Humble beginnings....and "Thank You's"

Humble beginnings....and "Thank You's"

The collection was born in 1978 in Galveston, Texas when my cousin Patrick Allen told me about a great hobby and showed me his collection of about 100 cans. I was hooked. My collection now stands at over 4000 cans from around the world. It also includes beer can art along with many beer trays, glasses, bottles, and hundreds of coasters (or vilts as my friend Marco Bakker from the Netherlands calls them)from around the world! There is even a bar of Beer Soap (Thank you Lee Stockwell)!

When my collection began - with a rusty old Lone Star can, a Texas Pride, and a few other odds and ends stuffed in a suitcase to bring back to Fairfield, CT, I never knew it would grow to be the world famous ETBCM! Picture at the top is Galveston Beach!

My best find: The year was 1980 and I was cleaning out Ruth Gabriel's (God rest her soul!) basement in Fairfield, Connecticut. "Keep anything interesting you find", she told
me. My eyes lit up as I opened an old refrigerator, still running, with two mint condition, full Schaefer 1964 Steel Flattops (World's Fair specials) sitting on the top shelf! They'd obviously been there, untouched, for over 15 years!
One can went to my cousin in Galveston, the other sits in the West Wing of the collection today, bottom opened!

Below right you see a can from the Sports Wing of the museum! That old Steelers/Browns rivalry made its way onto a beer can thanks to the fine folks at Iron City in Pittsburgh!

Thanks to Bob Lemieux for this work of art!

Thanks to Bob Lemieux for this great cake!

A great design from Sweden

History of Beer can Collecting

check out the BCCA website (link provided) for a history of the hobby, starting back in 1935 when the first can came off the line!

My suggestion is to visit the Beer Can Collector's of America website (now called the Brewery Collectibles Club of America) to learn ALL ABOUT the hobby's illustrious past! I am a card carrying member of the BCCA, number 30266, and love to trade cans with members around the world. (see link page to go instantly to the BCCA!)

I actually didn't join the BCCA until 1997. I collected a lot back in my teen years, then stopped for my college years ,and jump started the collecting a few years ago when I finally had a house and basement to display them in. I trade with collectors around the world (Switzerland, Belgium, Brazil, USA, the Netherlands, and Sri Lanka currently) and find old cans in antique shops, flea markets, and at yard sales whenever I can. If you have any dusty old cans in your basement you don't want, just drop me an e-mail.

This is where I thank everyone who has helped make the museum what it is today (and NO I don't mean a pile of junk in my basement!)

A Special Thank You to my lovely wife for not tossing these cans into the recycling bin every week! She is the greatest gift I will ever receive on this planet!

Thanks to Jim Cannizzaro for his professional photography assistance, and to Scott Logan, Melissa Zucal, and Dave Maberry for website building advice! Thanks also to Tripod for hosting the site all these years.
Thanks to Clint Scott, currently serving in the U.S.Army reserves , for his generous contribution of cans, coasters, mugs, beer glasses and an awesome T-Shirt to the collection (Nov. 2000 and beyond)! - and to his sister Laura for coordinating the donation in the first place! Thanks to the Shina family for their generous donation in March of 2002, and to Paul Hilton for some great breweriana and the golden YODA can!

Thanks also to the MANY contributors to the museum over the years; too many to list here so I'll only list those that I KNOW will be viewing this page soon! Johnny "B"evelheimer, Dave Maberry, Clay Harper, Christoph Betschart, Aldo Mattos, Jo de Mey, Marc Bakker (the VILT king!), Dave Lake in jolly old England, Karen Cashen, Nancy Maguire, Dr. Geoffrey Weinstein, Dee and Liz Logan, Scott Logan, Chris Logan, John 'crampon'Mendelson, Cara Coggins, Larry Mallach, Megan Wilson (go Duke), Jim"Samuel Smith Fan" Dupont. Thanks to Ken Carpenter and Maire Gorman. Thanks to the traveling man, Larry Alterman, for thinking of us when he's circling the globe. Thanks to Bill O'Brien for some fun finds made while in New Orleans.

Also...Lisa 'sherpa' Harrison, Lisa Disarro, Suzanne Cope, Parke 'homebrewmaster' Brown, TJ and Jack Roussell, Peter Streechon, Patrick Allen, Uncle Chuck (small Pabst can he let me drink at the cottage when I was only 14!-it's still in the collection!),Dan Fairfield, Brian Galvin, Laura Sinton, Nancy Maguire, Ken Carpenter, and many more . Thanks to Peter Loucks from Austin, TX. for some great boxes of Texas cans sent after her read about us in the Austin American-Statesman newspaper!

Thanks also go out to Harvey Berliner his efforts on behalf of the Museum and to Kathy Black , Eric Mulder, Stephanie Torta, Taylor Wray, and Laura Paisley for help with scans . Apologies to those I've missed!! I sincerely appreciate all the great donations! George Zinn, Treasurer of Microsoft, even sent us a box of great cans last year.