1937 can collector's cans pictured in newspaper

#1

I recently got a Newspapers.com subscription and came across this Sept 19, 1937 article about what must have been one of the earliest can collectors. Wish the photo was clearer. Somebody else has probably unearthed this before, but just in case... New Brunswick NJ Sunday Times.

#2

The bottle collectors probably gave him crap for collecting "currents"........

#3

I am close to identifying them all. I think we can do it. Nice post, nice Class Pilsner etc.

#4

FULL !!! Iron Guts here we gooooooooooooooooooooooooo !!!!!!!!

#5

Great stuff and fun trying to pick out some of the cans in the mix.....interesting to say in 1937 that "he has some discontinued cans".......wish I only had to worry about collecting 450 cans.....as a side note to think of the days when a stolen bicycle made the news (article slightly to the right)....

#6

Wonder where those cans are now? Passed down to great grandchildren who boxed them up in attic? Or Closet Collector has them thinking they are worth maybe $100 because the beer has gone bad? Tossed in trash 70 years or 1 year ago.? LEON.

#7

"Connoisseur seeking extinct masterpiece" is rather prescient . . .

Marc

#8

Is that Zest in the fourth row from top?
No matter, what is really impressive is that in the midst of the depression, pre-war, he was able to amass cans from all over the nation--coast to coast.

#9

I put it on RB Facebook first and Rand said that was a Zest. Anybody with real photo skills want to try to improve that pic? Here's my feeble effort.

#10

Leon wrote: ↑Tue Sep 12, 2017 8:46 pm Wonder where those cans are now? Passed down to great grandchildren who boxed them up in attic? Or Closet Collector has them thinking they are worth maybe $100 because the beer has gone bad? Tossed in trash 70 years or 1 year ago.? LEON.

In the trash.......right after he figured out that beer in steel cans only lasts for about a month.

#11

Zest between the Manhattan bock and the miller beer.

#12

Amazing!

#13

What a great find!

What is the 3rd can to the left of the Eastside Ale?

#14

Is it a Class?

#15

BLindstrom wrote: ↑Wed Sep 13, 2017 9:46 am Is it a Class?

Yeah, it looks like a Class Beer.... incrediable!

#16

I wonder how many more of the 1937 currents he was able to add to his collection? If were able to get the 400 or so he wanted he would be unreal!

#17

I have to wonder if this could be the Class Pilsner that went to Veselsky, then to Gilbert, etc... Surely it came from a collection similar to this.
Clearly there were not many people saving Class Pilsner cans. Amazing to see one in a period collection!

#18

Manville? Where is Manville?

#19

Candog wrote: ↑Thu Sep 14, 2017 2:05 pm Manville? Where is Manville?

New Jersey

#20

I remember reading something about an early collector, or early collection, on a can collecting webpage years ago, not having any luck finding it. I think maybe the page also had an "A is for..." etc. with one super rare can for each letter??

#21

iggyks wrote: ↑Thu Sep 14, 2017 3:54 pm I remember reading something about an early collector, or early collection, on a can collecting webpage years ago, not having any luck finding it. I think maybe the page also had an "A is for..." etc. with one super rare can for each letter??

I think http://beercanhistory.com is the website you are thinking of, there a few collectors discussed there

#22

ConeAddict

I think http://beercanhistory.com is the website you are thinking of, there a few collectors discussed there

You nailed it!

#23

I considered the Class Beer the finest can in the hobby until the Krueger's Special was verified recently, but the Bocks are what really blow me away here. It just dawned on me too that a 1937 Lion Bock would be a instructional . . .

Marc

#24

Herman @PreWar the article states that the image doesn't include all of Joe's cans....one can only imagine what else he might have......

#25

Marc @mtracy64 Is that enough evidence to make one go back and reassess the likelihood that a Lion Bock O/I existed??

mtracy64 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 14, 2017 8:45 pm I considered the Class Beer the finest can in the hobby until the Krueger's Special was verified recently, but the Bocks are what really blow me away here. It just dawned on me too that a 1937 Lion Bock would be a instructional . . .

Marc

#26

keithker wrote: ↑Thu Sep 14, 2017 9:40 pm Marc @mtracy64 Is that enough evidence to make one go back and reassess the likelihood that a Lion Bock O/I existed??

Keith @keithker
I consider it proven, based on the dated photo above. The last Lion Ale and Beer instructionals couldn't have been issued prior to the fall of 1937. The Canco usage of two patent numbers and the government-mandated separation of can company information and brewey information both appeared in the fall of 1937 and are present on Lion instructionals. A 1937 Bock would have been issused in the spring and would have been 'Patents Pending' without the aforementioned separation.

More on that separation here:
viewtopic.php?f=104&t=32555&p=297616&hilit=Faa#p297616

#27

I was hoping when I posted this that there was something unknown in the pic. Still wish the photo was clearer. Anybody close to New Brunswick where you could check the newspaper archives or library microfilm?

#28

Here's a clipping with dateline since the date is cropped off on my scans, to confirm date. Article says he had been collecting over a year when story was written. Despite the header, the paper name is The Central New Jersey Home News.

#29

Did anyone notice that he collected them full with no intention of ever tapping them? I'd say they eventually tapped themselves.

#30

From my mom, the genealogist !

He was born around 1909 in Pennsylvania to John & Elizabeth Veg. By 1912 the family had moved to Dayton, OH.

Around March, 1936 he had moved to Manville NJ, and worked at Johns-Manville company. That’s where he was when the article appeared. He didn’t stay in NJ very long, because he’s in the Dayton OH Directory in 1937, but not in 1938. There’s no Directory for Manville NJ in 1938

In 1940 he’s in Los Angeles CA with his wife, Mary T. and 5-year-old son, named Joseph, who was born in OH. The L.A. Directory for that year shows Joe & Mary T.

I found a Mary T. Veg in 1959 back in Dayton OH, listed as the widow of Joe. After Joe died she must have moved back to Ohio…probably had family still there.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just found this at Ancestry. It’s from a family tree. He died in Ohio.

• Joseph Veg
• Hegyi family tree 4
Matching Person details
Spouse: Mary Wetzel
Father: John Veg
Mother: Elizabeth Rakoci
Birth: 27 Dec abt 1908
Death: 25 Aug abt 1953 Dayton, Ohio
Residence: 1 Apr 1940 Los Angeles, United States

Sorry I couldn’t find anything more interesting about him. 

If you think of something that I should look for, just let me know.

1937 can collector's cans pictured in newspaper

1937 can collector's cans pictured in newspaper

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