The Cream Top find

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Scott Rollert
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The Cream Top find

#1

Post by Scott Rollert »

One of the biggest finds from the past has to be the Cream Top dump. Until this find, the Cream Top can was one of the most sought after cans, due to it's scarcity and wonderful graphics. The following is the history of this find as best as I can remember.

The year was 1978 or 1979, not sure exactly which one. The man who made this astounding find is Mr. Ed Bilodeau. At the time, he was a magazine distributor, covering the Southwest including New Mexico. He had pulled off a 2 lane state highway in rural New Mexico after seeing the remains of an old adobe bar. Searching the area around the building he located the dump.

The cans first showed up at the Abilene, Kansas show. My brother just happened to be at that show when Ed pulled up in his van & started to unload all the Cream Tops. Ed told him he had dug nearly 1100 Cream Tops, all grade 2 or better, a few days earlier. He didn't even have time to clean them, not that they really needed it. A feeding frenzy ensued. The elusive Cream Top was now available to the masses.

The cans Ed found are the Whitewater version. Chances are good if you have one, it came from that find. A few others have dug them since, including the Manhattan only variety. But not in the quantity of Ed's huge dump.
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Longhorn Mike
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Re: The Cream Top find

#2

Post by Longhorn Mike »

They still had a bunch left by the Houston Convention in '83 when I got mine.

-Mike
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Re: The Cream Top find

#3

Post by CMD »

What I also heard was if he liked you , you could get as many as you wanted but if he didn't you couldn't get one

His goal ,after the find ,was to get every can in the Class book color pages

I believe Jim Plant bought his collection??

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Scott Rollert
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Re: The Cream Top find

#4

Post by Scott Rollert »

You're right Dan. I got 1 from him and vowed I'd dig my own one day. Ended up digging both variations. And the funny thing is he didn't keep one for himself. When I last talked to him (last year) he wanted to know where he could get one.
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Re: The Cream Top find

#5

Post by GaRedClay »

Very cool story - thanks for sharing - I'd love to get one some day...
Mike Bowers
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Re: The Cream Top find

#6

Post by Dumpman »

My wife Sheryl and I were coordinating the Abilene show at that time. He had called previous to the show needing info. Apparently he liked me enough to trade me for one. And by the way, it is the Manhattan Brewing under special direction of Whitewater version.
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Scott Rollert
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Re: The Cream Top find

#7

Post by Scott Rollert »

Welcome aboard Steve! Just can't get that rust out of your blood, can you. You're gonna love this web site.
The federal tax code is 10 times bigger than the Bible with none of the good news
Brewed in the Heart of the Snowclad Rockies
Looking for Lucky Lager with the date 2-3-58. Will trade heavy for one...
___________
Got tetanus?
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Daev Larrazolo
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Re: The Cream Top find

#8

Post by Daev Larrazolo »

How much were they selling for then?
WANT ANY MONTANA BREWERIANA
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