Ongoing List of Only-One-Known Cans

#1

This is strictly a list of wildly unique cans. I'm a variation whore as much as the next guy, but to make that list would be a life's work.

I'll ignore condition, cans with different Canco codes for different years, can company, OI panel, small text or panel changes, keglined panel and patent differences, alcohol and tax statement differences, gray vs. silver, enamel vs. metallic, varying primer coat/background colors. We're talking major label, widely collected differences only.

Of course a lot of great cans get left off, but if you count all those smaller details you'd have a thousand+ cans many of which we have on shelves and don't even know it, as well as so deep a level of detail it'd be no fun to read. There has to be a cutoff somewhere, so this shorter list gets right to the point.

Anybody who can knock a can off this list or add another, please post a reply with any provenance you can provide (so we can figure out if people are talking about the same can or not) and I'll keep editing the posting to keep a running tally.

12 oz. flats:
Tiger OI
Hillman's OI #1
Hillman's OI #2
Silver Fox 'Deluxe' OD
Meister Brau OD
Krueger OD
Stein's Canadian Ale
Lion Bock (if it still exists)
Rheingold Bock Beer (like the yellow 'pale double bock' with 2 goats)
Imperial from Baltimore (American Brewery, white can)

12 oz. cones:
Breidt's Ale hipro
Royal Finest lopro
Pink Kato
Deep Purple Schlitz FBIR
Hohenadel Bock J (with the pictured dumper apparently broken to bits and no longer extant)
Falstaff crown
Schlitz crown from big crowntainer find
Ortlieb's Ale crown
Boston Light 'little brown jug' crown
Trent Cream Ale crown
Duquesne crown
Old German J from Phillipsburg
Blue Hudepohl J

Quarts:
Trent Cream Ale
White Cap
Perone
Breidt's Half and Half
Diamond State (matches OI, Keglined quart cone)

Others:
14oz Draft by National tab
16oz Regal tab somewhat matches 113-19

There's gotta be a list five times this long if we really put our collective minds to it. Please post your thoughts on how YOU would determine a seventy year-old can's status as a mockup or the real thing. The Bud crowntainer for example, came from the place where an historian had access to it for decades so I would take his word on whether it was ever a production can or not. Several other unique cans have come from can company employee's collections, and by itself doesn't mean much about whether it was a mockup they simply held onto, or whether it was made even for a single, small production run.

Cans like the Tiger, with paper evidence of other cans from the same run being made and filled, I would say are legit 'real' cans even though that particular example never was filled. Ditto with cans in the big crowntainer find, any of the Canco finds, brake fluid paintovers, etc. It'll take decades for dumper or legit filled examples to turn up. Because there are also unique dumpers where no mockup or advertising is known, most likely we just need to be patient. In cases where there's no evidence one can see, I'd hesitate to take an oldtime collector's word that a can was real or not. Surprises keep turning up and longstanding myths abound, so this list should trust only actual evidence and first-hand knowledge rather than likelihood or hearsay. Rolled sheets like the gold Cardinal and gold Lion Beer are certainly on the bubble and could go either way.

So far so good, another thousand or so revisions and we might have a good working list...

#2

- 14 oz. Draft by National -

FRJ

#3

You can remove the Butte LP from that list, there is at least a six pack known.

You could add the Lucky Christmas can with the red and green X.

Scott

#4

Black country Club cone

Blitz cone top?

Again is there more than one Gold Seal cone from OK , Leon said there was but didnt elaborate

is there more than one flat bottom Country Club cone?

out

Dan

#5

Withdrawn Free Hamms....there is one can that was a mug and one unrolled sheet..does that cound?

#6

I'm afraid the list needs a bit of revision.

There are two Bud crowns. One in a meuseum and one that showed up on ebaY not too long ago.

There was a find of something like 9 Butte LP cones. Steve Armstrong would know for sure the exact number.

Cans like the Falstaff and Schlitz crown may be sales samples and mocked up. So would they count then? Does the one Five O'Clock Club LP cone (FBIR) count???

Vince

#7

Dan, We dumped one on the TX/OK border a few years back. It was a mystery cone. John Williams has it now. We know now they were canned and sold.

All you shiny can collectors avert your eyes. I know rust doesn't impress you.

Later,

Tom Inman

#8

awesome Tom , thanx for showing it! I think I now remember the original post.

Id love to find a bucket full of those!

out

dan

#9

bradflinders wrote:Withdrawn Free Hamms....there is one can that was a mug and one unrolled sheet..does that cound?

Which one was on ebay? I know that one was on a while ago.

#10

I believe there are 3 of the WF Hamms cans - the gold late 40's/early 50's version (not an OI). I think 2 or maybe all 3 of them were mugs at one time. I don't remember what the eBay one brought, but I think it was under $1,000. Oh, all 3 are pretty clean examples.

#11

Does the Pabst quart crowntainer thingy with a paper label count? I've seen it in person and have a pic of it somwhere. Not truly convinced myself thats its real,but I'm no expert.
JoeZ.

#12

Vince if you are referring to the one in A-B's museum, it is the same can. It was on loan by a former employee and he got it back and sold it. So it would still be one known with a lot of rumors of more.
Tim

#13

Dale Mooney, when he resided in the East Bay (CA) had a late '50s mock-up Burgermeister can. As far as I know, it went with him when he moved to PA and began bottle auctions (12+ years ago).

#14

Does a test can count? Where is the line between a test can and a "real" can.

I think some cans were prototypes and never held beer. (Falstaff Brass Key can?) Some where produced but only sold in a limited area. (Krueger Special beer).

I guess some one only cans fit within these categories. It has been said before that it must have held beer to be a real can. The American Can Co. test can is another questionable holder of beer, although I think one was found as a dumper. The Tiger is another. I guess, ultimately, who knows?

#15

I picked up the first Gold Hamms WFIR can on eBay around 2002., It was a lousy picture and I didn't know it was WFIR until I received it. At the time the can was not on the Lewendowski Bros composite list of OD and WFIR cans and they weren't aware of it. They made me a very generous offer and ended up with the can. I later saw a flat sheet sell on eBay and those were the only 2 I knew of. I guess a couple more have turned up??

#16

I think Peta Person got the Hamms WF that showed up on e-bay last year, I believe it was a filled example, and a pretty clean one! I'm always checking the fine print on those.

#17

I've been told there is only one metallic Blackhawk Quart....any confirm deny this..???

Brad.

#18

Picture of Schlitz Bock Crowntainer.

Test can, I believe this was never marketed.

#19

I seem to remember hearing that the KP white cap from CT was a one of a kind...anyone confirm or shoot it down?
mike

#20

Hohenadel Bock (the known 70's dumper apparently broken to bits and gone)

I guess that would make it a known can without any known examples. Correct?

#21

Blake, Since that one Crumbled (supossably) another one has Surfaced. There is that Mint Gold Seal, Then about 10 years ago at least one, maybe more dumped & then last year that one dumped, At least 3 or more gold Seals from Oklahoma. Never heard of a Trent J-spout, I bet Marc is all over this Lead/Rumor? From what Menke say's only major variations considered so a Withdrawnfree Hamms does not Qualify or any Withdrawnfree can unless a major label change or differance. If they did then you'd have to add my old Altes Crowntainer Withdrawnfree. LEON.

#22

#23

I would call the Millers only known Olive Drab color (on a miller) a major variation. LEON.

#24

Manhattan Bock 2-panel OI

#25

It's Matt's posting, so he can set the rules. If considering test cans, then the list is going to be MUCH longer ... heck, I even have a few!

The ex-Lewandowski Hamms WF is the one on my shelf. I have to take a look again and see if it was a mug or not. I think it was. It's not a 1-of-a-kind, but IF IT WERE ... I'd include it on the list since the WF statement is on the front of the can - in a very obvious location. It isn't just a little statement by the seam. Just my thoughts since Matt started this.

#26

Any chance we can turn this into a sticky?

#27

Sure:

#28

my tru blu ale oi kevin took pics of for the supliment book, i cant remember number, only one known of that one, has black writing at bottom instead of silver ...

#29

LION BOCK

#30

I thought that Hamms looked just like all the other Millions of Hamms out their?

LEON.

Ongoing List of Only-One-Known Cans

Ongoing List of Only-One-Known Cans

WF Hamms

bud crown

stuff