BEER CANS WANTED!!!

Hello! Have you come across any old beer cans? Do you have Uncle Joe's old collection? I'd be happy to help those little cylindrical metal containers find a good home. My name is Brian and I have been collecting beer cans since 1977. I am a member of the BCCA (Brewery Collectibles Club of America) and my local beer can collecting club, the A-1 chapter in Arizona. I would like to purchase or trade for cans that I need.

A Brief History of Beer Cans

The first canned beer was sold in 1935. The first cans were FLAT TOP cans. They required a can opener to punch a hole in the top. The first few years that beer was canned the cans had OPENING INSTRUCTIONS on the side. Shortly after the introduction of flat top cans, a second type of can was introduced which had a cone shaped top and was sealed with a bottle cap. These CONE TOP cans were in use from the 1930's until the 1950's and overlapped flat top cans. All beer cans produced for U.S. domestic consumption prior to 1950 have the line "Internal Revenue Tax Paid", somewhere on the can. During WWII some cans were produced for military members. These cans were often olive drab in color and have the statement "Withdrawn Free of Internal Revenue Tax for Exportation". Cone top cans and Opening Instruction cans in good condition are difficult to come by these days. Flat top cans were made until the mid 1960's. The TAB TOP was introduced in 1962 by Pittsburgh Brewing Company on it's Iron City Beer. Aluminum cans were first introduced by Adolph Coors in 1959. These first aluminum cans were flat top cans. Beer can collecting started to become popular in the early 1970's. The BCCA (Brewery Collectors Club of America) was founded in 1970. As a general rule beer cans from the mid 1970's up to today are quite common and have little value to collectors. BILLY BEER cans are NOT rare! The stay tab or ecology top, in which the tab stays with the can was first introduced by Falls City beer in the mid 1970's. Steel cans were replaced by aluminum cans during the 1970's. In 1991 the government health warning was added to all beer cans. Dale's Pale Ale, brewed by Oskar Blues in Lyons, CO, was the first microbrew to be canned in 2002. Now many craft brewers can their beer. Cans have many advantages over bottles. They block out all light and have less air in them than bottles. They are lighter, unbreakable, and much easier to recycle. Cans cool quicker, stack better, and are more eco-friendly to ship due to smaller size and lighter weight. Cans require no paper labels, steel bottle caps, or label adhesives. They are a much "greener" package that delivers a fresher, higher quality beer than bottles. Do you enjoy beer on tap? Tap beer comes out of very large cans called KEGS.