The Unexpected Value Of Your Old Beer Cans

Maybe you've sung the old song "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" while on a road trip — but have you ever wondered how much such old beer containers might actually be worth these days? The answer might surprise you, as much as the knowledge that yes, people do collect beer cans, and they have since the first canned beer went on sale in the United States.

1935 was the year man discovered the neutron, and the year college kids discovered they could line up a wall of empty beer cans in their dorm rooms. The Hoover Dam opened, and so did cans of Krueger's Finest Beer and Krueger's Cream Ale. These were the first commercially canned cold ones to ever be cracked on U.S. soil, fresh off the end of Prohibition and a partnership between the American Can Company and the Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company.

Folks have been collecting beer cans ever since. While most old beer cans don't fetch as much in the collectibles market as valuable Pokémon cards or extremely rare Furbies, some old beer cans can really hold their own — even if they no longer hold any beer. In fact, the price of some rare old beer cans might even give you something to sing about.

The value of a vintage beer can mainly be determined by its scarcity,story, and condition. What you want is a can in great condition from a much earlier age of beer drinking, with strong visual interest, and key details pertinent to the collector. Much like valuable old postcards, old beer cans from the early days of smaller, local breweries might do well in the collectible market.

The beer can collecting craze hit wild heights in the 1970s. Back then, collecting beer cans was as hot as collecting valuable troll dolls. But while these days you might find a troll doll or pet rock stashed in the attic or a thrift store, back in the '70s, potentially valuable beer cans were stored inside of walls.

While "99 Bottles of Beer In the Wall" doesn't have quite the same ring to it, these days, potentially valuable vintage beer can collections might be found in such hidey-holes during renovations or demolitions. However, even finding this type of buried treasure doesn't guarantee the cans are valuable. Still, generally speaking, you can tell you might have a nice set of cans on your hands if those cans have flat tops or cone tops. These tops indicate age and sometimes material of the can, and many come from back in the days cans were made of heavy, hard-to-crush steel, rather than crushable-by-forehead aluminum. Also look out for tops with fan tabs, insert tabs, and zip tabs. Some pull tops might carry value, but older-style can tops (not familiar tab tops from the '70s through today) almost always dazzle the eye of a collector, as long as the cans they are attached to are in excellent condition.

Condition is key when collecting old beer cans, and beer cans can be appraised in a range of five grades. A Grade 1+ can is the perfect brewski can specimen, while a Grade 5 can will look so rusted and crusty, that it might as well be an old soup can. Cans that do well in the market, especially on auction site, eBay, or traded between collectors at shows like the CANvention Experience by the Brewery Collectibles Club of America, or via online collection communities, are somewhere on the better end of the grading scale.

In December 2024, an Old Tankard Ale TapaCan flat top beer can sold for a cool $2,500 on eBay. So did a vintage Old Reading cone-top beer can. A very old, flat top can of Pabst Blue Ribbon sold for $310.01, while in November 2024, an old can of Old Mission beer, from a Los Angeles-based brewery, sold for $432.69. These prices are all respectable, and prove that many actually old beer cans always had "old" in their names. However, perhaps the biggest tankard of old beer can boons might have come in December 2024, when an old can of Old Dutch brand lager beer sold for $2,500.

Before you start knocking down walls in search of old cans of big money, keep in mind that the old beer can game, like any collectors' market, can be fickle. In boom times and bust times, Americans may spend a lot of money each year on alcohol — but they may not always be willing and able to pay for old cans that used to hold it.