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About This Item
Some advertising openers survive loose and worn. This one remains new in its original display box with the mounting screws. The opener features bold blue PILSENER advertising and is marked PATENT 2333088. The box identifies it as The STARR "X" Stationary Bottle Opener. This Pilsener version is extremely scarce, and finding one still complete in its original window box is remarkable.
History
The Pilsener name on this opener belongs to one of Ecuador's historic beers. Its roots reach back to a brewery and ice works founded in Guayaquil in 1887. The original plant was destroyed in the city's Great Fire of 1896 and rebuilt. In 1913, Hope Norton and brewmaster Francisco Bolek created Pilsener in Guayaquil, beginning the life of a beer that would become closely identified with Ecuador.
The 1936 advertisement below shows how ambitious Pilsener's advertising had become. A stylish woman raises a glass beside a bottle taller than she is, while the headline invites readers to toast "Pan-American fellowship." Across the bottom, it declares, "Glory to the peoples of America!" It is colorful, confident, and unmistakably of its era.
1936 Pilsener advertisement from Compañía de Cervezas Nacionales, celebrating Pan-American fellowship. Historical reference image; not included with the sale.
By the time the advertisement appeared, the brewery had taken the name Compañía de Cervezas Nacionales and had adopted crown caps. Pilsener began reaching export markets in 1963, carrying a beer created in Guayaquil to drinkers beyond Ecuador.
The American hardware behind the advertising has a story of its own. Brown MFG Co. was founded in Newport News, Virginia, in 1925 by Coca-Cola bottler Raymond "Coca-Cola" Brown. U.S. Patent 2,333,088 was granted to Brown on November 2, 1943 for an improved stationary opener designed for fixed mounting and repeated use. Brown turned that practical design into an advertising fixture for beverage brands in the United States and abroad.
Collector / Variant Notes
Brown's retired-opener records include STARR openers advertising both Ecuador's Pilsener and Venezuela's POLAR beer. The breweries were separate companies. Their connection is the opener manufacturer: two Latin American beer brands with their own versions of the same American stationary opener. This example retains the extremely scarce printed Pilsener opener, original black window box with red decorative graphics, and mounting screws. That completeness gives it a presence a loose example cannot match.
Condition
New in original box with mounting screws. The opener presents very well. The box shows light storage and handling wear visible in the photos. Please review all photos for the exact condition and presentation.
Included
Sale includes the opener, original box, and mounting screws.
Packing & Shipping
Packed with care. I'm happy to combine shipping whenever possible. If you purchase multiple items the same day and overcharges shipping, I will refund the combined shipping difference after packing.
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