My vintage bottle opener display got judged hard by an antiques dealer in Nashville

I collect old bottle openers from the 1900s to the 1960s. Been doing it for about 5 years now. Last weekend I took some of my favorites to a shop in Nashville to get them appraised and the guy told me my prized 1930s Coca Cola opener was actually a reproduction. He showed me the real one and the difference is in the casting marks on the back. I paid $60 for mine at a flea market. Now I gotta check every piece I buy because people sell fakes all the time. Has anyone else gotten burned on fake vintage items?

3 comments

3 Comments

craig.john1mo ago

Yeah the part where you said the difference is in the casting marks on the back. That's definitely a red flag for fakes but you gotta check the front too. A lot of newer reproductions smooth out the raised lettering or use a different font. I had a similar thing happen with a 1940s Pepsi opener where the fake had a real thick paint coat that looked too perfect. The real ones from that time have thinner paint that wears down on the edges after years of use. Always look at the metal thickness too because old openers were made from a heavier gauge steel than what they use now.

smith.anna1mo ago

Weigh the fake one too? @craig.john, what was the exact weight difference on those?

the_jessica1mo ago

Wait, did you weigh the fake one too? My buddy Mike picked up a supposedly vintage opener at a flea market last summer and it felt way too light in his hand. He brought it over to compare with his granddad's old one, and you could see the difference instantly - the fake metal was thinner, almost flimsy, and the paint was this glossy enamel that just looked wrong. @craig.john is spot on about the thicker paint coats on fakes, because Mike's vintage one had that worn-down look on the edges you described, but the new one looked like it just came out of a factory.