What Should I Collect?

What Should I Collect?
(And What Should I Not Collect?)
(revised: 16 May 1998)

Good collectors should have well in mind which cans they should keep and which ones they should disregard.

Major And Minor Label Changes

Every now and then, beer brands modify the design of their label. But how much should changes be evident to be considered actually different from the older ones?
In most cases changes are very evident: the background might have a new colour, or some graphic element (a ribbon, a picture, medals, etc.) might appear or disappear from the label, giving a completely different overall appearance.
But sometimes changes are slighter: shiny colours might turn dull (i.e. gold could become ochre, or silver could become grey), one or two words might change (i.e. "beer" could become "lager", or "export pilsener" could be shortened in "export", and so on).
Nevertheless, most collectors would still consider these 'major changes', and keep them.

In some other cases the change is so slight that only an expert eye would be caught at first sight by the difference (i.e. small details in a crest, etc.); some collectors even go for changes in the small text on the side of the can, or changes in the bar code, or in the recycling mark, or in the alcohol volume indication, etc.
These are definitively 'minor changes', and only collectors specializing in that country (or in that type of can, etc.) usually keep them.

The "Five Foot Rule"
New collectors often start gathering cans following a very simple scheme:
the more...the better !
This is very common (I remember myself going for anything which had a cylindrical shape, a hole on the top and said "beer"), because minor changes will easily boost the number of cans.
But when the collection will reach about 1,000 and space will become a problem, the first cans to be taken off the shelves will obviously be the ones looking as doubles: the 'minor changes'.
If you really want to stick to the 'minor changes' scheme, even for only one or two countries, remember that you will need a big amount of space to keep your cans.
Instead, if you do not have so much room, you should better go for major changes.
A very common scheme followed by major changes collectors is the so-called five foot rule.
This means that standing five feet away from the tested specimen and the other cans, some difference should be noticed for keeping it. Easy and very effective.
a borderline situation:
the letters in "premium"
are slightly different


Specializing
When your collection gives space problems again, it might be time to find yourself a "specialization". This means you will start keeping only some specific kind of beer can, i.e. only cans from one (or few) countries, or cans of one (or few) sizes, or only cans with a specific subject (sports, animals, landscapes, etc.). Less strict specializations might be to collect from all countries but one (or few), or all cans bigger or smaller than a given size, etc.: there's really no limit to the kind of specialized schemes you can follow.

I have already stressed the fact that beer can collecting has no strict rules (or, even better, no rules at all), therefore 'what to collect' is a fully personal choice.
Each country, though, often has a 'collecting trend', usually depending on the quantity of major changes produced.
In the U.S.A., for example, where hundreds of changes are reported every year, nobody would even think of collecting every minor change; proof of this is that none of the three official U.S. catalogues (see also the relevant catalogues page) keeps account of such variations.
Other countries, as Italy or Brazil, have a much smaller quantity of labels and brands, but for each single design many minor varieties could sometimes raise the number of collectable specimens up to 20 or more, each of which accurately classified by the local catalogues.


Are These Beers?

A debate among many collectors is whether to keep or not a certain number of drinks which in most cases we should call "almost beer" (a problem which obviously does not affect those who also collect soft-drink cans).
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The Fine Art Of Dumping
or
how to keep the environment clean looking for free cans

In other terms, this means "looking for cans abandoned on the road or left in litter boxes, who would tragically end their existance in a recycling furnace instead of proudly showing on your collection shelves".
...Sounds interesting?

Snob collectors will probably disregard this activity, but I have personally been able to experience how profitable the quest might be, if you know where to look, when to look, and - most of all - if you're lucky enough.

As suggested by the name, the basic idea is to visit dumps, but apart from being rather unhygienic, you would only find damaged specimens; this worked only with no longer produced steel cans, much more resistant than the present ones.
Instead, these are the places where you might find some good dumpers:
If your first experience is not very lucky, don't give up: you can't expect to find cans at any time.
Dumping is a bit like fishing: you must enjoy doing it more than the results.
But when you succeed, it's very rewarding.

Since dumpers might be very dirty, remeber to take a few simple precautions:
~ GOOD LUCK ! ~

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