HOW I STARTED COLLECTING BEER CANS

My Story

My name is Bill Junge and I'm a full can collector that started collecting in July of 1978. I was working in the attic of my house in Redondo Beach, CA and found an Olympia flat top beer can that was left there around 1955, when my house was being built. It had been bottom opened and I brought it down and showed it to my teenage son. When he looked at the flat top he asked "How did you open cans like these?" My reply was that we used a church key. His next question was "What's a church key?" I gave the can to him and later got to thinking about how much things had changed in such a short period of time. I went to my grocery store and bought a six pack of Olympia so I could compare it to the can I found. This would be the first can in my collection.

My Can Number One from 1978

Because the design of the can had changed so much, I went to all the local markets and bought a six pack of the beers they sold. That summer we took a water skiing vacation at Lake Shasta, CA and I found four more new cans. Then my wife made a trip to Las Vegas to visit her aunts and returned home with 12 different foreign cans she found in a small liquor store there. I was hooked and now had 32 cans in my collection. I continued to search for new cans in the stores and by the end of 1978 my collection numbered 56 cans.

In 1979 I was shopping at the local K-Mart store in Torrance, CA and spotted a Beer Can Collectors Bible on the discount book table. I purchased it and read it from cover to cover. One of the things it talked about was cans that would leak after time. My cans were all full and that concerned me so on the July 4th weekend of 1979, I started bottom opening and drinking my collection.

I thought I was the only person in the world that collected beer cans but read there were several clubs for collectors. I joined the BCCA (Beer Can Collectors of America) in 1981 and became Member Number 22957. Because I have to drink the beer from the can before adding it to my collection, I'm considered a "full can" collector. After joining, I found there were other full can collectors in the BCCA. I acquired many new cans through trades and I've tasted the beer from every can in my collection. I only collect 12 ounce cans, and foreign cans that range from 330 ml to 375 ml. The new craft beer craze has me once again searching for new cans to add to my collection but I've decided that I won't be collecting the cans with paper labels or shrink wrapped vinyl labels that some craft brewers are putting out.

In the past I have sold some of my extra cans on eBay, but I'm going to try something different on this website. The cans on my lists have been bottom opened and are in store condition. That means they may have canning line or handling dings, dents. creases or rub marks. Check my lists to see if there is anything you'd like to add to your collection. I ship cans via Priority Mail through the US Postal Service and the boxes I use will hold up to 32 cans. The cost for shipping depends on the weight and destination of the package.

If you have questions or are looking for something special that you'd like me to keep a lookout for, feel free to contact me at beercans@frontier.com.

Bill