AS YOU WILL SEE in another article later on this issue, these “dittocans” are made through a process called inkjet sublimation. Essentially, a design, any design, is printed on special transfer paper, and the design is transferred to a beercan that has been specially prepared by coating it with a polyester coating. The coating absorbs the ink from the paper, and viola, you have a beercan with a new design printed on it.

Obviously, these are fake cans, and often fake designs. But there have been several fellow collectors that have bought these cans thinking they were real, and the potential exists for collectors to get ripped off by unscrupulous or unknowing sellers after these cans have traded hands a couple times. So, we have to educate ourselves so we can spot one of these forgeries every time. HERE’S HOW!

We are going to use two dittocans to show you how to spot them. In both of the photos below, the dittocan is on the left, and a real can to the right.

There are four main points to look at if you suspect a can may be a fake. They are Orange Peel, Detail, Registration, and Overspray. I will explain each one, and show you examples of the differences between a real can and a dittocan.

ORANGE PEEL is a term used in the painting business to describe the rough texture the surface of paint can take on if it’s improperly applied. Now, remember, the actual dittocan design must be applied over a coating of polyester paint that has already been sprayed onto a can. Think of this polyester layer as the primer, and the design as the topcoat. The Orange Peel occurs in the Primer layer, and shows through the Topcoat. You can see it here, and you can feel it!

Here’s another good example of Orange Peel. You’ll notice how pebbly the surface looks. Go to your shelves, and pull down any clean beercan. You’ll see that the paint surface is smooth and dimple free. As I said, this is caused by the Primer layer being applied in such a way as to cause this rough surface, and when the beercan design is applied to it, it takes on the characteristics of the surface below.

DETAILS can be harder to spot than Orange Peel, but they are there to be seen on every dittocan I’ve examined. Look at the first two photos in this article. You’ll notice that the size and the colors of the type are all wrong on the Playmate, and the lips are smaller. Easily seen when you put it beside a real can, but tougher to spot if the can is alone. Likewise, there are fine pinstripes around the upper and lower banners on the Kings Beer that don’t appear on the dittocan Bock. Again, this is easier to see if you have a real can for comparison. As a rule, there are lots of fine details that are smudged, blurred, or missing on a dittocan that will be on the real article.

Gee, whiz, where’s the circle or box around the KEGLINED logo?

You can see the National Can Co. logo is so blurred on the Kings Bock dittocan that you can’t read it. Can anyone tell the last line is supposed to say “Patents Pending”? And the word “KINGS” looks like KIIIGS”. Needless to say, all of these details are razor sharp (and they are there!) on a factory produced original can.

You also need to look for what is called pixelation. This is the effect you see when you enlarge a digital image too far. Instead of the graininess that you see in a film photograph, you actually see each pixel, or bit of information, in the digital image. Here you can see the eyebrow and the eye itself on the Playmate dittocan it heavily pixelated. You see small individual squares instead of smoothly curving lines along the edge of the eyebrow (never mind that it’s entirely the wrong color – it should be brown!). You also see those small squares, the individual pixels of the digital image, forming the top edge of the eye, and scattered within the whites of the eye. None of this would appear on a real factory beercan, because the lithographed image has a much higher level of resolution, hence much less “graininess” and absolutely NO pixelation. These dittocans are the product of a computer generated digital image, not an artist’s pen and brush.

REGISTRATION is the exact matching of the image topcoat over the polyester primer. This will be hard to see on a white can like the Playmate, since the primer is white (Note: the Primer will ALWAYS be white on a dittocan, because the inks are almost transparent, and rely on a white background for accurate color rendition). But, on the yellow Kings, we can see some things!

Look very closely at the top of the label, right up against the rim. You see the thin strip of white? That is the primer showing, where the topcoat was misaligned with the rim of the can. In other words, the two layers were not properly“registered”.

You see this again along the seam, where the topcoat and the primer are not aligned with each other. Notice the darker yellow stripe?

That darker yellow stripe is where the topcoat design has been applied, but the primer coat underneath is missing. Since these topcoat inks are almost transparent, you don’t see any depth of color until the two layers meet. When inspecting a can, always look up the seam for signs of misalignment – poor “registration”.

OVERSPRAY is literally just that. The polyester primer layer has been sprayed onto areas that shouldn’t have been coated, with the result that it shows after the design is applied. Remember, this primer layer is always going to be white, so if you see any of this anytime, run! It is easier to pick up on a non-white can, but as you’ll see, it can be observed even on a white can.

You can see the overspray of the primer coating on the rim of the Playmate can. Look right where the arrow is pointing, and you can see where some of that overspray has chipped off, and then it feathers away from there in both directions.  Even though it’s a white can, you’ve got paint where paint shouldn’t be. This is a dead giveaway that this can is bogus. A factory can has the design printed on flat sheet stock, which is then cut and rolled into cylinders before the lids are applied. So, there’s no way that a real can has any paint on the rims.

So, there you have it. If you apply these four tests to any can, a factory can will pass them all with flying colors. A dittocan will fail one or more of them, possibly all. Then, you have a decision to make. Do you tell the owner what you know, or do you just set the can down, leaving open the possibility that another, less educated collector will purchase this can thinking it is real?

This is just my opinion, but I think we are all doing the hobby a disservice if we don’t make sure that every dittocan you see at a show is identified and acknowledged as such. If we just walk away, and don’t make sure that the seller is aware of the (in)validity of their can, we are quietly accepting that that can could be passed off as legitimate. If someone buys it, fully aware of its origin, well, that’s the American way. If an unaware collector buys a can thinking its one thing when it’s not, that’s fraud. I can’t be complicit in that transaction. 

I hope this helps clear the air regarding these cans. If anyone has any questions, write Your Humble Editor at jromine@windstream.net. I also want to thank John Aho for the loan of the Playmate can, and Dave Wolfe for use of his Kings Bock.