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About This Item A particularly attractive piece of midcentury Canadian breweriana, this O'Keefe Ale magnetic wall mount bottle opener pairs a white molded body with the brewery's vivid red-and-gold knight crown. It was designed to advertise the brand, open bottles, and use an internal magnet to catch removed caps against the lower portion of the body.
Its clever one-screw arrangement serves two purposes. The screw passes through the metal opener and molded body, holding them together while securing the complete unit to a wall, cabinet, bar, or similar surface. One ordinary mounting screw is included with the sale but is not pictured.
History O'Keefe's brewing history began in 1861, when Irish-born Toronto businessman Eugene O'Keefe and his partners purchased the small Victoria Brewery at Victoria and Gould streets. O'Keefe helped transform it into one of Toronto's leading breweries, introducing large-scale lager production and repeatedly expanding the operation. In 1891, the business was incorporated as the O'Keefe Brewery Company of Toronto Limited.
By the 1950s, the red-and-gold O'Keefe Knight had become one of the brewery's strongest advertising symbols. The 1958 advertisement shown below placed the O'Keefe Knight beside a Mercedes-Benz 300SL Coupe at Toronto's Casa Loma. Under the heading Traditional and Modern, it connected the knight's old-world imagery with one of the era's most modern and desirable sports cars. The colorful crown on this opener carries that same distinctive knight emblem.
O'Keefe also left its name on Toronto's cultural landscape. The O'Keefe Centre for the Performing Arts opened in 1960 with the pre-Broadway production of Camelot, an especially fitting opening for a brewery represented by a knight.
The brewery's later history connects several important Canadian beer names. Canadian Breweries acquired O'Keefe during the 1930s and acquired National Breweries in 1952, bringing Black Horse Ale from the historic Dawes and Dow brewing lineage into the same portfolio. By the end of the 1950s, O'Keefe Ale and Black Horse Ale were related brands within Canadian Breweries. The company became Carling O'Keefe in 1973 and merged with Molson in 1989, carrying the O'Keefe name into the Molson brewing family.
The O'Keefe Knight with a Mercedes-Benz 300SL Coupe at Casa Loma, from a 1958 O'Keefe Ale advertisement. Historical reference image; not included with the sale.
Collector / Variant Notes Both O'Keefe and O'Keefe's appear in authentic period material. The possessive form was commonly used when referring to the brewery or its beer in advertising copy, including the slogan “Say OK for O'Keefe's.” The product emblem appearing on this crown and in the 1958 advertisement reads simply O'Keefe. The two treatments are period branding variations, not different breweries or unrelated products.
Canadian records identify this opener form as industrial-design registration 19730, titled BOTTLE OPENER and registered January 12, 1955 to Eric H. Hardman Limited of Toronto. The original application drawing names Eric H. Hardman as inventor and depicts the same distinctive molded body, upper metal opener, circular advertising-crown position, and magnetic cap-catching area.
The molded rear markings read: RD 1955 ERIC H. HARDMAN LTD.
The circular molding stamp reads: BRANTFORD PLASTICS LTD MOLDED
RD 1955 refers to the registered-design year. It is not the registration number, it is not a patent number, and it does not establish the manufacture date of this individual opener. The actual Canadian industrial-design registration number is 19730. The records document Hardman's design ownership, while the physical molding stamp identifies Brantford Plastics as the molder of this body.
