Just For Openers Apr 2009 Issue #122

J U S T FOR OPENERS APR 2009 I S S U E #122
PAGE 19
In the last issue Joe Young sent in a picture of an Eifel
Multitool. No one responded about inquiries if they knew
the history behind the opener but I can add that at least
three Eifel tools sold this past quarter on eBay and the price
ranged from $10 to $20. Certainly not that rare but a neat
opener with several functions.
The number of eBay sales was high again this past quarter
but the quality was down. The usual lots of average beer
openers were offered for sale but the really good ones were
few and far between. Starting out the “A”s was an original
Coca-Cola baseball player bringing $306.99. With all of
the repros in the marketplace it was a little surprising. On
the beer side a nice B-11-1 Seattle Potlatch opener brought
$177.50. A style that most serious collectors own but finding
one with all of the enamel present can be very challenging.
A B-31-UL Salem brought $169.49 and it is amazing
to me how many B-24s from this brewery turn up and in
JFO’s 31st year the B-31 is discovered.
An apparently very tough style Cigar Box Opener (CBO-
HKH-09) with an ad for Hernan Cortez / Key West brought
$227.50. For the most part CBOs in the more common
styles have seen prices settle down to the $10-$30 range.
As always when it is a tough style the price can go way up
as it did in this case. A rusty D-15-1 Excelsior Red Feather
brought $136.49 and for this style a little cheap but considering
condition and today’s market values, a fair price.
In the wires or “E”s a couple of ULs made their way to
North Carolina and they were not cheap. An E-4-UL Drink
Edelweiss Beer / Pontiac Fuel Co sold for $89.00 followed
by an E-9-UL Capitol New Beer / George Mason Co Denver
Colo. selling for $114.50. Every now and then I decide
to chase hard after some openers and both of these I really
liked. Both are by distributors and in the “E” category they
are usually the hardest ones to find. “F”s were highlighted
by Coca-Cola openers with the top lot being a kitchen spatula,
F-507 Coca-Cola Gardner Ice Cream, bringing
$154.01. Coca-Cola still sells very well and the harder to
find openers certainly bear this out.
―Opener and eBay Trivia‖
The next style of interest is the “L” or bottle shaped openers.
A reminder is due as a couple of members asked me if
a drop down bottle opener (similar to a L-1) advertising
Spearman Beer, was legitimate? The seller “airborne306”
is the person selling knives and openers with decals attached.
Anytime you buy an opener with a decal or paper
label it is “buyer beware”. This seller buys the drop down
bottle styles and then they magically reappear with unknown
beer labels on them. I always figure if you buy anything
and it is under $25.00, you can live with it even if the
piece is a fake. Lets call it a cheap lesson but when the
money gets in the $100.00 range and higher then you are in
the “I Lost My Shirt Class”. Be careful and ask a fellow
member if you are not sure. Its people like “airborne306”
who give the hobby a bad name.
The “L”s saw one big highlight, a rare L-2-22 Enterprise
Brewing from San Francisco, bringing $576.99. With four
“L-2”s to go your editor chased hard but once again on a
rare corkscrew I was runner-up. In this case the rumor mill
told me it was a San Francisco collector with deep pockets
who bought the item. I just keep telling Pat I have to live
long enough to finish my set of “L-2”s. Note I am still one
behind Norm Jay who has 21 of the known 24.
Next up were two different N-29 Coca-Cola bullet pencils
selling for $504.99 and $449.44. A couple of years ago I
sold mine for $200.00 each and I thought I had done well.
It sure looks like I left some money on the table. I have
seen a couple of other examples with Coca-Cola ads and I
cannot say why these two went into orbit price wise. With
eBay you just never know.
Wall mounts saw two examples of the O-5-11 Acme Beer
Starr X opener sell for $127.50 and $100.00. The Acme is
fairly tough to find but I did not realize it had risen to the
$100.00 level value wise. One with a broken mounting
hole also sold bringing $32.00. No other interesting wall
mounts were noted. The “P”s or beer corkscrews had
many notable price results. A nice Detroit corkscrew, P-2-
2 Voigt brought $255.99, a P-10 Pickerings of Cincinnati
(non-beer) in the original Williamson box brought $471.66
and several A-B knives highlighted by a Blue Handle version
bringing $869.00. The Voigt is a very desirable Detroit
corkscrew, the P-10 “MIB” is extremely hard to find
in the original packaging and A-B knives just keep selling
for good prices.
Other “P” knife results to note were two nice condition
knives, a P-25 C F Blanke Tea & Faust Coffee and a P-40
Remington made, both selling for $1,100.00. Remember
with knives condition plays a big part in value. The P-71
Budweiser mentioned in the last issue did not meet reserve
closing at $431.00. Also in the last issue I mentioned Bob
Suddeth had bought the “P type Christ Jensen” political ad
knife from Chicago but he informed me he was not the
high bidder. My apologies Bob.