1960s Chandy bottle and can opener
This item might not look spectacular to the untrained eye, but we can say with every confidence that this new acquisition for the museum (in April 2017) is a very rare Chandy item indeed. We’ve never come across another one in over four years of daily searches for Chandy items on eBay!
It’s a combined bottle and can opener. The function of the bottle-opening end to remove crown bottle caps is obvious, but the function of the sharper can-opening end is a little more obscure. The can-opening end is designed for opening ‘flat top’ drink cans - those that were produced before ring pull openings were introduced. An unusual concept now, and perhaps even back then, as the reverse of the opener carries instructions for the opening of cans as follows:
INSERT HOOK UNDER CAN RIM AND LEVER UPWARDS, PIERCE TWO POURING HOLES.
The remaining text on the back of the opener reads: REGD DESIGN. MADE IN ENGLAND. The front of the opener just carries the word “Chandy”. We believe this promotional Chandy item likely dates from the short period in the mid-1960s when Chandy was available in both bottles and flat-top cans.
The pictures in the gallery below show:
1. An alternative picture of the bottle opener in stronger light
2. The reverse of the opener showing the above mentioned wording
3. The opener pictured with a Chandy bottle and bottle top
4. A Chandy 'flat top' can that has been opened with an opener like this one
Click on any of the images to see it full size, and use the left and right arrows to scroll through the pictures in the gallery.
© 2014-2024 Lewis Williams