Posted 14 years ago
VikingFan82
(373 items)
One of the bottle openers that have been around the house for years. In small print above Theo. Hamm it says: C.M.I. APP. MOD. VAUGHAN U.S.A. 56. 1956?
Hamm's Beer Bottle Opener | ||
| Breweriana2857 of 2997 |  |  |
Anyone else ever refer to one of these as a "church key"..... or know why it was called that?
Yeah my family does. There are various reasons for the name. One, the earlier bottle openers did resemble big/long church keys, the name stuck and was transferred to the more traditional looking bottle/can openers. Second, those openers used to open sardine cans...where you basically peeled back the tin..those are called keys, the similarity could also come from there.
All my uncles called them church keys for the same reason stated above.
I have a question: I have a bottle opener that says-Hamms beer "leads them all". I've never heard that phrase. Has anyone out there heard of that and how old do you think that phrase is?
Does it look like these or does it look like the ones in the upper left here?
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/14290-my-collection-of-vintage-bottle-openers?in=127
it doesn't look like either one -it's much smaller
I think that slogan is one of their older ones. Post a picture of it.
That is a "I" (JFO) type opener. Vaughan is the maker out of Chicago, who made them by the 1000's, for hundreds of beers & brewerys. If you want more info. on it, go to the Just For Openers web site; http://www.just-for-openers.org You can look up the type I's in the picture book , (PDF), then the assigned style number in the listings book, and price in the price book. This is how I started, with ones my Dad had around his house, and now I have over 400! Have fun.