Official Catalogues

A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF
OFFICIAL BEER CAN CATALOGUES

updated: 25 April 1998

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Just as for other kinds of collectable items, also beer cans have their own catalogues. They are usually published by the owners of outstanding collections, and often sponsored by associations they belong to.
All of these catalogues are 'national', i.e. they list cans only from one country. Most of them have pictures of all the listed cans, and are therefore easy to use despite the fact that they are written in different languages.

WHY CATALOGUES? The main use of a catalogue is to know which cans have actually been produced in that country, especially older issues or hard-to-get specimens such as 'limited edition' cans, etc..
Another good reason for having these books is that when you trade with another collector the identification of each specimen becomes very easy, by stating the can's catalogue number (both collectors must have the book, of course!).
And besides from being useful, many of these volumes or booklets are simply very colourful and nice to browse.

MAIN CONCEPTS Since beer can collecting (fortunately) follows no specific rule, catalogues differ one from the other not only in size or number of pages, but most of all in classification methods.
Some of them, for example, list cans by brewery name, others by brand; some consider all minor changes (i.e. the size or the position of the bar code, changes in the small side text, etc.), while others only report major label changes; some of them give great evidence to the type of the can (steel, aluminium, etc.), some others do not.
At first sight this might be quite confusing, especially for new collectors, but nevertheless to become confident with catalogues is much easier than it might seem.

There's no need to master foreign languages: with a little intuition and eventually the help of a pocket dictionary, the knowledge of a few basic words such as label, colour, background, stripes, etc. (and, of course, the word for can), is quite enough to make good use of these catalogues.

The real problem is that catalogues need constant updating, which is usually provided by newsletters or magazines published by local collecting associations.
But even older catalogues always prove to be a precious reference for collectors.

HOW TO OBTAIN THEM In most cases these books are unofficial publications, and only one or two of them have an ISBN international book code.
They are usually released by the same country's collecting association (both members and non-members may order them), or in some cases they are obtainable directly from the author. Prices of course may vary, usually ranging between 10 to 30 US$ (in local currencies).
Some of these catalogues, though, are no longer being printed; most of them are still in stock, but a few are not.
Sometimes collectors keep double copies of these catalogues for trading them, so if the book you are looking for is no longer available, it might be worth looking for it by placing ads in associations' newsletters or collectors' pages on the web.

Besides picture catalogues, a rather wide number of books have been published on the subject of beer cans, so I added a brief selection of those which might be more interesting or useful for a collector.

DISCLAIMER & CREDITS Despite all my efforts, some references might not be updated - those which I am uncertain of are marked (?) - so I apologize for any incorrect information. Please let me know: I will promptly change any faulty entry.
My gratitude goes to Andy Blackwood, Maurizio D'Arrò, Bernd Schaumann and Adrie van Veenendaal for helping me with all the details; special thanks to Wolfgang Heller, who provided me with some of the pictures.

Any correction about the listed books, or any information about new catalogues, as well as missing pictures, will be warmly welcome.

PICTURE CATALOGUES E-mail reference links are given where available

· COUNTRY ·	· TITLE ·	· AUTHOR ·	· YEAR ·	· PAGES ·	· PICTURES ·	· LANGUAGE ·	· REFERENCE ·
AUSTRIA	BIERDOSEN AUS ÖSTERREICH BEER CANS FROM AUSTRIA	Bernd Schaumann	1996	40	colour	German or English (2 editions)	Bernd Schaumann
BRAZIL	GUIA BRASILEIRO DE LATAS DE CERVEJA 96	Aldo David	1996	48	colour	Portuguese	Aldo David da Costa Filho Rua Cruzeiro no.395 01137-000 SÃO PAULO - SP (BRAZIL)
FINLAND	FINLANDS ÖLBURKAR ~~~ SUOMEN OLUTTÖLKIT 1962-1996	Kjell Nyberg	1997	20	colour	Swedish Finnish	Kjell Nyberg Bellmansgatan 134 S-75426 · UPPSALA (SWEDEN)
GERMANY	BIERDOSEN AUS DEUTSCHLAND	Hasso Streger	1984	80	black & white	German (introduction also in English, French and Italian)	I.B.V. c/o Winfried Friedel Postfach 30 04 05 D-70444 STUTTGART (GERMANY)
GERMANY	DEUTSCHE BIERDOSEN ~~~ GERMAN BEER CANS	Wolfgang Heller	1997	195	colour	introduction in German and English	Wolfgang Heller
HOLLAND (the Netherlands)	BLIK OP BLIK ~~~ DUTCH BEER CANS	Adrie van Veenendaal	1989	108	black & white	Dutch (with English translation)	Adrie van Veenendaal
ITALY	LE BIRRE IN BARATTOLO: ITALIA	Alberto Dosi	1983	44	colour	Italian	Il Barattolo
SWEDEN	BOKEN OM BURKEN	Göte Nylin	1980	72	colour	Swedish	the book is out of stock
SWEDEN	SWEDISH STEEL CANS	Stefan Rosenberg	1995	90	colour	English	Stefan Rosenberg Birger Jarlsgatan 29 S-21612 · LIMHAMN (SWEDEN)
U.S.A.	THE BEER CAN COLLECTOR'S BIBLE (no cone tops listed)	Jack Martells	1975	128	colour	English	the book is out of stock
U.S.A.	BEER CANS UNLIMITED (cone tops listed, but some 'flats' are missing)	Art & Pete Ressel	1976	238	colour	English	the book is out of stock
U.S.A.	CLASS GUIDE TO U.S. BEER CANS (cans not reported by the previous B.C.U.)	Jeffrey C.Cameron	1982	128	black & white	English	Beer Can Collectors of America (B.C.C.A.)
U.S.A.	AMERICAN BEER CANS 1975-1988	Beer Can Collectors of America (B.C.C.A.)	1989	68	colour	English	Beer Can Collectors of America (B.C.C.A.)
U.S.A.	GUIDE TO U.S. BEER CANS	Beer Can Collectors of America (B.C.C.A.)	1975	152	black & white	English	Beer Can Collectors of America (B.C.C.A.)

In 1992 a Brazilian collector made an attempt of publishing a world catalogue, based on his own collection and on other already existing catalogues; various countries were dealt with in different volumes.

· COUNTRY ·	· TITLE ·	· AUTHOR ·	· YEAR ·	· PAGES ·	· PICTURES ·	· LANGUAGE ·	· REFERENCE ·
WORLD	CATALOGO MUNDIAL DE MARCAS DE LATAS DE CERVEJA	Roberto Rossi Jung	1992 (vol.I) 1993 (vol.II)	104 (vol.I) 120 (vol.II)	black & white (only few cans are pictured)	Portoguese	Roberto Rossi Jung Republica, 541/802 90050321 PORTO ALEGRE RS (BRAZIL)

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A SELECTION OF PICTURE BOOKS Not catalogues, but still very interesting: in particular, Lager Lovelies is a must for all Tennent's "Girls" cans fanciers, while Foreign Brand Changes contains a selection of recent cans which for lack of space have not been reported by the BCCA's Magazine (very handy for collectors following the international scene).

· TITLE ·	· AUTHOR ·	· YEAR ·	· PAGES ·	· PICTURES ·	· LANGUAGE ·	· REFERENCE ·
LAGER LOVELIES THE STORY BEHIND THE GLAMOUR	Charles Schofield & Anthony Kamm	1994	158	colour	English
CLASS GUIDE TO FOREIGN BEER CANS VOL. I CANADA & 9-2/3 OUNCE	Jeffrey C.Cameron	1984	48	black & white	English	Beer Can Collectors of America (B.C.C.A.)
CLASS GUIDE TO FOREIGN BEER CANS VOL. II THE SOUTH PACIFIC	Jeffrey C.Cameron	1984	40	black & white	English	Beer Can Collectors of America (B.C.C.A.)
FOREIGN BRAND CHANGES VOLUME 1	Marcella Schinski	1994	32	black & white	English	Beer Can Collectors of America (B.C.C.A.)
LATTINE DI BIRRA ~~~ BEER CANS	Enzo Micheloni	1991	144	colour	Italian English	Il Barattolo

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PICTURELESS CATALOGUES
These catalogues might not be an easy reference for less skilled collectors, and are not as much attractive,
but still they are very accurate and useful.

· COUNTRY ·	· TITLE ·	· AUTHOR ·	· REFERENCE ·	· NOTES ·
NEW ZEALAND	NEW ZEALAND BEER CAN CATALOGUE	Frank Gray	Frank Gray, 16 Forest Road, Pinehaven, UPPER HUTT (NEW ZEALAND)
SWITZERLAND	BEER CANS FROM SWITZERLAND	Manuel Haas	Manuel Haas Löchliweg 55 CH-3048 · WORBLAUFEN (SWITZERLAND)
UNITED KINGDOM & IRELAND	CATALOGUE OF BRITISH BEER CANS	British Beer Can Collectors Society (B.B.C.C.S.)	(?) Rob Barrow 212 Grange Road LONDON · E13 0HB (UNITED KINGDOM)	the catalogue is published every 3-5 years: each edition lists only cans produced during this period

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