A Six Pack of Billy Carter Beer is worth 1 Million Dollars.

[link to blog.frankiefoto.com]


It was dark. I was in the basement of the Fendley’s new home – the historic Bridges Estate – and I was rummaging for goodies. I knew this place would yield treasure. The house is almost 100 years old and was owned by one of San Diego’s most prominent and rich capitalist.

I opened the door of an old wooden cabinet in the dark recesses of the basement and grungy Christmas ornaments spilled out. They didn’t appear to be anything special or unique but a box hiding way up on the top shelf looked like it might contain something interesting.

Stupidly, I ripped a piece of the box open to see what was inside. It appeared to be cans. But cans of what actually I had no idea. I pulled the box down from the shelf, opened it a bit more and saw the word “Billy” printed on the side of the cans. Then I saw the word beer below it and I realized what it was. My mind raced back to the mid 1970’s when I used to watch the news with my dad and we would make fun of Jimmy Carters drunk brother Billy.

I remember Billy started his own beer company and sold a beer called Billy Carter Beer. And now, 35 years later I was holding in my hands an entire case of the stuff. This was a bit amazing. This was a find that I got kind of excited about. But how much was it worth?