Monarch LA - Relative Rarity

[sgramling]

In my quest to obtain cans from Monarch Los Angeles (a difficult task considering my budget), I recently picked up this rusty beauty on Ebay from Mr. Debris (Thanks Dave!)

Considering what I've had to pay for any Monarch can in the past, I expected and was prepared for this to go for much more. Is Balboa by Monarch far and away more common than the other cans? I've been watching at shows and on Ebay and I haven't seen many (or any?) available before this. Any info from the experts is appreciated.

Balboa-Monarch.jpg (108.8 KiB) Viewed 4034 times

[TabGuy]

Congrats man!

[chateaudebris]

Glad to see it being enjoyed,,not sure of the list of rarity,i do know all the monarch cans are tough,Coronado and palomar were easy to touch up?,I was lucky at my first can show,a guy walked in with three in a lunch bag ,,asked ,,who's putting this party on,?,,he handed me the bag and said he had found them in an attic in pollock ,read the ad for the beer show ,,he'd saved them for years ,was happy he found a new home for them when I gave him a big huge!,,,offered him other cans,,cash?,,he didn't want anything,,he didn't even stay for lunch!

[chateaudebris]

The patch repair kept the price down ?Yours was found and fixed by led Whitman, who knows where?when?

[Scott]

I'd say the Balboa is the least difficult Monarch can to obtain, particularly in decent shape. It's no slouch however and there are actually two of them. Coronado and Palomar are out there but most have some touch up at best or are almost entirely repainted at worst. Finding a decent example of each with color will be a difficult and expensive endeavor. Chief is extremely rare and Townhouse is flat out impossible.

[chateaudebris]

Found this and another Palomar back in the 70's in lucern valley in the rocks?,,this one is as found?

[Cap-Sealed]

What hurts the Balboa by Monarch is that Grace Bros/Southern used the same can label, and then the wind-tunnel find of the Southern ones killed the market.

[mtracy64]

I believe the Finer Flaver Ale by Monarch is even rarer than the Townhouse, and the 11 oz. Finer Flaver Beer isn't far behind the Townhouse.

There are actually three Balboa cans by Monarch. The version without the permit number comes both with and without the full length Keglined panel along the seam. I assume that the longevity of the product results in the can turning up more frequently than other Monarch cans. The Finer Flaver Beer had similar longevity and it's the second easiest Monarch label to acquire. Most of the others were probably single runs.

I collect any Monarch can without the Keglined panel. I believe all of those cans were produced by Crown Can. Brownie, Chief and the Finer Flaver OI's actually say so, and the earliest Crown cans carried no can manufacturer information at all (Hanley's, Fitzgerald's, Schultz).

Marc

[foreigncanman]

It seems the reds on all of the Monarchs fade easily . Partly because of where they are found and partially the nature of the red paint.Tom

[sgramling]

Thanks for the info! I went by where the Monarch Brewery used to be. I think it's a Fed Ex distribution center now. A LOT of old houses around there. No doubt workers lived nearby and I would bet there's a lot of cans in those attics.

[CMD]

Here's my Monarch brewing LA lineup, missing only the Finer Flavor ale (why couldn't those yahoos find the ale from California and not Washington this past summer???)

Finer Flavers...12oz OI , 11oz OI and Non-OI,,,,,, I got the 11oz from Uncle rOY, about 30 years ago I asked him if he ever upgraded it , to turn me on to it , about 7 or 8 years ago , he did and sent me this one in the mail, what a guy!! never seen another available before or since!

Balboas ...no permit # no keglined stripe, no permit # with Keglined stripe , and permit #.......the best one came from one of my many termite inspector finds

The Chief is an old Chuck Hillyer can , nice legacy can

The Townhouse came from the LA garbage man collection...an old bar collection that was packed up and left on the curb to get thrown away , he saw it and took it home, that collection caused quite a frenzy, a can or two showed up on ebay and everyone emailed him and tried to buy the small collection. Competition was fierce and one California collector even gave the guy a list of names with people not to deal with (the guy told me who made the list and my name was on it ) ..the can was in better shape until this novice tried to clean it himself and mucked it up ( but Im still happy to have it) anyhow he ended up going the ebay route and my brother got this can from him and I got the can from my brother in a moment of weakness! I try to find those pix and repost again

why only one OI ???

cheers

Dan

[Matt Menghini]

One of my favorite breweries for sure. Using Dan's great photo (that is indeed impressive) as a guide, the way I would rate the cans in terms of rarity:

1. Finer Flavor Ale - impossible.

2. Town House - maybe a six pack known?

3. Finer Flavor 11 Oz - maybe 6-10 known?

4. Chief - maybe a case known, but really tough to find without touch up.

5. Finer Flavor 12 Oz (both OI and non OI) - probably easier than the Chief. I think these have been dumped in some quantity over the years.

6. Palomar/Coronado/Brownie - plenty have been dumped. However, hard to find without touch up or totally toasted desert cans.

7. Balboas - generally the easiest of the bunch, although my recollection is that one of the three variations is considerably tougher than the rest. I just can't recall which was the tough one.

Dan, Roy, others - agreed?

Matt

[mtracy64]

Dan's photo is very impressive indeed!

Is the 11 oz. truly that scarce, and are there really that many of the Chief? I managed to acquire a pretty rough 11 oz. several years ago, but the Chief is my most wanted can and has been since I got a Peter Doelger Bock.

My experience with Balboa is that the 2nd one is toughest - no U-Permit, no Keglined panel.

Marc

[fallscityfreak]

Great Info! I didn't realize a third variation. I acquired this can from a veteran Rusty Buncher years ago who just gave it to me as it wasn't in his wheelhouse and was "sick of looking at it." lol. That variation is a great score Mr. gramling, I missed that one on eBay. It appears my variation is the more common of the three, but its all original & in decent shape.

-fcf.

[Cap-Sealed]

This explains the rarer Balboa IRTP by Grace Bros of Los Angeles.... There is a Finer Flavor Beer IRTP by Southern that is fairly tough too, but it doesn't say Grace Bros, although the Southern Brewery of LA was run by one of the 7 Grace Brothers.

In case you were wondering.... The GRACE BROTHERS!

[oldindiapaleale]

Bill Gage, Tom Grace and Jack Grace don't look very happy.