About beer souvenirs collecting
Collecting as hobby penetrated a lot of years ago even to brewery and brings to people besides fun, delight even advice. It is proved that bight collecting character of every hobby gradually grows to teaching character and in every collection is then a little bit of fun, little bit of learning and above all a lot of honest and patient work. It is true about collecting of brewery souvenirs and history of brewery, which is very widening hobby in a lot of countries. This collecting kinds which is known under expert name ”Labologia” includes from quite wide range of beer labels, beer mats, crown caps, cans, glasses, old beer bottles, barrels, openers and other articles and souvenirs to history of brewers and brewery literature.
Object of biggest interest of collectors are beer labels probably because of easy way to get them, and there is a lot of them and they are not very expensive. The first paper labels came to use on beer bottles in 80-es years of 19th century in simple look. As the time was going on, there were changes in quality, look and capacity and they became small graphic works, which are visiting cards of breweries and they are making image of every beer. In Slovakia and Czech republic have special position old labels until year 1948, which are for a lot of collectors unattainable for little amount of them and high price. Pointed collections of labels form all around the world consists even more than 300 000 pieces. According to big amount of them, a lot of collectors specialized only to collecting of some states only one motive.
There is big interest in collecting of beer mats (coasters) as will, which main function is to keep table clean. First mats were produced from wood as other material. After some time was produced mats from paper mass and there were first advertisements in year 1906. Mostly they were produced and are produce even today with suppression on one side in various shapes – from round through square and various shapes. Besides advertising of breweries, we can find on the other side of two sided mats even various interesting motives and topics.
In last years is big increase all around the world collecting of beer cans. History of beer cans started in USA, where after some experiments brewery Gottfried Krueger Brewing Co. from Newark in year 1935 decided to start selling their beer in cans. First beer cans looked like today’s grocery’s wins and were opening with openers for tins, lately they looked like bottles and were closed by crown caps. In fifties of last century compensate aluminium others used materials and colour suppression became high quality. The way of opening of cans in today’s shape was patented in USA in year 1962. Beer is putting to cans in almost 100 countries of the world and in some countries are collecting organisation aimed only to collecting beer cans. Their collecting requires quite space pretension, because amounts in collections are counting to thousands of pieces.
Before invention of crown cap was used shuts of bottles made of cork, wood, porcelain with high rubber but even other materials. First metal crown cap was patented in USA in year 1892. With using of new type of closing came revolution in producing of bottles of course where was received uniform norm for sizes and shapes of throat. Original crown cap had 24 cuts, lately was this amount reduced to 21 cuts and improved was high ting of closing to today’s shape. Object of collecting interest became crown caps from moment when producers started to use advertisements on them, in some cases on the inside of the crown as well, tout it is often problematic to keep them in collections, where everybody have to find the best way.
Our forefathers used for drinking beer or even other drinks jugs made of copper, tin or lead. By discovery of producing of glass set even prime of production of glasses which observed even brewery. Gradually became various shapes, sizes, and thickness of glass, colour and look of glasses, which play important role in culture of drinking beer. We don’t know brewery today, which doesn’t have their own glasses with name of brewery and they sent them to restaurants or places where beer is drawing. Part of collectors is specialized only to collecting of beer glasses and we can find in their collections hundreds of glasses of various shapes, amounts and design.
Historical old beer bottles are not collected by a lot of collectors. Important for rising of beer bottles is year 1870, when miles right was abolished, which limited even distribution of beer from breweries. Even in this time were used return bottles, which were in 3 elementary kinds: with inscription corroded to glass, with poured inscriptions and with special suppression on glass, for example aristocratic coat of arms of brewery. Collector has to know history of placing of breweries, but even glass works to determine how old is exhibit and to table it to collection according to their own key. It is not easy to get these bottles of course, but there are collectors mainly in Czech republic, who are owners of them.
Fight continuation to crown caps creates collecting of beer openers. Their collecting is matter of high circle of collectors and is supplement kind. Sizes of collections for best collectors are courting to hundreds of pieces. There exist various types of miscellaneous materials, various sizes and shapes according to original ideas of produce. Some openers are not only for opening or closing of bottles, some are united with key appendage or other practical object.
Postcards with beer theme are supplement kind and the oldest come from break of 19th and 20th century. We can divide them to 2 elementary groups – postcards with picture of brewery and postcards with various beer themes. Besides picture we can find there some texts, songs, caricatures and so. Shape is as a rule classical rectangle, but we can find even circles, ellipse. Some of them we can use duplicate and they can be used even as a beer tray. By postcards we can complete history of some breweries together with photographical material.
Besides introduced elementary kinds can collectors devote to even some special kinds, which are united with beer. There are 5l barrels – party kegs, steins, mugs, badges of breweries and with general beer theme, advertisements brewery labers (enamelled, tin, artificial – mass, paper) popular are pen with print, card calendars, T-shirts, caps, posters but even jokes about beer, bills and other materials. Special category is collecting of facts and various documents about history of breweries, but even literature about breweries or history of beer and brewery. Even that collecting of brewery souvenirs in hobby, we can find often in collections some valuable materials and documents from history, which are not available even for breweries or museums.
In Slovakia is collecting of beer souvenirs now a days well organised in collecting clubs (Bratislava, Trenčín, Nitra, Žilina, Martin, Banská Bystrica, Rimavská Sobota, Košice, Jablonica) and Slovak association of history of brewery in Martin saves activity of them.
Copyright © 2009