Auction Ends: Aug 9, 2010 02:00 PM HST

Collectibles

Primo Beer Bottle Collection, circa 1950-1960

Item Number: 230

Estimated Value: 60 USD
Sold: 30 USD to markskmarksk

Number of Bids: 5 - Bid History

Item Description

Ever since Primo Beer began production again, the old Primo bottles have been in high demand with collectors. This collection includes 3 Primo Beer bottles of varying ages. They are the familiar brown bottles, one longneck and 2 short, with labels intact.

Primo Beer was founded in 1898 by Honolulu Brewing & Malting Co., whose brewmaster Emil Joseph Waterman sought to use Hawai'i's high quality water for brewing. Primo closed its brewery during the Prohibition era, but later reopened. By the 1950s and 1960s, it had become the state's best-selling beer. Joseph Schlitz Brewing Co. bought Primo in 1963 and built an 8.8 acre-brewery in 'Aiea, which at its height was producing 400,000 barrels a year. The brand's popularity was such that in 1966, retailers had to ration sales to two six-packs per customer. In 1979, Schlitz closed the 'Aiea plant, and three years later it sold Primo to Stroh Brewery Co. Continued declines in sales prompted Stroh to shut down the company in 1997.