$1 Million DOLLAR Beer Can Collection

CANNY Jeff Lebo turned a holiday home into a beer can paradise - worth more than a million dollars

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Videographer / Director: Ruaridh Connellan
Producer: Samantha Grillo, Nick Johnson
Editor: Joshua Douglas

Beer can collector Jeff Lebo has been collecting vintage cans for 40 years

The obsessive collector has accumulated more than 87,000 beer cans over the course of 40 years.

His collection consists of a whopping 87,000 cans

His inn, located in York Haven, Pennsylvania, displays vintage beer cans, antique bottles, porcelain signs and brewery memorabilia on nearly every inch of wall space.

The beginning stages of Jeff's beer can paradise Brewhouse Mountain

Jeff, 53, believes his collection is the largest collection in the world.

He said: “It took me about two years to complete Brewhouse Mountain but I say complete in quotations because it’s never really finished - it’s sort of an ongoing labour of love.

Jeff keeps his entire collection in a vacation home he rents to patrons in Pennsylvania, USA

“I like being able to preserve social history in a way, especially these kinds of items because they were produced to be thrown away."

Jeff trades and buys cans with other collectors around the world

Jeff started collecting cans when he was just a teenager - a hobby that followed him to adulthood.

Almost every inch of wall space in Brewhouse Mountain is filled with vintage cans and beer memorabilia

He said: “I started collecting when I was about 13-years-old - it was a fad in the United States.

Jeff and his wife Lauri pose in front of his collection

“My dad was also working for the American Can Company which was the first can company in the world to patent beer cans back in 1935.

“It was always sort of a dream of mine to have a place to be able to display the whole collection.”

The collection has been appraised at 1.6 million dollars

Over the course of 40 years Jeff traded with other collectors and bought entire collections from people who retired from the hobby.

“I actually traded with a guy in Sweden who was my age and we’re pen pals and to this day I have not met this guy.

Jeff believes that his beer can collection is the largest in the world

“He would send me 100 cans at a time and I would send him 100 back and all these years later he and I are still trading.”

But Jeff’s love for the cans is not shared by his wife, Lauri.

Patrons can stay at Brewhouse Mountain for $469 per night

Lauri said: “I am not all that interested in the beer cans but I do like the house and spending time there.

“If I were to ever get trapped in one of hims rooms with all the cans, before I could actually take an interest in looking at the cans for mental stimulation I’d probably chew my own arm off.

Jeff's wife, Lauri Lebo, supports his hobby although she is not interested in beer cans

“But it’s his love, I love my husband and I like to indulge in his passions.

“We’ve made it work for ourselves and our lifestyle - we’re now renting it out as an Inn and it is amazing to see the people who have come to stay here who are fascinated by this.”

Jeff does not intend to sell his entire collection

But while Jeff insists he will never sell his entire collection, he plans to use it to finance a new project he is working on.

Jeff said: “I began selling certain cans out of the collection because my wife and I found a beautiful piece of ocean view property in Costa Rica we decided to buy.