My name is Kees Booij. I live in Bennekom, a small and friendly village near the river Rhine in the Netherlands. I was born in 1952 and since my childhood I have been collecting many different things such as stamps, sugar bags, animal skulls, insects, egg cups and so on. About 12 years ago I discovered crown caps as the ultimate collectors item because of their endless variety and beauty. The background of my collecting interest is my fascination for cultural and biological diversity. As ecologist I have studied the diversity of birds and insects and I have a deep belief that variation is the most basic thing for both nature and mankind, to exist and to evolve. Variation in ecosystems, plants and animals, countries and cultures, food and drinks, and all things created by people. Variation and its beauty are the basis for the fun of life.
Since the invention of the crown cap, several hundreds of thousands of caps with different designs have been produced. They are not only a perfect closure of bottles, but also express the image of the product.
Caps are printed primarily to advertise the product in the bottle. The round shape limits the designer to promote the brand and to put only the most relevant information on the cap. A good cap should attract the eye to the product and the brand has to be recognized at a glance. In this way they often become the ultimate beauties of advertisement, little pieces of art.Promotional caps and series with nice pictures are most wanted by collectors especially when they are unused. Sure, I do like them as well, but yet I think pictures and series do not present the real character of the crown cap.
The crown caps I like most have a nice graphical design, being printed in subtle or strong colors. Preferably it comes from a characteristic brand or a special or local product. It has to be connected to the product as the finishing touch. Actually it is only ready when carrying the smell of beer, soda or any other product.For reasons given above I'm not only interested in collecting crown caps, but also like the rich culture of beer, wine, soda and water. The commercial history of brands and international development is full of interesting trends and details. I also like the beauty of old breweries, soda and milk factories and mineral water springs. The diversity in crown caps reflects the endless variety and history of drinks which are so much related to the way of life in different cultures. That's why I love the caps of soy-sauce and tea drinks which are so characteristic for Asia, the root-beer caps from Northern America, the milk caps from Western Europe, the numerous mineral water caps from Italy, and the wine caps from Greece. They all reflect a living and developing culture of drinks, changing from year to year.
I started collecting caps in 1992, by taking over the small collection of my son Jorik. The increasing number of contacts made at collector meetings and later by the internet helped me a lot to make my collection like it is. Sharing this hobby with so many other collectors friends makes it really nice. This website opens another window to the collectors world.
My collections now counts about 75000 different crown caps. I do not collect inside prints or caps which only differ by factory sign but all other variation in design will catch my eye.
Kees Booij
Laarweg 47
6721 DB Bennekom
The Netherlands
