80's and 90's aluminum

[stringsx24now]

I get it that this site is primarily focused on rusty nuggets of yesteryear, but 1980-1990 is getting to be more than yesteryear--and the amount of cans saved (not recycled) from that era is almost as few as from the 1930's-1940's. While we all--most of us--are swamped with 1970's cans, and many of us can identify right off which ones are 'keepers' (aka can be sold for more than 25-50 cents), when it comes to tough aluminum from 80's and 90's, I can name off the top of my head exactly two: Miller soft cross 12 oz (thanks to Kamsquared) and the Old Style Ray Meyer can. That's about it. Regularly a thread will feature a variation or two of a brand/can that is "tough"/"rare"/"difficult to acquire" that I had no idea.
Couple this with the fact I have a few boxes of cans, mostly aluminum, that I have not looked through since I moved in the late 90's that I am starting to dispose of. Cans collected during the 80's and 90's. I have no idea what is in them, and if they should be crushed and recycled or put into totes.
So, I am asking if people who know of harder cans/variations of cans, would post to let us know what from this era should be looked for when acquiring collections or thinning the heard of our own savings. Pictures would be very helpful, or at least descriptions of cans to discern what makes one desirable from the slag.

[kruegerbock]

Outside of the cans you mentioned and test cans - think the Herman Joseph's or the Lodi cans, you are not going to find a whole lot of Aluminum that will sell for over $25.00.

As you mentioned, some the cans are surprisingly difficult to obtain, as they've been recycled or just thrown out when collectors downsize. I was out of the hobby for about 10 years, and when I got back in around 1990 I immediately started trying to get every can in the old ABC 1975-1988 Book. I also continued to collect "currents" until about 1999. Some of the Aluminum cans I had a hard time finding included the last cans from Hammonton, and some of the aluminum varieties of cans from places like Walter's, Auburndale, Pearl, Jax, General, etc. that seemed to be short runs.

[golf_lover44]

Couple this with the fact I have a few boxes of cans, mostly aluminum, that I have not looked through since I moved in the late 90's that I am starting to dispose of. Cans collected during the 80's and 90's. I have no idea what is in them, and if they should be crushed and recycled or put into totes.

If you can let me know what you have, I'm sure I'd be interested in some of them.

[Uncle Jackson]

As we continue to add cans to the USBC II Supplement, we are finding a lot of early 80s cans that were missed. Our cutoff for the supplement is ring-tops, no sta-tabs(unless they were already in the book). To find these, I have been looking in the cheap cans boxes with a lot of success. I am also thinking of personally collecting up until the Government Warning was added. You are right, these 80s and 90s cans are like Rodney Dangerfield, they get no respect. Even the National brands will be hard to find. That said, unless more get interested in them, they will stay in the cheap cans boxes.

[Dixie Dave]

As we continue to add cans to the USBC II Supplement, we are finding a lot of early 80s cans that were missed. Our cutoff for the supplement is ring-tops, no sta-tabs(unless they were already in the book). To find these, I have been looking in the cheap cans boxes with a lot of success. I am also thinking of personally collecting up until the Government Warning was added. You are right, these 80s and 90s cans are like Rodney Dangerfield, they get no respect. Even the National brands will be hard to find. That said, unless more get interested in them, they will stay in the cheap cans boxes.

Do you have a list of what you are looking for in regards to those 80's ring-tops? I would be more than happy to help out with cans from my neck of the woods. And is anyone trying to assign a value to those things? I would also be more than happy to contribute knowledge of relative rarity of my locals. Could I further bother you with asking where to send these cans? I know they'll be at Spring Thaw, but sadly, I won't.

The sad thing to me is that a lot of these aluminum cans are a lot rarer than people think they are and they will only get rarer as people buy up old collections and recycle the aluminum since most of it is regarded as junk by many people.

Personally, in aluminum, I am looking for Dixie cans post-Canvention, Fischer's beer and light by Royal, and any Jax after the PK "buy American" cans by Pearl and/or General- just off the top of my head.

[MI-Cans]

@kruegerbock

kruegerbock
March 26th, 2019, 4:41 pm
Outside of the cans you mentioned and test cans - think the Herman Joseph's or the Lodi cans, you are not going to find a whole lot of Aluminum that will sell for over $25.00.

I think I've heard of/seen Lodi cans but know nothing about Herman Joseph's. Any info or pics?

I believe that eventually what is commonly referred to as slag will become rare to nonexistent. With majority of collectors focusing on the older generations of collectibles, there are only a small handful of collectors with what is called slag in their personal collections. Are we artificially putting an end to the hobby by not collecting newer generations of cans, collectibles, etc?

There's a huge glut of craft cans out there (30K+) but some collectors won't collect anything with a UPC, won't collect anything with a Gov't warning, or just won't have any aluminum in their collections. The Supplement folks are doing their best to include some of those newer generations of cans. Far too much inventory is disappearing and I believe slowly bringing the hobby to a position of no where to go.

Here's an example of something that there should some around but there doesn't seem to be. In 2015, Miller Lite issued a three can set that commemorated the history of the Chicago Bears (not my favorite team). It was probably marketed locally in Illinois but I found the dark blue on at SummerSwap a few years ago. I've been looking for the other two colors. I've had friends looking at major shows that I was unable to attend.

(MI-Cans)

Click to enlarge.

Edited and image updated to show completed set thanks to @Dixie Dave and @kamsquared - 04-17-2022

[golf_lover44]

Here's an example of something that there should some around but there doesn't seem to be. In 2015, Miller Lite issued a three can set that commemorated the history of the Chicago Bears (not my favorite team). It was probably marketed locally in Illinois but I found the dark blue on at SummerSwap a few years ago. I've been looking for the other two colors. I've had friends looking at major shows that I was unable to attend. Just not seeing any. Am I wrong in thinking they should still be around?

(MI-Cans)

Click to enlarge.
All.jpg

I have several of can #3 - the white one - available for trading.

[MI-Cans]

@golf_lover44
Appreciate the offer. Just got word that a friend got the white can from Spring Thaw for me. So now, I'm down to just looking for the Gold one. Thanks.

(MI-Cans)

[Dixie Dave]

Those Bears cans should be around. They were starting to come out at the time of Canvention in 2015, and I picked up some of the blue cans, since that was what I could find where I stopped in the Chicago area. Point being that some of the sports can guys or the current can guys from the Chicago area should have that can available.

Doubt I see it there, but I'm going to the Montgomery show in a couple of weeks, and I'll watch for one.