How do you tell the age of pull tabs?

SierraRhino · Mar 18, 2011

How does one know how old these pull tabs are? I have dug up some of the "ring" style ones and they look pretty new. I realize that the common figure-eight style ones are new but I would like some more info on the other ones. Does anyone have a link to the right info? :research:

I'm assuming if I dig up a lot of ring style pull tabs I'm hunting a good area because if someone else had been there before me they would have removed them all. :confused:

What say you my (more experienced) fellow MDers? :?:

Coin_Master · Mar 18, 2011

Well the 1st pull tabs did not come into place until 1962, so anything you find is newer then that.

But for all their convenience, the pull tabs were an environmental (and metal detectorist's) nightmare. For 10 years people opened cans, ripped off the pull-tabs and threw them to the side because they were encouraged to - there was nothing else to do with these removable metal pieces. Pets and wildlife died from ingesting them, as did a few people who dropped them into a can and accidentally choked on them. They wound up everywhere - from beaches and parks, to playgrounds and garbage disposals. People routinely cut themselves in a time when hand sanitizer wasn't in everyone's pockets.

So if you find a "beaver tail" it was made from 62-75.

Ten years after the "ring" version of the pull tab was introduced, an answer to this environmental and safety nightmare finally came when the "stay-on-tab" style was introduced in 1975 by the Falls City Brewing Company, and they were here to stay - literally. These ring-style-stay-tabs are what we can see on every can of coke and beer in the grocery store today. Unfortunately, they don't stay quite as well as the designers would have liked. But at least this style doesn't force people to throw the tab aside; they actually have to do a little work to get it off.

Yet people still wiggle the tab off their can and throw it away, if I ever see someone do that I'm gonna tell them not too.

tjn63 · Mar 18, 2011

basically, the old style were from the early 60's to 75 or so, and then they came out with the ones that stay on the can (the modern ones) in 75, and different company's and stuff have just made those ones in a bunch of different shapes.
Check out this link for more info.
http://www.squidoo.com/canpulltab

DougF · Mar 18, 2011

pull tabs -early

I've posted this photo before, but here it is again. These are from 1962 to about 1965. Ring pull types are later.

Dustyloins · Mar 18, 2011

Yeah, tossing those back in the can was considered the "manly" thing to do.....hey, life was more simple........three channels to watch on a B&W TV, no video games, no computers, no cell phones. Life was good!!!!

Dusty

SierraRhino · Mar 19, 2011

Thanks!

Thanks for the info guys. Thanks for the pictures, DougF, I really appreciate it!

dan · Mar 19, 2011

SierraRhino said:
I'm assuming if I dig up a lot of ring style pull tabs I'm hunting a good area because if someone else had been there before me they would have removed them all.

If you're digging lots of pulltabs and lots of coins, you're the first one there.

If you're digging lots of pulltabs and nickels but no other coins, you're the first one there with notch discrimination (or a number-system readout).

If you're digging lots of pulltabs but no coins, you're the first one there without notch discrimination (or a number-system readout).

In ALL THREE of the above scenarios, if a gold ring was lost there, it's still there waiting for you.

TheCoilist · Mar 21, 2011

dan said:
If you're digging lots of pulltabs and lots of coins, you're the first one there.

If you're digging lots of pulltabs and nickels but no other coins, you're the first one there with notch discrimination (or a number-system readout).

If you're digging lots of pulltabs but no coins, you're the first one there without notch discrimination (or a number-system readout).

In ALL THREE of the above scenarios, if a gold ring was lost there, it's still there waiting for you.

It took me a minute but that is a very good way to put it!

How do you tell the age of pull tabs?

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