Are there any pix of it?? It would be beercan porn!!

Send me your email address. I will forward the pics. Can't post them.

By the way, if anybody else has any Wally stories, I would love you to post them. The family, and I suspect the rest of the folks here, would really appreciate them.

I would guess that Wally was one of the first collectors out there. I am pretty sure I recall he started dabbling with collecting in the late forties after he came back from serving in Europe in WWII.

Wally was a wire man during the war, stringing wire in forward positions throughout Europe. He was shot in the hand and leg by a sniper shortly AFTER the war ended. Apparently the other side had not heard the war was over yet. At any rate, he had more than his share of scrapes with near death and promised himself if he got out alive, he would retire early. He did, semi-retiring in the early fifties. Somewhere along the line Wally and his wife had started collecting antique bottles. They loved to travel and spent many years digging through old dumps and houses up and down the west coast. Somewhere along the line, likely the late fifties, he got more interested in beer cans and left the bottle hobby behind. Wally then spent the remainder of his life focused on beer can trading and collecting.

So, my guess is Wally must have been one of the first guys doing beer can collecting. Anybody disagree?

Cool stories you have posted about your uncle---- Dan!! Wish I knew him.

I hope that you will try to aquire some kind of brewery item for your self as I think Wally would love to see that girlie sign hang on your wall!!!!!!

Brent---

Awesome pics Dan!! Thanks for the show, loved looking at the collection! Lot of tough cans and some super tough too!!!

Ron

Dan,
I did some swapping with Wally way back in the 80's.
I would love to see the pics as well.

scarymr1@aol.com

HERE ARE A FEW PICS OF WALLY'S CANS FOR YOU TO DROOL OVER!! DAN SAID IT WOULD BE OK TO POST THEM HERE!
THANKS DAN!! WE CAN REALLY APPRECIATE THESE WORKS OF ART!

Wow! The link works great. I can only imagine how tough it is answering all the requests. Just take a bit of comfort in knowing that we all HAVE a great deal of respect for your Uncle, that is why we all want to see what he put together. Too many people like to think it's "vultures" coming out, it's not, it's respect. Thanks for taking the time to send me the pics. My condolences to your family and the BCCA family. We all lost a great one.

Yeah, Thanks Dan for the pics, I appreciate it. Now, somebody give me 5 lucky numbers plus a powerball number & I'll buy the ticket &...........

I don't mind at all. Yes, at first I was a bit worried, but everybody has been extremely kind and gracious. These last few days have been surprisingly cathartic for me as I have strolled down memory lane a bit.

His collection and your interest in it is truly a tribute to my uncle, so I don’t mind at all. For all of my life (I am in my mid-forties), beer cans and Uncle Wally were synonymous in my mind. This hobby was his passion and what defined him. While none of us in the family shared his intense interest, it was great fun to watch and participate in it from afar. Not to mention hear the stories about each can.

I mean how many other kids in my grade school do you think had an uncle with his basement walls full of empty beer cans? How cool was that?

Clearly, the kudos and sense of awe that you all seem to have regarding his collection would give my uncle an immense amount of joy. I am only saddened that he is not here to see it.

Wally was allways trying to sell me complete 6 packs of easier California late 50's early 60's flat tops. Think I remember Padre possibly Old Tyme & Others. Now I'm wondering if he bought these himself way back then? Probably. I met Wally when a Mutual Friend of ours Hal Noehren gave me a Tip way back in 1993. Hal knew I wanted a Apache cone. So Hal tells me his Buddy Wally has one for $3,500. So I call Wally & Wally sez yeah, I have one but not sure if I'm selling it yet. I bugged him for years & price kept going up but he'd never sell. From what I see he never did sell it but I thought he did? Wally kept wanting me to buy a 6 pak of Black Berghoff Low Profile cones from him. But I passed, He wanted $50 each which was steep on a easy can at that time. maybe still nowadays? After years of not taking them he said heck just take them why dont you & ended up sending them to me with other cans. Said why dont I just sell them on ebay & make money. This was back in 1999. I threw one on ebay but each time only got around $35 & reserve of $50 not met. I told Wally not selling well. I printed up Auction results & sent to Wally back with the Cans But I get the Impression maybe Wally just wanted me to have them anyways, Free if I wanted but I could not just take them. Would'nt be right. You might have those 6 Berghoff cones now still for all I know? LEON.

Dan, he sees it...He always knew it too. That's the joy we all get out of it. It brings out the kid in us. He knows and he knew.

Here's an unusual A-1 can I picked up from Wally some time ago. It's a paper label mock-up can that originally came from the Bill Christensen collection. Wally said he occasionally would catch people picking at the label to try and see what was underneath. That's why the back side near the rim has small pieces missing. Thought you guys might enjoy seeing it.

I got a few moments, so here are a few pictures of Wally's "trophy room". Its kind of a mess right now though. He was in declining health over the last 3 years or so and the room became less tidy. Plus, there is a ton of activity now trying to get everything cataloged. For 30 years, this room was always perfect every time I saw it. Wally had every can lined up, every space filled and certainly nothing was on the floor!

As I mentioned previously, the trophy room is about 10' X 30'. All walls are covered with his favorite cans. On one side is a long bar/counter. He kept 2 or 3 bar stools in there. As soon as he walked in, Wally would immediately plop down on a stool and swivel about, following you as you perused the collection.

Leon: Are these them?

Dan,
Thanks for the tour!! Really enjoy the pictures. Just with the little I"ve seen, he seemed to amass a great collection. Thanks for sharing.
Greg

I spent a very enjoyable day at Wally's house during the mid-1970's not long after he had purchased Joe Veselsky's collection. Although I had been collecting for a number of years, I was awed by the extent of Wally's can operations. He had a portion of the baement set up like a store with many cans (primarily outdoor ones which he had dumped) displayed for sale at very reasonable prices. That day was probably my first big can purchase as, of course, BCCA was strictly trade only at the time. I left with a large group of CA cans which are still in my collection.

I also recall him taking me to a shed in the yard which was full of uncleaned cases of cans. He offered to sell uncleaned cans at even lower prices - and he had them stacked ot the ceiling in the shed.

He also told me a very scary story of being confronted by a rattlesnake after crawling under a porch in a desert ghost town to retrieve a bottle which he had noticed. The snake was in a crawl space above him as he entered and now was blocking his exit. His only escape route was to go up through the floorboards which he did and injured a shoulder in the process. Although I heard that story about 30 years ago, I still remember it vividly.

Wally was a very decent person and seemed always willing to help less experienced collectors. Wish I could have seen him more often over the years.

Nice Pictures, Really like the Kings Taste cone & Yellow Cremo. YEAH, Those 3 black Berghoff cones look like the exact same cans he sent me. He sent me 6 though but that was back around 1999. I'm sure he's probably sold some since? LEON.

Nope, here are three more. I don't think Wally was a very active trader in the last several years.





Just for giggles, here are a few more pics:

Dan,

Thank you for sharing the great pictures. I had the good fortune of viewing your uncles collection back in 1978. Wally was a cool guy and I always looked forward to seeing him at Golden State trade sessions.

All the best,

Bob DeCamp

I remember dealing with Wally back in the 1970s. He was pleasant to talk to and I met him at some local shows back then.

I remember Wally sold a lot of cans by mail order. One time I bought some cone tops from him. One cone I bought from him was a clean indoor ABC Beer low pro. It was the blue one. Anyway, I bought it for $4.50. I showed it to some other collectors in the area and they told me Wally ripped me off.

The reason I tell this is not to say anything bad about Wally. But to show how times have changed. To think that many collectors at the time believed $4.50 was too much for an indoor ABC cone. My, how times have changed. $4.50 seems so cheap. And, the can has gone up in value faster than gold or real estate.

Wally will be missed along with Dan Andrews.

Vince

I have had a few requests for pictures of the Kent Ale can.

Here you go:



and here is the bock

I like that Kent, Did a flash wash out the gold color or gold faded? Either way nice can & about the best you'll find from what I've seen. LEON.

Man that can is sweet, just looks like the flash killed some of the color...better than any ive ever seen!
Mike

buying my lottery ticket tonight

Anyone want to speculate about what will happen?

Wally was a very special member of the Aztec Chapter, the lessons that he taught us about buying & selling cans will be remembered forever. I got my Acme Bulldog (the one on the cover of the Back Bar book) through Wally.

I am trying to collect information on the sale & Wally for a newsletter article. If any of you have interesting Wally stories I would appreciate hearing them. I knew Wally for almost 20 years, picked up cans, mugs & other beer related items from him. It was just as much fun to listen to him talk about his days racing motorcycles and his Ariel Square 4.