Pilsen Brau Can Find Story November 2015

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dirtyharry71
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Pilsen Brau Can Find Story November 2015

#1

Post by dirtyharry71 »

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OKAY Now that Canvention 46 has come and went and i am tired of telling the story here it is in the archives of BIG Finds:

My longtime friend 49er chapter collector from the early days Dennis Spence of Grass Valley got a call in March (2016) from 2 local pickers who were at an estate sale in Marin County and they were rummaging through an old house that was just filled with antiques. They were stunned at the very high prices and were beginning to think they could not afford anything in this house until the guy told them to go up to the attic where nothing was priced but everything was for sale. When they got up there the place was a mess so they were gathering a few boxes of junk and they came across these beer cans with no tops that were in a few of the boxes. By the time they came down stairs they had 15 Pilsen Brau cans in all. They paid the dealers a hundred dollars for all the stuff.
After a couple weeks they began to research the cans and found out one had sold for $9500 about 12 years ago. You can imagine their excitement but they were still unsure. A few months before they ran into Dennis at a bottle show and he told them to keep their eyes out for beer cans as they are worth a lot of money if you find a rare one in nice condition. They remembered this and gave him a call. He told them it was a very good can and that he was interested in getting one or perhaps all of them, Before they met Dennis they returned to the house and the owner said the house was nearly empty but they could go through one more time and buy anything that was left for 1/2 price. Wouldn't you know it they found 3 more cans that were rolling around on the floor of the attic. This brings the total of the find to 18.
Our pickers decided to feel the water on ebay and let a friend list one of the cans with a very high reserve-I think around $8k. They were not completely honest and didn't do a great job of cleaning or taking great pictures and as a result the can didn't meet reserve and the auction ended at $2400. They sold the can to the highest bidder and were a little bit disappointed.
They finally got around to bringing the cans to Dennis' house and he talked them into letting them get a hold of me. I made the 12 hour drive from Portland the next day and put together a plan to obtain and sell the cans. I sent the cans to Art's Can's to be lidded in 4 or 5 batches and started selling them in April. He did an amazing job in matching the lids with the bottoms. Everyone who bought a can has commented saying the can was better than expected. As of September first only 3 cans remained for sale and they all sold at Canvention 46 in Portland.
I would like to thank the Rusty Bunch members who purchased a can from me and i know you are pleased to own one. This will go down as one of the top "BIG FINDS" in California history...


DirtyHarry71-Patrick
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Shevy85Ale
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Re: Pilsen Brau Can Find Story November 2015

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Post by Shevy85Ale »

Those are just really beautiful cans.
Mike Shevlin
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IGU #10!!
chaunasknight
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Re: Pilsen Brau Can Find Story November 2015

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Post by chaunasknight »

Pay $100 for 15 cans and feel "disappointed" when the first one sells for "only" $2400 ?!?
Looking for the following Lilek #'s:
Alt Heidelberg 26, 27 Columbia 185 Finer Flavor 270 271 Hop Gold 400 404 Sick's 749 750 Silver Springs 763 Rainier 702A Rheinlander 733 Town Club 790 Ye Old English Ale 398
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