Pepsi's caffeine-free Slice, which was reformulated and renamed Sierra Mist in 2000.

Yoda is famous for saying, "Do or do not, there is not try."  Well I didn't just "try" to get the gold Yoda, I went out and "did"!!! 

Mountain Dew Green Label

In 2007 Mountain Dew released a small line of limited edition aluminum bottles featuring artwork from a range of artists (including tattoo artists) called Green Label.  From the information I have found, they continued the aluminum bottles for just a couple of years.  If they still produce them, please leave a comment and let me know.

I was aware Mountain Dew had cool-looking aluminum bottles, but it wasn't until last weekend that I finally saw one in person at a flea market in Evansville, Indiana.  The booth had two of the same design, but one had a dent in the side.  They both had $1 price tags, so I grabbed the nicer of the two and started my Mountain Dew Green Label collection.

This bottle is called "Reflections of Dew" from 2008

I am staying away from glass bottles because I do NOT need another "wing" of my collection, but I have grandfathered these in because they are made of aluminum.  I will not go to eBay and start buying all the Green Labels I can find (not yet, at least), but I will continue to look for them to pop up in antique malls and flea markets.

Burnt Prairie Trashed Cans

The first antique shop my wife and I visited on our recent vacation was called Burnt Prairie Antique Mall.  As we walked in the door, I noticed a large cardboard container that said "Please recycle" and it was full of cans!  A quick glance inside revealed a couple of cans I didn't have...

Later, while paying for the things we bought, I mentioned to the cashier lady I had a can collection.  I said we weren't from the area and I noticed a couple of cans in the recycle box that I didn't have.  She handed me a plastic bag and cheerfully said, "Take what you want."

I really wanted to dig in deep, but I was already getting stares from a few other shoppers, so I just casually perused the selection at the top of the heap.  I found a Diet Pepsi can and a Mtn Dew can both with an ad/coupon for Holiday World.  I also found two more Dr Pepper tuition winner cans, bringing the total in my collection to three now.

My vacation was off to a good start!!!

Home from Vacation

My wife and I got home from a short vacation today.  We took a road trip around southern Indiana and southern Illinois going to various flea markets and antique shops.  This was my two-day take.

Among the "treasures" I found was a gold Yoda can, a cool Mountain Dew aluminum bottle, a couple more Dr Pepper tuition cans and many more! 

I hope to highlight some of these finds in detail in the next week or two.

Another Birthday in the Can

I recently had another birthday.  One of the presents my wife gave me was this Monster Energy can (I drank it today at work.)

 

What's so special about it?  Well, it's a can that I didn't have.  AND the fact that my wife, who would rather cash in my collection at a recycler for a trip to Bath & Body Works, gave it to me!  It was a happy birthday.

Fright Fest

2010

My favorite month of the year is here.  October is when all the ghosts come out and things get spook and creepy.  And if I could only go to Six Flags one time each year it would be during their Fright Fest.  And so I've begun a sub-collection of Coca-Cola discount cans for Fright Fest. 

2011

Halloween 2011 was the first Halloween since I started my can collection so it was easy to get the 2011 can.  And I lucked out and found a 2010 can at work in April of last year.  And now the 2012 can has been released, so I snatched it up when I saw one at work last week.

The 2010 and 2011 ads were printed on a black background which I prefer over 2012's silver background.  The black background takes better pictures. 

2012

It'll be easy to collect a can each year from now on, but it will be a challenge to find the cans from 2009 and earlier.  I'm not in full-search mode but if I stumble upon them I'll certainly add them to my collection. 

Dr Pepper Winners

A couple of days ago a co-worker brought this Dr Pepper can to me.

 

When I saw the can, I had the same expression as Courtney, haha.  I love seeing a new can that I didn't know existed.  Last year Dr Pepper had a can set showing scholarship winners so I'm assuming this is something like that.  I haven't done any research yet but I think they have some kind of tuition contest going on.  And I don't know how many cans are in the set yet.

So I'll keep an eye out for more excited people on the sides of cans.

10-14-12 update -  A couple of days ago I found the following two Dr Pepper cans in the trash at an antique mall:

 

Watching for can #4...

 11-01-12 update - I found this one at the local Dollar General store:

12-10-12 update - I found this one at the same local Dollar General store:

12-18-12 update - I found this one at the same local Dollar General store:

A Hard Thing to Do

So I have my "A" cans which are in my main collection.  And then I have my "B" cans which are on shelves in the garage.  They are my doubles and are used for trades.  And then there are the "C" cans which are basically doubles of my doubles.  Ok, I have a hard time getting rid of cans.

Today, for the first time in the year and a half I've been collecting, I pulled out some cans to get rid of.

These are basically some of my "C" cans.  The good thing is now I have room on my trade shelves for more "B" cans.  And when someone visits my site to check out the trade cans they won't have to weed through the doubles that were there (I will update the trade can pics soon).

I don't like getting rid of the cans because I feel there is a collector somewhere that would love to have them.  When I began, I would have given anything for two trash bags full of cans!!!

But these are going to a good cause.  The cans are going to a recycle project the students are doing at the school where my wife works.  Eventually the cans will be recycled and the money will go towards books for their library. 

Even with all of those pluses, it's still a hard thing to do.

A Spur-of-the-Moment Shopping Success

This afternoon I was in the neighborhood of a couple of stores that have "cheap" drinks, so I decided to drop in to see if they had any cans I needed.  And boy, did they!

All of this for a tad over $10.  Not bad for one day's work.

Cherry Lime Rickey

A couple of months ago I read about 2012 being AriZona tea's 20th anniversary.  So they had a contest for their "customers" (I guess that's what the people who drink AriZona are called) to pick the anniversary flavor and design the anniversary can.  But there was one caveat, the can would be available exclusively at 7-Eleven stores.

On the way to work today, I decided to see if there were any 7-Elevens around me.  I found one about 4 blocks from where I work (in a direction I normally don't travel, that's why I didn't know it was there).  I called and asked if they had the flavor and they said, "We sure do."

 

And now the can is in my collection.  And I have to say I love this can design.  Just looking at it makes me want to drink it!  And the flavor sounds excellent.  One of the coolest things about the can is the matte white top.

 

I haven't opened it yet to taste it, I'll save that for an upcoming episode of my taste-test podcast.  But at this point I will give this product a preliminary grade of A+.

Green Mountain

Last month a visitor to my site contacted me and asked if I knew anything about this Green Mountain can.

 I searched the internet and couldn't find much information.  I did find a site that said the can is from Minnesota. 

Another site listed it as a citrus flavored soda.  That site dated the can to 1979.

It's a crimped steel can with a tab top.  And the canning information on the side says it was produced by Contract Beverage Inc.

So if anyone has any additional info, please post a comment.  Thanks!!!

The Fluted Can

During a recent visit to an antique mall, I found a few interesting cans.  Here is one of them.

The can was some kind of promo can from American National Can for their new fluted can design.  See the can pic below for a list of advantages of their life-changing cans.

I couldn't tell how well the flute design was coming through in the pics, so I took another pic to try to show the ribs along the can.

I like how the can says it's "The can of the future... consumers prefer it!"  My only question is how many of you have even heard of a fluted can?  I guess it wasn't such a big hit after all.

You Won A Watch!

Without cap

With cap

Last weekend at an antique mall, I found a few interesting soda cans.

The first can I want to post about is a Red Creme Barq's can that had a black cap on it resembling a hollowed out hockey puck.  I took the cap off and the can had no lid on top of it.  And then I read the cap.  Apparently at one point they had a contest where you could instantly win a digital watch.

Inside the can was a thick cardboard roll that made the can feel about the weight of a full soda can.  I don't know if the cans were hidden inside 12-packs or in vending machines (probably the former).  

The only thing that would have made this can better is if the watch had still been with it.  I have searched all over the internet and can't find anything about the contest.  And so far I've been unable to date the can.

They also had a regular Barq's can that was a winner, but since I had that design already I just bought this Red Creme can.  Now I wish I had picked up both of them.

If you have any info about this can/contest, please post a comment.  Thanks!!!

10/24/12 update - BeerCanRich99, someone I've traded cans with in the past, found a picture of the Barq's watch.  Thanks BCR99!

Another Team Meeting at Work

This evening was our team meeting at work.  Historically the meetings have ranked rather low on my "Highly Anticipated Things To Do" list, but that changed last year when I realized it's a source for new cans. 

At November's meeting last year, I was able to score a Cardinals World Series Pepsi can (read about it here).

At our last meeting in April, I scored four aluminum bottles (read about it here).

And tonight there were about 8-10 cans to choose from.  I had them all but one...

And now I have that one too.  I can't wait for November's meeting...

Another Saturday, Another Antique Mall

It's that time of the week again; time to browse thru a local antique mall.  The one we went to today was about an hour from our house and I had no idea it was even there.  And this place was HUGE!!!  It took us over two hours to rush through it (we had our young kids with us).  And unlike most antique places I've checked, this one actually had some soda cans!!!  I couldn't buy every soda can I saw, so I choose these five:

I plan on doing a couple of posts this week to highlight a couple of these special cans.  There were several more convention cans and "special" cans I didn't buy, so maybe some day I'll have to go back...

But this place was a small heaven for beer can collectors.  One booth had 5-6 old beer cans bagged together and each bag was $1.95.  Several other booths were selling singles.  But this booth was the most impressive:

They were selling trays of 24 beer cans for $8.95 per tray.  I looked thru all the trays and only found two soda cans, one of which I already have.  But for the beer can collector this would have been an awesome find!!!

Also, I met a beer can collector there.  He said he has a few soda cans he wants to get rid of from trades and I said I have a few beer cans I want to get rid of from trades.  He lives about twenty minutes from where I work, so there may be a local trade in my near future.

By the way, the peach box on top of the beer cans in the pic above was full of bags of bottle caps.  I had considered collecting those at one time but decided to go with soda cans instead. 

2012 Olympic Coke Cans (complete)

On June 4, I started a post about the 2012 Olympic Coke cans.  I was on a quest to collect all six cans of the set.  I updated the post every time I got a new can.  So if you'd like to see how the quest progressed, you can read about it here. 

Today I got can #6 and my set is complete.  In addition, I also got an Olympics Diet Coke can.

Coca-Cola Can Radio Offer

I went to a flea market today on the lookout for any old soda cans.  There are always a lot of soda bottles, but usually not many cans.  The only can I found worth buying was this Coca-Cola can.  After getting home, I dated the design to be around 1970-1971 (notice "caramel colored" written under the Coca-Cola logo).

But the reason I bought the can was because of the offer on the side of it, "Can radio... yours for only $5.95 with proof-of-purchase."  The offer ended on February 29, 1972, reinforcing that this can is probably from 1971-ish.

The reason I liked this "ad can" was because it's the first vertical ad on a Coke can I've seen.  I don't know how common or uncommon that is, but I thought it was pretty cool.

So what did I pay for it?  Well there was a plain Coke can next to this one.  I asked the guy how much they were and he said, "$3 each or both for $5."  I think I already had the other one, so I just wanted this one.  I said, "How about $2.50 for just this one?"  And he replied, "$2 and it's yours."  That's the first time a seller has bid me down.

A Tour of My Collection

I still have around fifty cans that haven't been "processed" yet (meaning they haven't been added to the website or shelved/boxed with my other cans), but this is my collection as of today.

This is shelf #1.  It starts with 7Up and alphabetically goes thru some of the major brands thru Hi-C.

Note: the spaces have been left intentionally to allow for new cans to be added without having to shift other brands around.

This is shelf #2.  It starts with Hires root beer and goes thru some of the major brands thru the Walmart line of sodas.

Shelf #3 contains Sprite, Pepsi, Mountain Dew and Shasta.

Shelf #4 holds my Coke cans and short 8oz cans.

And these are two additional shelves. 

The gray ones on the left hold the soda brands that don't fit on shelves #1-4.  They are organized alphabetically in the trays.  The bottom shelf has six trays of foreign cans.

The black shelf on the right holds my large 16 oz cans, slim 8 oz cans and any other odd-sized cans.  This is where most of my energy and juice cans are.  I also have some 12-packs of soda on this shelf.

The boxes on the floor are cans I haven't added to the trays yet.




And now for the two overall shots of my collection:

Shelves #1 and #2

Shelves #3 and #4 and more

What I don't have pictured are my can sets such as the 7UP Bicentennial 50-can set, the 24-can Star Wars Pepsi set or the two 1970's RC sets of baseball player cans.