Maybe you're like me who gets a kick out finding something rare, collectable and unusual that no one else knows about. If so, this is up your sleeve as we introduce some Phantom collectable history featuring these Super Knapslers (inside of bottle caps) from the late 1970's and early 1980's that are so rare that out of the 20 odd high profile Phantom and non Phantom collectors I asked from around the world, no one knew about them, let alone had any.
Knapsler is a constructed word. A contraction of “knap” (button) and “kapsel” (bottle cap). KNAPSEL! Knapsler in plural form.
Most Australians think of the Aussie born Princess Mary when it comes to Denmark, but the northern European nation also has a rich Phantom history. In the 70's and 80's, popular drink companies like Pepsi decided to include characters on the inside of their bottle caps as a collectable in an effort to encourage their drink to be purchased. Of course the Phantom was included with other popular characters like Superman, Batman, Popeye, Blonde, Smurfs and many more which you can see in the images attached. Freddy Milton made 112 designs for the Faxe Brewery. Ten of them were with Phantom motives.
It is worth noting that not all bottle caps were character related and some included typical funky 70's style designs of flowers, bright colours etc.
Here are some fun adverts from the 1970's and 1980's showcasing the collectable fun while drinking a cool soft drink with your friends.
A side collectable part of this craze are the labels which are even harder to find today than the knapslers. Now the question I know every phan will ask is what they look like and how can I get one? I can help with what they look like but I myself and a host of other prominent phan collectors are still trying to find them ourselves.
Collecting these knapslers and labels 30 plus years post-production is fairly limited to a select few isolated in Denmark but I have been lucky enough to find nine of the 10 Phantom knapslers to add to my collection. In short, if you find them - buy them!
Special thanks goes to Andreas, Pete Klaus, Bjorn, Simon Treschow and Tue Sorensen who has helped me gather some of the information regarding these interesting items.
