# Date this Can?



## Robby Raccoon (Jun 26, 2018)

I found this at the thrift-store today. It has the 1957 slogan, "Freshen Up with 7 Up" as well as the older, "You like it, it likes you" slogan. The can is steel (I think) and is a punch-top with joined seams and a "Mira-Can finish" by American Can Co., which seems to have introduced the Mira-Can finish in 1955 and continued it till 1981. It has both the Billings, M.O., and the St. Louis Research Corp. locations on it but no ZIP-code, which suggests pre-1965. So, my question is, what is the date-range for this? 1957-19??


----------



## hemihampton (Jun 26, 2018)

Date range I'd guess 1957-65 but you probably already knew that. Can't pin point it any closer. Nice find. I got one & a few other Variations. LEON.


----------



## saratogadriver (Jun 27, 2018)

Heck, I think the master was asking for help from the unwashed masses on this one...    I'm amazed that you dated it as well as you did based on the evidence you provided.    Pretty cool and excellent work!

Jim G


----------



## RCO (Jun 27, 2018)

its a neat find 

I don't think I've ever seen any old cans in the thrift stores here and if they did get any , likely they'd go in there "silent auctions " in the hopes someone would pay big money for them


----------



## Robby Raccoon (Jun 27, 2018)

*Leon*, thank you. I was wondering if there is a page on pop-can construction-- the seams, or lack thereof, that is? I know there used to be, but I cannot find it, so...?

*Saratoga Driver*, while I don't have accounts on any research sites, I know how to find original documentation of things on Google, which is how I do most of my historical research. I think that Mira-Can disappeared in 1981 along with American Can Co., as they just seem to drop off the market. Dating it by the slogan as the earliest date was found on a company web-page for 7-Up. As for the ZIP codes: they came out in 1963 but became mandatory in 1965, so everyone began putting ZIPs on everything. The Church-key top should no longer be used after 1965, anyway. Pull-tabs came out in the earlier '60s, I think. As for why you're unwashed, I don't know. 

*RCO*, the thrift-store I found this at is really a charity shop. They do normally over-price things that are collectible and old, but they're too poor to run their own site (unlike Goodwill.com), so everything goes on the shelf. I think I paid 2-3 bucks for it, but eBay says they sell for more than that, so I bought it. I only ever once bought from Goodwill's web-page, and the next day they refunded me because they shattered my item. :/


----------



## hemihampton (Jun 27, 2018)

Never seen a page or info on soda can or mira can construction. I do have plenty of detailed patents on Beer Can Construction though. First pull tab came out in 1962 on Iron City beer from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. I've seen (and dug) crimped steel 1970's soda flat tops. Flat tops were cheaper to produce then the pull tab so certain cans were still produced as flats well past 1965. LEON.


----------



## Robby Raccoon (Jun 28, 2018)

Leon, thank you for your insights. I thought they were no longer used after the mid-1960s.


----------



## saratogadriver (Jun 29, 2018)

I can attest to pull tabs still being around in the 70s.   I was born in '65 so grew up in a world that was never without a zip code, but I can remember beer and soda bottles with the pull tab for a brief period.  By the time I was old enough to fake an id it was all pop tops.  

Jim G


----------



## hemihampton (Jun 29, 2018)

"I can attest to pull tabs still being around in the 70s"

I think what spirit bear was questioning was the use of flat tops in the 70's, not pull tabs? LEON.
​


----------



## Robby Raccoon (Jun 30, 2018)

Yes, Leon has it right. I had thought the Church-key double-puncture flat-tops had gone away by then. We still use pull-top/zip-tops beverage cans today. The older styles ones mostly come from Mexico as imports, though, such as with the coconut water or nectar juices.


----------



## CanadianBottles (Jun 30, 2018)

Spirit Bear said:


> Yes, Leon has it right. I had thought the Church-key double-puncture flat-tops had gone away by then. We still use pull-top/zip-tops beverage cans today. The older styles ones mostly come from Mexico as imports, though, such as with the coconut water or nectar juices.


Interesting, I've never seen Mexican drinks in any sort of cans up here.  We do get a few drinks from China with those old-style pull tabs though.  There's a coconut drink I like that comes in one of those cans.  No idea what it's called, there isn't a word of English on it.  Do you know of any American companies still using the pull tabs?  I'm pretty certain that there are no domestic companies using them here.  And I've found some pretty late flat top soda cans as well, the supermarket brands switched over much later.  These ones were a bit smaller than the 50s flat tops.  I wonder if any North American brands continued using them into the 80s - aside from those big juice cans which you can still buy today.


----------



## Robby Raccoon (Jul 1, 2018)

Yeah, from where I used to volunteer, they get canned donations, but not all of them can be used (the animals don't drink coconut milk or eat re-fried beans), so the volunteers could pick and choose what they wanted. As for American brands, I don't know, I'm afraid. I eat pretty much the same things over and over, so I don't look at the other shelves at market.


----------

