Untitled - The Crowncap Collectors Society International

100 years ago in the U.S.
John Vetter (CCSI # 30)
Here is an array af mostly brewery crowns used by brewers ten years before the
advent [1920] of Prohibition in the United States [1920-1933]. A good number of
the brewers disappeared when the aforementioned tragedy took place, however
many of them flourished again under a new name subsequent to the Prohibition.
Few of us look so good at 100 years of age.
2
CrownCappers’ Exchange #63, June 2010
Official Magazine of
CCSI
Crowncap Collectors Society International
The CCSI is an organization formed by and for collectors of bottle caps (also known as
crowns or crown caps). The club is dedicated to serving the needs of both new and longtime
collectors and to promoting crowns as a major collectible. It promotes the widespread
exchange of crowns, the growth of knowledge, ethical practices, and the documentation and
preservation of crown history.
In this issue:
100 years ago in the U.S.
President’s message
Editor’s note
Dents
2010 CrownVention report
CrownVention 2010 Group Photo
Basketball on caps
Granite State Ginger
Virtual collecting
Member profile: Esteban Pignanelli
My early crown-collecting days
A journey in Italy
CV caps trivia
NHL set from Bud Light
CCSI Online
KKF Meeting 2010
Memories from CV
CCSI Treasury Report
Pietrology - The factories
Member of the Year: Lance Wood
Sports caps
The CCSI Team
Barry Oremland
Phil Pfeiffer
Joe Roberts
Kevin Kirk
2
4
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
14
16
18
19
20
22
23
24
26
27
CCSI Contact info
President
Vice President
Secretary
e-Mail
askccsi@bottlecapclub.org
Website www.BottleCapClub.org
Address Kevin Kirk
Treasurer and
Membership Secretary
1990 Holland Brook Road
Branchburg NJ 08876
USA
The CCSI Board
Magazine editor
Kevin Kirk
Crown Exchange
Jordi Bellaubi
Magazine Editor
Brian McLean
Web Master
e-Mail
editor@bottlecapclub.org
Laurie Moyer, Steven Savoca, David Timmer, John Vetter,
Margaret Walker, Lance Wood, Kenny Yohn
The CrownCappers’ Exchange is published three times per year
Submit your articles for the October issue before August 31, 2010
3
President’s message
In these pages you’ll find plenty to read about our great recent
CrownVention. Phil Pfeiffer and Kenny Yohn again did an outstanding
job of “loading the bus”, driving, and making all the gears mesh, for all
to have an enjoyable ride. I can’t thank them enough for their devotion
of time and energy.
Otherwise, here my first duty (and pleasure) is to welcome Jordi Bellaubi as our new
Editor, to thank him for taking on this important operation, and to wish him well, with
hopes that he’ll find enjoyment and satisfaction from bringing a great magazine to all
of us in CCSI.
Likewise, I welcome Kevin Kirk in his now-official dual role as Treasurer and
Membership Secretary; and I thank him in advance for the time and attention he’s
willing to give to keep CCSI ticking. Outgoing T/MS Lance Wood justly deserves to be
named Member of the Year (see elsewhere in this issue) and he is pleased to show in
his final report that CCSI’s financial health is strong.
Appreciation also to Joe Roberts for stepping up to fill the role of Secretary.
Enjoy CrownCappers Exchange No. 63, and good hunting and crown cap fun until we
“meet” again in October.
Barry
Editor’s note
For many years I always believed that I was the only person in the world
collecting crown caps -- not only collecting them but also searching and
picking them up from the most incredible places. At home I used to
have a well earned reputation as the “garbage boy” of the family and I
still can remember how my face used to turn from white to red when I
asked waiters to pass me some crown caps.
In those years lots of things have happened and changed in my life. And most of the
moods, states of mind, and feelings I had have always been reflected in my collecting
activity. I finished school, then university, got a job, married, discovered internet and
that there were other collectors in the world; I divorced, I married again, had a child,
traveled, moved... and these ended up being reflected in cap collecting as periods of
euphoria , chaos, apathy, depression, and of course many weeks totally obsessed by
caps! I met many people thanks to the hobby during those years. Some were incredible, a few are good friends outside the world of caps; with many we had really nice
experiences, and others have disappeared.
And now I am opening a new chapter in my cap collecting activity as editor of the CCSI
magazine. And I would like to invite all of you to join me in this adventure with OUR
magazine. Because the next issues of the magazine will be built with your points of
view, your ideas, your articles, your images, your criticisms. This is a magazine FOR all
of you, made BY all of you, so... why not contribute an article and/or images for the first
or maybe the xxth time?
Jordi
4
Dents
Bob Raven (CCSI # 275)
Dent removal is often necessary to give a displayable crown. To that end, I use an
arbor press (obtained on eBay) with a 2.5-foot extension bar which provides a force
of 2-3 tons. A die set provides flair and two flat surfaces. This was obtained from
Kenny Yohn.
dification
i was required
i d for
f best
b
l FFor corks,
k I glued
l
I found some modifi
results.
two
quarters together and ground one down to provide a convex surface. This seems
to work well. Plastics are a bit trickier. A dime will fit inside the plastic ring, but
when pressed the surface takes a concave shape. A quarter on top of the dime
minimizes this effect as does a cork buffer in the female die. Eventually, I made another
sandwich of a quarter and dime with the latter ground to a convex shape. Still,
although I like to flair plastics to show the flutes when scanned, I’m very careful
when doing so, and usually tap out the dent with a hammer against a hard rubber
anvil. Localized dents can be removed with a 3/8-inch diameter punch in the press.
Long nose pliers are used to straighten skirt dents. Remarkable restorations can be
achieved with enough care. Flat parking lot crowns can often be brought back to a
useful life. I also occasionally use a capper when the crown is too flattened.
The severely damaged
BL crown to the left is an
example. A little work
with the pliers and press
restored it to an acceptable
condition.
5
2010 CrownVention report
Phil Pfeiffer (CCSI # 273) and Kenny Yohn (CCSI # 307)
CV 2010 is in the books. Fifty-two members and their 14 guests traveled from 16
states and Canada to descend upon Harrisburg, PA for the 21st annual feeding
frenzy of crown collecting fanatics. In light of the U.S. economy, Kenny and I were
pleased that this many members attended.
All members attending registered and received their free unused cork-lined CV
commemorative crown just for attending. They also received a goody bag of crowns
from the club. After that, they were on their own for room to room buy-sell-trade.
Some amazing crowns came out of the woodwork as trading worked itself into
a frenzy by Friday. Crowns of beer, soda, miscellaneous products, cork and
plastic-lined, used and unused, from scores of countries, changed hands. Crown
trading was brisk, with everyone finding new crowns for their collection. New friends
were made and old friendships were renewed.
At the annual meeting, members were recognized for their donation of time,
energy, ideas, crowns, and other resources to the club. Lance Wood was named
Member of the Year by President Barry Oremland. Lance has served as Treasurer and
Membership Secretary for over five years. Barry ran unopposed and began another
two-year term at that moment.
Many thanks to Jeff Lebo and Todd Leffler of the Keystone Chapter for their efforts
in room assignments and other accommodations. Thanks to Marg and Bob Walker
who organized some raffles as fund-raisers, and to those who donated the items.
CV 2010 was enjoyed by all. The most important factor, in my opinion, to make CV
a success is that we have as many collectors in attendance as possible. Make your
plans to attend CV 2011 right now -- and plan to bring your extra crowns.
6
CrownVention 2010 Group Photo
Top row
1
Rich Pav
Middle row
C
Brian McLean
Randy Hinkle
2
Rich Chinnock
R
3
Laurie Moyer
O
Barry Oremland
4
Kevin Kirk
W
Marg Walker
5
Mack Remington
N
Nicholas Hinkle
6
James Goin
V
John Vetter
7
James McCafferty
E
Matt Caton
8
Jeff Meyers
N
Joe Roberts
9
Larry Nellist
T
Gary Papas
10
Todd Selbert
I
Sherrell Stover
11
Rob Walters
O
David Stover
12
Ron Small
N
Dave Timmer
13
Steven Utz
1
Bob Raven
“1”
Dave Krantz
2
Kenny Yohn
“0”
Bill Keen
James “Gordy” Gordon
Bottom row
3
Phil Pfeiffer
8
“2”
Dutch Richardson
9
Eric Budesheim
“0”
Pat Richardson
10
Steven Dick
Attended, not in photo: Rich Uperti, Steve Savoca, Mark Greinke, Joseph Sypniewski, George
Bidlake, Mark Kryzanowsky, Mike Genovese, Taylor Kaiser, Sally Leese, Frank Rothdeutsch,
Sue Swartz, John Whitmore, Ernie Schramm, Jodi Farra, Randy Meyer, John Kizis, Joe Cerniglia
7
Basketball on caps
Jordi Bellaubi (CCSI # 572)
Ba
Basketball
being quite a popular game throughout
the world, it’s a bit surprising the small number of
th
caps issued in the whole world about this sport,
ca
especially compared to football. Of course there are
es
some “generic” caps as parts of multisport sets like
so
the ones issued by German breweries Löwenbräu and
th
Augusta for München 1972 Olympics or some similar
Au
inside pictures sets, but not many sets or caps have
in
basketball as their leitmotif.
ba
Most of the caps devoted to basketball come from a
M
country where this sport nearly reaches the level of
co
religion: Lithuania. Breweries Utenos, Sviturys and
re
particularly Kalnapilis are the major sponsors of the
pa
stronger basketball teams, and have issued in recent
st
years a good number of caps with promotions related
ye
to basketball, either in support of the national team
in international championships,
championships or in support of a particular local basketball team. The
caps depict nearly everything: the ball, the fans, the court, the basket... only players
are not displayed on Lithuanian caps!
But that can be found in Turkey, where Efes Pilsen, the major sponsor of one of their
strongest teams, issued one cap to congratulate the classification of the team for the
European League final four matches in 2000. The cap portrays one basketball player
with the Efes Pilsen legend on his shirt.
In Spain
Spain, San Miguel non–alcoholic “0
“0,0”
official sponsor of the national
0” beer is the official
basketball league, and in 2009 surprised everyone by issuing two limited edition
bottles with the colours and logotypes of two basketball teams, DKV Joventut and Tau
Vitoria. Both bottles had special caps with the colours of both teams (green and black
for Joventut and white for Tau), and were limited to about 20000 units and sold only
through the official club shops, and of course did not last for too long.
8
From Greece we can find a beer cap with the logotype of PAOK
Salonica, one of the older clubs of the country, which has prominent
football and basketball sections. The beer, brewed my Macedonian
Thrace Brewery, was issued around 2005 and probably sold through
the team’s own stores.
Venezuela issued in 2004 a set from one of the Polar products,
ball competition.
Maltin, with the logos of the teams participating in the local basketball
Quite a nice one in my opinion, and the only basketball set I remember.
It seems surprising, but when we think about basketball and USA we expect there
might be some caps about this sport there. Basketball was created there more than
100 years ago and the NBA is the strongest competition worldwide, but as far as I know
only Miller issued one cap related to basketball for one of their promos.
Al
Also Bosnia issued a curious cap, with half a football ball and half
a basketball ball. I have no further info on this cap, only that it was
is
issued before 2004, because during this summer I found this cap in
a semi-burnt town (traces of the Balkans war) and this cap seemed
to have been for some time lying under the sun and rain by then.
Granite State Ginger
Phil Pfeiffer (CCSI # 273)
The image shows a Granite State Ginger Ale crown from my collection. It is one of my
favorites. Crowns with Indian themes are desirable to many collectors.
There are many crowns picturing Indian
people, and a few depicting objects such
as an arrowhead, arrows, tipis, canoes,
and such. Not too many crowns depict a
tomahawk. I am aware of no other crown
that depicts such detail associated with a
tomahawk.
On
the
side
of
the
tomahawk
blade
is
an
illustration of two Indians collecting water at
what I suppose is the Granite State Spring.
(New Hampshire has the nickname of
“The Granite State”.)
The
standing
Indian
may
be
holding a vessel and the kneeling Indian may be drinking water by
cupping his hands. There is a line of trees in the background. All of this is
drawn on a tomahawk head… on a crown. I like it and I hope others find it
interesting.
9
Virtual collecting
Bob Raven (CCSI # 275)
My first venture into virtual collecting was when I was preparing a display of paws
and footprints. Bigfoot crowns were a prominent feature, and it would have been
nice to have them complete, with the early crowns 1987, 1988, and 1989, which
are rare and hard to find. John Vetter kindly supplied scans of those missing crowns,
which I incorporated into the display.
A second experience was when I acquired six of the Katzenjammer set, missing
The Director and The Inspector, which are rare and very expensive if one were to
buy them. So I captured images from the Web and made paste-on replicas for a
display of all eight. It worked wonderfully, and visitors are challenged to distinguish
the real crowns from the faux. One must be circumspect in making replicas and
claiming ownership of the actual crowns, though, because current printing
technology is such that some are very realistic and some such have been offered on
eBay for sale with intent to defraud.
A third experience was when I acquired 20 of the Oland Tall Ship set of 21. I
promptly found an image of the missing Dar Młodzieży on the Web and made a
replica to complete the set. Subsequently, when I mentioned this to Marg W., she
said she had a second of that crown, which she provided. Now I have a “set” of 22,
and I often challenge my visitors to find the fake.
Some of examples of my replicas are shown below
In addition
interest
beer crowns, I lik
like to assemble
ddi i to my primary
i
i
iin US
Sb
bl various
i
theme sets (roosters, lighthouses, elephants, parrots, etc.) which I frame and use
as wall decorations. Sometimes when I see a nice example on the Web which I have
little hope of ever getting, I capture the image and make a replica for the display.
Besides using virtuals and replicas to complete sets and expand my theme
displays, I also reproduce images for place-keepers in my US beer collection
when I extract a crown for a theme or set display. My collection is displayed on my
basement wall and it is convenient to determine what I’ve got by a quick look. This
is useful when buying on eBay, because more than once I’ve bought crowns which I
already had! For this latter purpose, it is not necessary to paste the image on a blank
crown; a 1-inch piece of cardboard does as well.
10
Member profile: Esteban Pignanelli
Esteban Pignanelli (CCSI # 587)
My first memories about crown caps date from my childhood, when caps were what
we could call my “playstation”. I remember when in 1979 the Uruguayan Coca Cola
bottler issued an inside set with the faces of our players in Japan’s U20 football
world cup -- what an incredible toy for me and my friends! Nowadays I still keep
those caps as well as other sets from those years, like the “Comic Heroes and
Villains” and “Walt Disney” sets from Pepsi and the “Vehicles” one issued by a local
lemonade called Limol.
W
With
the years -a
and
thanks to a
j
job
that made me
t
travel
to different
c
countries
-- I started
t pick up some
to
caps and
and
d bottles
bottles
l
ffrom
rom h
ere and
and
d there,
th
here and
d it
it was a jjust
ust a matter of time
here
until I restarted collecting caps. I searched for them in old bars, local flea
markets... but let’s face it, Uruguay is a quite small country not only in
territory but also in population, and cap collecting has not the same status as other
collectibles such as stamps or coins. So I only know of one other local collector, and
the chances of trading are really limited. And there are no more than ten different
caps available right now in our market. Anyway, -- and thanks to Oscar Amestoy
(Buenos Aires, Argentina) who has an excellent collection of old caps from Uruguay
-- I did learn a lot about companies that have already disappeared and that used to
have their own personalized caps.
In recent years I made some
nice trades with worldwide collectors, but lately I
have decided to focus my
collection on Uruguayan
caps. I have around 200
different ones, and it’s
always a challenge to get
new ones. Now the most
usual thing is to find old
bottles, still sealed, like
the one I recently bought
on local eBay: a small
bottle of “Agua Familiar”
that cost me about 25 euros!!!
11
My early crown-collecting days
Mike Dolgushkin (CCSI # 244)
Mike Dolgushkin submitted a detailed article about his enthusiastic first steps
in crown collecting, back in the early 60s. Here is the first part of this interesting
article, which will be concluded in October’s issue. --Editor.
During the summer of 1962 I was living with my family in a hilltop subdivision
called Pacific Heights on the edge of San Bruno, a San Francisco Peninsula suburb.
I was about to turn nine years old and was quite enjoying my summer off after a
rather trying 3rd grade. At one point I noticed that my younger brother Greg was
picking bottle caps up off the ground and saving them. He had quite a colorful little
collection, so I decided to join in.
W
We started at first just
ccollecting one of each
b
brand and flavor. Then
G
Greg noticed that each
ccap had a manufacturer’s
lo
logo on the side. Since
o
our dad was working for
tthe
h Hamm’s brewery in
S
San Francisco, he found
o
out for us what these
lo
logos meant. CCS stood
ffor
o Crown Cork & Seal.
LLater in ‘62 the CCS
lo
logo gave way to the
ccrown with a number
inside, which apparently referred to a factory location (the most common in the San
Francisco Bay Area was 13; sometimes we’d see a 10). The word Armstrong, with
the A inside a circle, stood for Armstrong Cork Company. Some caps were still
being manufactured with Armstrong’s old circle-A logo. MCC stood for Mundet Cork
Company. The triple-C logo, three Cs in descending size forming one big C, belonged
to the Continental Can Company, which seemed to primarily manufacture beer caps
but was used by some soft drink concerns as well.
Soda bottlers tended to stick with one crown company at a time, switching as they
needed more caps. I soon became aware of regional differences in the soda caps,
even within the San Francisco Bay Area. The Coke crowns that we found close to
home were all made by Armstrong and probably came from the company’s Belmont
bottling plant, although the few we found locally bearing the “Coca Cola” script
design were either marked CCS or Crown-13. These particular crowns had blank
sides except for the manufacturer’s logo. The San Francisco Coke caps all came
from Crown Cork & Seal, until I got one off of a Coke bottle at my aunt’s house in
the city early in ‘63 that was marked HCC (these San Francisco caps were either
skirt-lettered for the San Francisco plant or were marked “Coca Cola Bottling
Company of California”). Sacramento-area Coke caps were mostly manufactured
by Continental. The Pepsi caps we found near home were first marked CCS, then
switched to MCC, to Crown-13, then late in ‘63 to a WHS logo (Hutchinson caps were
almost unknown in the San Francisco Bay Area until that time).
12
These Pepsi caps (of both the
“Pepsi” and the script “PepsiCola” designs) came off of
bottles issued from the PepsiCola Bottling Company of San
Francisco, and had the crown
manufacturer’s logo in red. However, the Pepsi caps we found
during our vacations at Russian
River (a resort area about seventy
miles north of San Francisco)
were marked either circle-A or
Armstrong, with that logo in blue.
Seven-Up crowns were marked
close to home as CCS giving way
to Crown-13, but we found two
MCCs at Russian River. Others soda crowns didn’t seem to vary that much, although
RC Cola and its affiliates Diet-Rite, Nehi, Par-T-Pak, and Upper 10 seemed to use all
of the cap manufacturers at once.
Beer crowns were a different matter. Since breweries were fewer and had to
serve much larger areas than soda plants, they therefore needed more caps and
ordered
them
from
all,
or
most
of,
the
crown
manu
ma
nufa
fact
ctur
urer
ers.
s. 1
196
962
2 wa
wass al
also
so tthe
he p
per
erio
iod
d wh
when
en tthe
he ccor
ork
k li
line
ners
rs u
und
n e
manufacturers.
1962
period
cork
liners
underneath
the caps
(with a metal
foil spot in the
case of beer
and a vinyl spot
on some soft
drinks) began
giving way to
tthe new plastic
liners.
Each
manufacturer
had its own disttinctive plastic
liner
design.
Th breweries
b
i were th
i k t tto switch
it h tto plastic
l ti (it’
d
The
the quickest
(it’s my understanding
that on
the East Coast the situation was reversed), although Coca Cola and Canada Dry also
began making the transition during this period (Coca Cola due to its various series of
pictures-under-the-liner caps—clear plastic enabled one not to have to pry the cork
loose to see what the picture was). Not only that, Burgie, Hamm’s, and Lucky Lager
all changed theirr
crown
designss
during 1962-63..
This made for lotss
of variety within a
fairly short time.
13
A journey in Italy
Roberto d’Agostino (CCSI # 585)
As Italy is well known for its history and natural sites, our caps didn’t forget to
represent both famous and hidden details. As many collectors already know, here
in Italy, thousands of little plants used to bottle soda or wine, in big towns as well
as in little villages.
14
But unfortunately this tradition of having many bottlers using personalized caps
was broken in the 70’s and especially in the 80’s when big companies started to
buy everything and to develop all their sales potential. So those good old days
are over, but I still am a hunter of Italian older caps. In my collection I have about
60,000 different caps from Italy, approximately half or more of them cork lined.
In these pictures you can see monuments, landscapes, mountains, villages, ruins,
etc. Famous or not, they are a little travelogue of the beauties of Italy.
15
CV caps trivia
Phil Pfeiffer (CCSI # 273)
These images show a few of the crowns I found lying around at CV. Make plans now
to come next year and see what crowns you can find lying around.
1
Which of these crowns has a solid cork liner?
2
Which crown has a town printed on the face whose constituents voted itself out of existence on July 12,
1924?
3
Which crown is a cream soda identified by another name?
4
Which crown makes reference to the dice game of craps?
5
Which crown was used on a bottle of sauce?
6
Which crown was bottled under the authority of Frank’s in Philadelphia?
16
7
What product was the Kornmix crown used on?
8
What product was Hydroxydase used on?
9
Can you find the three Australian crowns?
10 Which crown bears the brand of an American auto-maker and what product was it used on?
11 Can you find the two crowns from the Netherlands?
12 Which crown advertises 2000 units of vitamin A and 400 units of vitamin D per quart?
13 Can you find the two crowns named after a river in Maine?
14 Which crown was tested and approved by Good Housekeeping magazine?
15 Which crown bears the image of what some collectors refer to as the “Cloud Lady”?
Answers are at www.bottlecapclub.org/?cce63 and will be printed in the next
magazine issue.
17
NHL set from Bud Light
Jose De Freitas (CCSI # 588)
Once again a new set of National Hockey League bottle caps is out in Canada in
February 2010. This time it`s on Bud Light and with 30 different produced. The caps
depict the NHL teams’ logotypes and have a blue skirt. As a cap collector and other
Brewerania collector, I find myself drinking a lot of Bud Light lately in order to get a
g ... What collectors won’t do for the hobbyy !!
few sets for trading
Did you know...
Buy-Sell-Trade
Advertisements
...you can now print
the
www.BottleCapClub.org
member roster directly
from the CCSI web site ?
18
CCSI Online
Wietze Veld (CCSI # 243)
In most of our daily lives we have become dependent on the Net, even if we do not
even realize it. That the internet has had a huge impact on our hobby has become fact.
One major online contributor to our hobby has been the forum.
We have the international forum and of
course Das Kronkorkenforum, aka the
German forum. And there is also the Foro
Tapón Corona, aka the Spanish forum, a
forum that realized its own set of crowns
with faces of its members. There is the Polish forum, the French forum, and now also a
Russian crown caps forum set up by Leonid Kandinsky, a prominent Russian collector.
Being a regular of the international forum, Davide’s Crowncaps Forum, I have seen it
grow from a small forum to the one- stop information hub of crown collecting. If you
need info and you need it quickly, Davide’s Forum is the place to go. On a daily basis
many scans and digital photos of unknown crowns are being posted and, as quick as
the unknown crowns are posted, they are identified. A group of regulars mostly takes
the lead, followed by many others, and before you know it, the poster has most of his
or her unknowns identified.
How cool would it be if you could post and
thus expose a picture of your trade crowns to
a large group of collectors in hope of trading
them for new crowns in your collection? Well,
the online forums will enable you to do so.
Recently a collector from Lithuania showed
a nice group of unused beer crowns from Nepal. In just a day or two he received a
load of PM’s (personal message) from various collectors, including myself. We set up
a trade and could quickly come to an agreement. If he had not posted that image I
would not have gotten my ‘Oranjeboom’ crown from Nepal (I happen to have the brand
Oranjeboom in my list of special brands I collect).
Where the Romans intended a forum to be a place of gathering for discussions,
debates, and various other social activities, we have our online forums where we share
our knowledge, set up trades, make friends, even set up trade meetings, and
meanwhile enhance our collections.
If you are online, visit Davide’s Crowncaps Forum at forum.crowncaps.info. On the front
page you can find instructions on how to become a member, which is completely free
of charge. On the same page you will also find some links to various other forums on
the web.
See you online !
19
KKF Meeting 2010
Wietze Veld (CCSI # 243)
It was a blast. 120 people of 18
different
nationalities
attended
the KKF Tauschtreffen 2010 in
Seifhennersdorf in the far east of
Germany near the Czech and Polish
borders. Organizer Michael Griesch
was able get first-time visitors from
Lithuania, Belarus, Bulgaria, France,
and even Spain and Portugal to come
to the meeting. Also veterans like the
Danish crew including our Viking from
Sweden, Ulf Lattman, as well as the
more Personally I was also
Flying Dutchmen (including yours truly)) returned once more.
happy to see our new Editor, Jordi, attending as well.
Like CrownVention, trading already started the night before the official opening on
Friday March 5. Right after we came in after a ten hour drive we were invited for
the ‘Abendbrot’ (litterally: ‘Evening bread’) meal, and soon after met up with the
other early birds and started trading while enjoying some cold Dutch beers --not our
best beer but the new cap is a gem and now a recent addition to the collections of
many.
The meeting was organized in a summer camp complex called Querxenland. This
location was perfect for so many collectors. Everything was like I remember when
p when growing up ((except for the activities of course).
going to summer camp
W
We slept in bunk beds and all had
b
breakfast together at 8 am, a warm
m
meal at noon and ‘Abendbrot’ at 7
p
pm. All perfectly organized. And with
b
beer for the price of one Euro for a
h
half-liter bottle, there was nothing
tthat could go wrong.
FFriday we got up early for breakfast
sso we could immediately go and
sset up shop in the trading rooms.
U
Unfortunately it was not ready yet,
ssince the tables still had to be
brought in and set up; but aft
i i ti
h let us in as soon as they were ready.
after insisting,
they
Our first visitors were some collectors from the Czech Republic. They spoke no
English nor German, only Czech and Russian...hmm... In the end, using hands and
feet we were able to make a deal. I sold my first crowns.
Das KronkorkenForum Tauschtreffen 2011 - 4,5 and 6 March 2011
Ebermannstadt, Bavaria, Germany
www.kronkorkenforum.de
20
FFriday was the day of the official
opening, so we expected a lot of
o
collectors
to come in early.
c
U
Unfortunately
the weather was not in
o favour and it had been snowing all
our
night,
n
causing slippery roads. On the
belt
b way of Dresden a major accident
in
i both directions occurred, causing
a huge traffic jam which in its turn
caused
a lot of collectors to arrive
c
late.
In the end, most if not all made
l
it,
it and although a bit later,
l t everything really started to take off.
Literally thousands of crowns were exchanged. So many collectors with so many
interests, it really was like a market place. The room was buzzing with the sound of
people and of course that particular sound of crowns. We continued until the wee
hours.
Saturday we got up early and guess
what -- we started again, and at
the end, the Saturday looked like a
deja-vu of Friday all over again.
Because of the many collectors
attending, you may get the
impression there is a ‘hurry get as much
as you can in a short window of time’
attitude, but this is not the case at all.
Michael Griesch, the organizer of this year’s meetingr
There are many collectors, and because
of this there is a continuous trading going on, but there is also time for socializing.
I had the opportunity to sit down and chat with one of the nestors of the collecting
community, Franco Feretti. We talked crowns and also talked about his extensive
crown database, about how Franco got all his info, and the many factories he
visited in South America as well as Europe. I also had the opportunity to sit down with
Ludmil Fotev from Sofia, Bulgaria. Ludmil showed me his book about beer. It’s
a professional book about the wonders of beer cultures around the world. I also
listened to his other hobby, Jazz, and in particular European Jazz.
Conventions
like these have more
C
dimensions
than just crowns. Of
d
course,
most of the time you talk
c
crowns,
but it is also an exchange
c
of
o cultures. Seeing old friends again
and
a seeing trading partners for the
first time in person. Chatting about
the
t meaning of life, having fun and
enjoying
a beer or two (or more...)
e
So
S if you ever visit Germany around
t
the
first week of March, consider
meeting You will be warmly
warm welcomed and will certainly not
attending the KKF meeting.
regret it.
21
Memories from CV
Phil Pfeiffer (CCSI # 273)
Shown in this image is
Jeff Meyers sporting a
new pair of eyeballs.
He is modeling the very
popular soda crowns,
brand new this year for a
unique drink.
The soda is called LOOKS
like ORANGE - TASTES
E DECEIVING. These were in the goody bags, and are one
like GRAPE. LOOKS CAN BE
of the most creative new soda crowns I’ve seen. The drink is on sale at the Rocket
Fizz in Lincoln, NE. It is orange in appearance, but tastes like grape.
<< RRichard Uperti browses my trade stock
I took one last picture at the
Harrisburg
airport
before
boarding my flight back to
Lincoln, Nebraska from CrownVention.
on. I had never seen a “No Smoking” sign with a
keystone replacing a circle. Check it out.
CrownVention experience
James Gordon (CCSI # 341)
I got to CV 2010 late this year. Lila, my wife of 5 months, wanted to join me but could not
get free of her dental office until Thursday evening. So we left very early Friday morning
and arrived that afternoon at about 2:00 pm. We quickly got into our room, I spent a little
time introducing Lila to my collecting friends, and then it was time for the group picture
at 3:00.
Friday evening and until Saturday evening were spent trading crowns. My wife
started her collection there also. We got a nice variety of caps for our collections, including
microbreweries and a few cork-lined brewery caps. Mostly we had a great time, and it was
great to see all the collectors. I was sad to see that a few regulars at CV couldn’t make it
this year: Wietze, Bob, Mike, Noah, to name a few. I hope those collectors are well and can
make it next year. Until 2011, Cheers!!
22
New members
CCSI would like to welcome our newest members
Tony Serafino (# 620)
Redondo Beach, California, USA
Birth Year: 1968
tonyserafino@verizon.net
Peter Boyko (#621)
Mansfield, Ohio, USA
Kelly Walters (#622)
Leesburg, Indiana, USA
Birth Year: 1965
kjwalters18@hotmail.com
Anatolij Babin (#623)
Kiev, Ukraine
Birth Year: 1971
aab_uk@mail.ru
Kaitlin Gallagher (#624)
Turner, Maine, USA
Birth Year: 1984
kaitlavin@gmail.com
Darrel Bittle (#625)
Ukiah, California, USA
Birth Year: 1951
imleprechaun@isp.com
Terry Buchheit (#626)
Perryville, Missouri, USA
Birth Year: 1957
ewaldsbarbq@hotmail.com
Mack Remington (#627)
Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada
Birth Year: 1990
beer.masta@gmail.com
Brian Bates (#628)
Santiago, Chili
Birth Year: 1946
brianbateschile@hotmail.com
David Brim (#629)
Decatur, Georgia, USA
Birth Year: 1965
david@bottleopener.com
Mark Heinicke (#630)
Adelaide, South Australia,
Australia
Birth Year: 1961
karyn61@optusnet.com.au
Robert Ferro (#631)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
USA
Birth Year: 1950
Stabia@comcast.net
George Bidlake (#632)
Fredericton, New Brunswick,
Canada
John Kizis (#633)
Orlando, Florida, USA
Ronald Williamson (#634)
Winooski, Vermont, USA
Birth Year: 1961
gosafford@comcast.net
Doug McCoy (#635)
Marietta, Georgia, USA
Birth Year: 1962
cocacolabottleman@prodigy.net
Luke Harrison (#636)
Mickleover, United Kingdom
graham_cole2@sky.com
CCSI Treasury Report
Lance Wood (CCSI # 443)
Beginning Balance
2899.14
Income
CrownVention 2009
216.34
Dues
2998.00
Contributions
851.00
Total Income
4065.34
Expenses
Magazines #60, #61, #62
2279.44
Paypal Fees
60.77
Badges from Keystone
76.00
Total Expenses
2416.21
Ending Balance
4548.27
Net Gain for 2009
1649.13
23
Pietrology - The factories
Pietro Clerici (CCSI # 80)
I think every serious collector has looked or wished to able to look for crowns in
the factories where they are produced, and every one of us knows how it is difficult
to go there and come back with a bunch of our little, nice, and beloved pieces of
metal.
My very first experience of factories was at the age of 17. By that time I still had to
wait for another year before taking the driving license, so I convinced my mother to
take me to a firm about 25 miles away from my home. When I came into the factory
and asked for some pieces for my collection, I was told that it was impossible, as I
could be a spy sent by another firm in order to take samples to be copied.
I was astonished at these words, especially because no one there seemed to
believe in the existence of bottle cap collectors. And of course my experience about
spies came only from James Bond movies. So, like a little boy who still needs his
mother, I asked her to come in with me and tell the man I was really a collector
-- perhaps not very clever, because of the strange passion -- and that his firm was
not in danger.
Thanks to my mother I came back with an enormous bunch of .... 10 (ten)
pieces! But in the following years I went there some more times and I was luckier,
particularly when the secretary who worked there for a period had a mutual friend
with me. The crowns produced there were not very beautiful, but used on local
products, mostly wines, and so to be considered rare.
After this experience, a few years later I found a list of Italian embassies’ addresses,
and I had the big idea to write them all asking for factory addresses. I am speaking
about the last century, when internet was still to come, and so I had to buy a lot
of stamps; but I did get some satisfying results. Some embassies sent me crowns
directly , and some others sent me the factory addresses I asked for. But then after
another large stamps investment, few factories started to send me samples of their
production!
I remember the emotions of my first crown from Vanuatu, sent by an Australian
factory, and a marvelous parcel from Philippines; the man who sent me caps from
there was a stamp collector, and I traded with him a couple of times, receiving
pieces from the ‘60s never seen before nor since.
24
I obtained crowns from rare African countries from a South African factory,
beautiful Brazilian caps, but also European pieces, and I often was able to receive 2 or 3
parcels from the same firm. It was a great period, and my next goal was to go
personally to some of them.
I love very much to visit the world, and I am lucky enough to be able to travel quite
often. It happens sometimes that a city or a country I am going to visit has a crown
factory, and the author of Pietrology is a (hopefully) welcome guest!!
As every collector knows, when you are visiting a factory you can ask for everything;
and sometimes you can find some surprises, such as the one I had in Portugal,
where I was able to bring home some very old corks that had been on display at
that firm. Or the big bunch I received in Singapore, where I found many pieces from
ot c cou
t es.
exotic
countries.
ometimes I was able to choose the crowns by myself,
myself 2 or 3 samples from eve
Sometimes
every
piece or -- following the instructions received -- less if the samples were under 5.
Unfortunately, I found firms where other collectors hadn’t follow this request, and
picked up all the samples; so thanks to them it was quite impossible for me to
obtain caps. Honesty and good manners seem to be not so obvious even when
dealing with our collections.
To be honest, many years ago I went to visit a factory where the two owners told me
different things: For one of them it was forbidden to take pieces from some specific
drawers, while for the other I had the chance to bring home all the caps I wanted.
As you can imagine, I obeyed the second one, but I don’t know if my soul could be
considered clean...
When you finish your visit, however, you must leave a good feedback, because you
could go there again or you could ask for more samples, and if you find someone
who can do this the collection is automatically growing.
25
Last summer, on holiday in Germany, I found a factory near the cities I was going
to visit with my wife (who at the outset was resigned to lose some time because of
my cap hunting). I spoke from the phone at my hotel to someone in charge at the
factory, using between us a thin vocabulary of English and German. I asked to be
able to visit the next day, but once again I was suspected of being a spy! -- and
this man said he was really too busy besides. I went early next day anyway, and
managed to get about 20 pieces, leaving this “busy” man my email address plus
the crown with my face on it (from the Italian set created two years ago.)
TTo my amazement, about ten days later, I was contacted by
a
another employee of that firm, who proposed to make a trade,
a
and who sent me about 600 different pieces -- with doubles as
w
well, and some even with cork inside.
TThe world still has lots of crown factories,,
d if we are abl
ble to go there and come back with bunchess
and
able
d
of caps, our collections will improve with new and/or unused
pieces.
Member of the Year: Lance Wood
Barry Oremland (CCSI # 83)
Each year at CrownVention, a member is awarded a
certificate of recognition as Member of the Year because
of one or more outstanding contributions to support and
further CCSI.
This year, Lance Wood received this distinction because of
his five-year voluntary term as Treasurer and Membership
Secretary -- in reality not one but two vital tasks necessary
to operate the club efficiently. Lance has done exactly
that and a lot more besides. Despite a busy professional
life and a growing family, Lance has kept the finances
and membership records up to date with precision, and
has made timely, helpful, and courteous contact with
members – especially new members – on an ongoing basis.
Every member of CCSI owes Lance deep gratitude for an important job excellently
and graciously done. Next time you open a bottle of beverage that you acquired to
get a crown for your collection, pour it and then lift your glass and wish “cheers” (or
your native salutation) to Lance!
26
Sports Caps
from the collection of Todd Selbert (CCSI #220)
27