Rainier Jubilee Series Can Question

[MarkB]

I have an original of the ad with the cartoon skater. it's from the July 1956 edition of Family Circle.

MarkB

[storzman]

I thought this was getting close to confirming a new order of the Jubs - but Ed's ad if 1953 would really put this back to square one.

[Pokey]

That is why I asked the question! MarkB says it is from 1956. I am going to go to Rag-shop and search for a 1956 Family Circle to see what I can come up with!

[Monkeysqueak]

As promised, here's what I have. Nine sets are represented with examples from all 3 series shown...

Here's the cartoon series, set 1 (per Wolpe). Sicks' Seattle 12 oz. with "Rainier For Life" in gold band:


Here's one from set 3 and set 4: Green is cartoon series set 3 from Sicks' Spokane, 12 oz., "Rainier" in gold band. Yellow is set 4 Party Series, Sicks' Seattle, 12 oz., no "Rainier" gold band.


Here's set 6, Party Series, Sicks' Seattle 12 oz., "Rainier" in gold band:


Here's set 8 and 12: Green can (guy rolling on log) is set 8, Party Series, Sicks' Spokane, No "Rainier" in gold band. Rest of cans are set 12, Party Series, Sicks' Rainier 12 oz., "Rainier" in gold band:


Lastly, cans from set 17, 20 & 36. Set 17 can (brown metallic) is from the Brewery Series, Sicks' Rainier, No "Rainier" in gold band. Blue can is set 20, Brewery Series, Sicks' Rainier, "Rainier" in gold band. Violet metallic can is set 36, Sicks' Spokane Brewery INC., Party Series, No "Rainier" in gold band.


Man, while digging into all this, I can just IMAGINE what it would be like to specialize in all these cans!! Hope you liked 'em!

[MikeS29]

Those are SWEEEEETTT!

I am starting to get the bug... Carl, how soon until the next trip?

[stringsx24now]

I see from the last picture posted, set #17 has the content 12 ounces, the 12 is much larger font than the others. Is this making it a separate set, or just an anomaly, or am I just making more out of it than what it is?

[stringsx24now]

I forgot to add in my last post: NICE CANS.

Looking at them on this thread really makes them look awesome. I am going to have to get me some more, more than the 4 I already posted earlier on this thread. I loved all the colors.

Nice, nice jubs, monkeysqueak.

[Monkeysqueak]

Thanks Strings & Mike S.! Yes, I had noticed the "12 Ounce" anomaly as well. I don't know if it's a particular thing to that set or not since I only have one rep. from that set. Let's hear from the experts!! Now that we're getting the West coast guys revved up, I hope to see soon what gets dug-up in the Jub line-up!

[Rockbob]

This is a cool thread. I dont have any Jubs yet. There kinda hard to come by here in Illinois. Every time I shoot a bid on Ebay I get clobbered. I read in Thomas Toepfer's Collectors Digest that there are around 11,000 variations of Jubs. Any merit to this? I wonder if anyone has attempted to catalogue each variation known to exist? That would be WORK! Keep the pics comin guys. The graphics on these cans are terrific.

[Pokey]

Very nice set of cans, Dan! You have some hard to find colors in there! Let me know if you ever want to part with some of those beauties!!

The Contents size variation may be unique to the last run of Brewery Series, but I think Scott Fields is the one to answer on the Contents size issue. He has the most Jubs that I have seen in one place. Scott, do the plain gold band group of Brewery cans all have the larger contents type???

[MarkB]

Storzman: Ed's ad is from 1956. I have the original (from 56) and the brewery trade joural confirms that the cartoon series was issued in 56.

Pokey: Look in the July issues. Also, don't forget to check any Sunday color supplement sections (sort of like Parade Magazine only locally produced). Most local Sunday papers had their own with local stories and ads and I've found some nice color ads in those in the past. I've found them in antique stores for a dollar or two before. Remember that the colorful 50s cans were meant, at least in part, to appeal to housewives doing the grocery shopping, so don't neglact the woman's magazines like Family Circle.

In the meantime, I subscribe to the "Newspaper Archive" that lets you search millions of pages of old newspapers. It's a great place to find beer ads and stories (I think Tom I. has used it as well). I have searched Rainier ads there in the past and will double check, but I've only seen the Party series and the Christmas cans before 1956 in Pacific Northwestern papers.


What I find interesting is that Rainier apparently expanded the Party series in 1954.

MarkB

[Scott]

Well this thread has certainly taken a turn. What started as a simple question about pricing has developed into a spirited and enlightening discussion about something that hopefully can be cleared up once and for all. The standard accepted wisdom has always been that the cartoon series came first, most likely began by Wolpe.

I think if we can get a concensus on the chronology of the series it would make a very good article for the BCCA magazine. It would answer a lot of questions and clear up some misconceptions.

I've always wondered why the Rainier for Life banner seemed to come and go. It makes sense that they went without it at the beginning and end and used it throughout the middle of the series life.

I've been real busy this week and am leaving town tonight for several days so it will be this weekend at the earliest before I can look at my cans. Having 500+ in once place does greatly simplify trying to figure some of this out. I'll try an respond to the larger 12 question then.

Scott

[Monkeysqueak]

Just saw another from set 17 with the "Larger 12" / Choicest Ingredients can (brewery series) at Tavern Trove. Maybe this is a set 17 specific trait only?.........

[MarkB]

I did some searching in "The Newspaper Archive". I found the cartoon series ad, introducing the "new" series in several papers in 1956. The earliest was June 1956. The cartoon series ads from 1956 are identical to Ed's B&W ad.

I also found an ad advertising the Party series in July 1953. I added the party series advertisement below.



The specific papers and dates in which I found the Jubilee ads include..

Party Series:
The Falls Register (Idaho) 22 July 1953.

Cartoon Series introduction:
Tri-City herald, 15 June 1956
Daily Chronicle (Centralia, WA) 3 July 1956 and 20 June 1956.
Port Angeles Evening News, 2 July 1956.

When I have a little time I will go through the ads more carefully and see when the "Second Series" of Party Cans appear. Then I will see when the Brewery series appears for the first time. I'll be using "The Newspaper Archive" as well as the Carlson indexes I bought last year.

Yes, I love research! I wish I had more time to devote to this as I am really into finding the specific dates each series was issued.

MarkB

[RustyRaindog]

I would have to say that that ad ends the debate as to which came first.
The party series without Rainier for life appears to be the winner! Great job on the research Mark! How much does it cost for access to the newspaper archive? I would have thunk that the Seattle papers would have had something about them being issued back then also.

As for all the clean cans that have been posted

[MarkB]

It's about $96.00 a year. They have monthly subscriptions for about $15.00. It has a lot of smaller newspapers rather than many of the biggest ones. It's still very useful for ads, wire stories, local news, etc.

MarkB

[Pokey]

Here is a scan of the first page (Page 666) of Wolpe's list:



The other pages (667 - 704) are matrices of variations with all possible color combinations. These matrices are where the ridiculous figure of 3000+ cans originate. However, if you read the first page, Wolpe states "Included are matrices for some sets that may not have existed."

[Pokey]

I see from the last picture posted, set #17 has the content 12 ounces, the 12 is much larger font than the others. Is this making it a separate set, or just an anomaly, or am I just making more out of it than what it is?

Looks like it is a seperate set! Chronologically it looks like it might go like this (Brewery series only):

0> Small contents found on all previous series
1> Small contents: 12 ounce, "Rainier for Life," Flat
2> Large contents: 11* & 12 ounce, "Rainier for Life," Flat
3> Large contents: 12 ounce, blank gold band, Flat
4> Large contents: 12 ounce, blank gold band, Zip

Next question, is the 3rd version above available from Spokane or only from Seattle like the Zip tops?

*Note: All of my 11 ounce cans have the Large contents and "Rainier for Life"

[rustyrelic]

heres what Ive been able to find. The tall stack is an 11 oz set I dug with Scott F in Oregon. The small pyrimid is 12 oz cans I found in the Santa Cruz mountains, and one is the Christmas can! I also included the design that other poster collects, both are 11 oz.

[Pokey]

I have an original of the ad with the cartoon skater. it's from the July 1956 edition of Family Circle.

MarkB

Mark, are you aware if Family Circle was put out regionally? I ask this because I bought the July 1956 edition of Family Circle and it does not have the Jubilee advertisement. I bought it off eBay and it was shipped from Florida. It seems all of the Used-Magazine stores that were in my area are no more!

[MarkB]

Pokey, a lot of magazines like that did run regional ads. I've seen regional ads for Red Top and Gunthers before as well. Magazine publishers had printing centers around the country that would print the magazines for their region, including regional ads. Mail subscriptions were sometimes handled by a separate printer/distributor than the newsstand copies. Those of us who are a certain age may remember the little stars on Playboy magazine covers in the 60s and 70s. The urban legend was that it was Hefner's personal ranking of the centerfold. In reality it was to mark which regional printer and distributor printed that individual magazine.

I hope you didn't spend too much on the magazine! Maybe email the seller and ask if the ad is there.

MarkB

[333]

Regarding the couple of comments made in some of these posts about high bids for Jubilee cans on Ebay. "High bids" is a relative term. For example: If a bidder making $50,000 a year bids $500 for a can that's worth $200, and a bidder that makes $500,000 a year bids $500 for a can that's worth $200 it's not a "high" bid for the $500,000 a year bidder. Maybe the bidder/s ("idiots" as they were called in one post) make millions a year and are not concerened about not bidding more than they could resell the cans for at a later date (which seemes to be the mentality of many collectors I've spoken to). I have often bid higher than I could resell a can for and I don't care...it's a hobby! If Bill Gates bids $10,000 for Jubilee cans on Ebay, good for him! He deserves them because he put himself in a position in life where he can get what he wants! That's part of the American Dream, isn't it!