I've been saving six-pack holders over the years, and they're taking up enough room that I thought I might get rid of a bunch of them. However, I know very little about breweriana... For instance, are they known as something other than "six-pack holders" in collecting circles?
First off, any idea where I should start looking for buyers? I'd be comfortable getting just postage for them if it came to that, but obviously, if I could get something for them too, that would be nice. A quick search found a collector on realbeer.com, but does anyone here collect?
Also, are there any resource sites that might give me an idea of what, if anything, might be worth anything? I don't have anything TOO old or too rare, I think, and it's mostly stuff that would be available in the Midwest (specifically WI & IL), but I may have some other stuff too.
Seems I've heard them referred to as "baskets", as well.
Actually, I've been "saving" them as well, but I thought I'd make a collage out of them on a wall I'm building in the cellar that will separate the "working" area of the basement from the "bar" area. (A real collector, of course, would never destroy them.) I used to be an active collector (mostly openers and deposit ale bottles and Ballantine Ale stuff) but dropped out many years ago.
There used to be 2 (or was it 3?) main breweriana groups in the US (as well a group JUST involved in beer cans, but obviously there's some overlap in membership). A quick google finds they all exist (but the names sound a bit different that I recall):
formatting link
formatting link
formatting link
I doubt these sites (or the contact links) will give you much info but they may let you advertise on their sites or in the publications (OTOH they may limit ads to members only). Within these groups, there are often regional groups, maybe someone close by you or they may have a regional show you can drop in on.
All that said, most collectors "specialize"- either by brand, region, style (bock, ale, micros) or type of item (cans, bottles, openers, signs, labels, coasters, etc.). I've never HEARD of someone JUST collecting the six-pack holders, but they may very well exist (and, if they exist in the East or West coasts, they could be interested). Otherwise, chances are you'd have people want to cherry pick what they need, want or know has some value. You may get lucky and find a nut who collects EVERYTHING or a dealer who may think it may be worth selling them on an individual basis.
Finally, there's always eBay- which has been a been a boon to the individual collector AND helped destroy the comraderie of many collecting communities. But, as you can see by eBay's numerous "breweriana" sub-segments (below), your items would be "other".
H> Seems I've heard them referred to as "baskets", as well.
Hmm, sounds vaguely familiar... British though?
That sort of thing had occurred to me as well. At first I was only save those from beers I liked, but eventually it was almost all of them.
Thanks much for the links. I hadn't gotten so far as to check for breweriana sites, so these will hopefully give me a head start.
They don't have to collect JUST bottle-holders... :-)
That's my hope, though lots of my holders are widely distributed micros and imports, so those may not be as desirable.
I guess that might be okay too.
I guess we'll see.
I'd definitely thought about that, but I wasn't sure anyone would be watching. I tried a brief search and found little, but I haven't tried THAT hard yet.
DrinksForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.