Hi from Tewksbury, Massachusetts!
My name is Bob Bennett and I use the handle BostonBob on here, eBay and various other forums.
I am 47 and have a wife and two teenage sons.
I started collecting around 1977 when I was 10 years old. My neighbor, Stanley Day, moved in from Wilmington, MA and I was introduced to his collection. Back then we got most of our cans in the woods, dumping or at flea markets. Unfortunately, I only had tabs back then. My extended family was also very generous in bringing me back cans from various vacations. That was always thrilling to see what people brought me.
I should also point out that I went to high school with the can Dr, Keith Norton. Keith was always a great guy and was big into dumping even back then. I have always been a shiny can guy, but I believe Keith used to be less so. Of course, having recently seen Keith's collection in person, I was blown away and severely humbled. It is unreal and truly made me lust for more mint flats, cones and quarts. My collection is around 500 cans, but most are tabs and way too many are aluminum. I think I have 2 cones and about 50 flats. I am working on changing those ratios.
My can collecting has been put on hold for several years at various times, but luckily I always kept my cans in storage. Thank goodness! As stated above, I started at age 10 and I was pretty steady thru my teenage years. Always on the lookout for new cans. Ironically, when I turned 21, my interest waned. After I found eBay in 1995 or so, my interest was re-kindled. I could finally buy cans I could only dream about as seen in the BCC Bible! I bought and sold a bunch. I even setup a small display in my first home's spare bedroom. My collection was still full of common tabs, but around that time I ran into Keith Norton at a Can show in Southboro, MA. Keith hooked me up with some cool cans, but it was clear these "professionals" were way ahead of me. I continued to buy what I could afford on eBay.
A few years went by and I had my first son. The wife strongly suggested that I put the cans away and start collecting something "kid-friendly". Like Matchbox/Hotwheels. Check! I bought hundreds of diecast cars, lots of Hotwheels and MB. I later ventured into police cars and I now have a sizeable collection of 1/64 scale police cars. I am proud to say I currently have 1 state police model from EVERY state except Maine! (working on that). I also collect muscle cars, fire vehicles, NASCAR and Tractor Trailers (of course I have all the MB beer trucks).
Let's see - that brings us up until around 2013. I built a custom home car with a large back-bar area. What better way to decorate than to take out all my best flats and a few favorite tabs. Around the same time, I ran into a mutual friend of Keith's, Bill Lebouef. He told me Keith was having the Pickwick Chapter can sale in Haverhill, MA. I was all over that. Of course, I could not afford to buy much, but I did grab a few more flats and those promptly went onto my bar. I only have 40 cans on display today, but someday I plan to expand that. Perhaps a future mancave or possibly in the garage. Only time will tell.
Thanks for reading my story. I hope to read your stories and learn more about cans. I am certainly looking forward to the next Pickwick show and any others I can get to.
BostonBob