Welcome to the Crown Cap Museum. My name is Mark Woodward, Curator of the Crown Cap Museum. I decided in July, 2000, to start the Crown Cap Museum as a way of displaying my personal crown bottle cap collection. Like many collectors, I rarely get the opportunity to share my collection with fellow collectors in person or at Crownventions. So, thanks to technology, I am able to do this via the internet.

About The Curator

I was born on February 2, 1969 (Groundhog Day in the USA). Ironically, on February 2, 1892, the bottle cap with cork seal was patented by William Painter of Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Like many collectors, I started gathering crown caps as a child. I would get crowns while on vacation, get them from family members when they would return from vacation (most kids got a stupid T-Shirt, I got crowns), or simply find them on the ground during the course of a normal day. I spent half my childhood looking down at the ground. Many people probably thought I was shy, but actually I was just looking for more crowns to add to my collection.  Most of my friends collected crowns too, but most gave up their collections within a few years. From 1975 until 1998, I put together a collection of about 450 crowns from about 20 different countries. Since I started trading over the internet in 1999, my collection has grown into thousands of different crown caps from more than 100 nations around the globe.

About My Collection

My collection contains a wide variety of crown caps.  This includes unused and used caps, crowns from beer, soda, wine, wine coolers, water, cider, milk, fruit drinks, ice tea and champagne. While I will include any crown I don't already have, my personal preference is for beer crowns, unique crowns which have unusual designs, photos, colors, etc. on the topside, and factory test and promotional crowns. But as I said, I will appreciate any crown that I don't currently have in my collection. I only consider a crown for my collection if it is different on the topside. I rarely pay any attention to designs or markings on the skirt or underside of a cap. Many collectors consider skirts and undersides as different and count them in their collections. That is perfectly fine and what collecting is all about.

Collection Storage

I first started storing my caps in an old cloth bag, then a shoe box, then I started gluing them on the bottom of a flat shirt box and hanging it on the wall to display. Later, I got the idea to glue the caps inside very thin, light-weight boxes. Each cap is sprayed with a clear sealer to prevent rust. The boxes have hinges, a handle and a small lock for security and easy transportation (they resemble very thin suitcases). They can be opened and mounted on the wall or set out on a table for display. Each box is only about two inches thick, so I can stack one on top of the other and all 12 boxes take up less than two feet of space. The outside of the boxes are decorated with beer labels and coasters. Breweries would send them to me, along with crowns, but since I don't collect labels or coasters, they were going to waste. My wife, Stacie, suggested I laminate them onto the outside of my crown cap boxes. I must admit I really like the way the boxes look (my wife never lets me forget it was her idea).  However, I do now store my sets and series in slide negative pages held in 3-ring binders. Most collectors have their own, unique ways of storing their crown cap collections which they feel most comfortable with. I encourage you to view and/or share your storage method, and other collection information, with our visitors in the Crown Cap Museum Guestbook.

Thank you for visiting the Crown Cap Museum.  Enjoy the rest of your tour and come back again soon.