DATE: Tuesday, November 25, 1997            TAG: 9711250111

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E2   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Column 

SOURCE: Larry Bonko 

                                            LENGTH:   85 lines

FX LEARNS LOCAL MAN IS LOYAL TO THE COOR'S

TODAY IS THE DAY when America discovers what Phillip M. Alley's friends and family in Virginia Beach have known for years.

The man is nuts about Coor's.

Alley is not much of a beer drinker - a sip now and then - but he is a dedicated collector. And what he's been acquiring for the past 13 years is anything with the Coor's name on it.

Today at noon, Alley shares his passion with cable viewers when the fX network's ``Personal fX: The Collectibles Show'' visits Virginia Beach. Producer Karen Martin sent field reporter John Davis to Williamsburg and South Hampton Roads this week to find Alley, folk-art collectors on the Peninsula and others in Hampton Roads including egg collector Joan Wheeler in Portsmouth who asked ``Personal fX: The Collectibles Show'' to put their stuff on national TV.

Martin said she heard from more than 1,000 collectors in Virginia when co-hosts John Burke and Claire Carter announced the show would be visiting here. The producer couldn't wait to get her cameras inside Alley's home where his hoard of Coor's products is framed by two 7-foot-tall aluminum beer cans.

The Coor's can is not just a beer can, said Alley, who works in radio. It's art. ``See the mountains, the waterfall, the pure Rocky Mountain spring water. It's a beautiful sight,'' he said.

Alley is small potatoes when it comes to collecting cans - fX showed a man in Oklahoma with 23,000 cans in his house - but he's entitled to brag about the vintage Coor's bottles (including a Coor's light bottle from the 1940s), signs, labels, posters, serving trays and other items with the Coor's trademark. They've spilled out from a spare bedroom into his garage.

What's the value of the Coor's collection? Alley may find out today because on ``Personal fX: The Collectibles Show,'' the producers invite antique experts in to take a look at the collections.

The other day, when fX was visiting New Jersey, a woman who owned a Princess Diana doll in a wedding dress and long flowing train saw the bidding start at $300. The bids were past $600 when last I heard.

On the same show, fX brought on a woman who lived near Pittsburgh with a collection of 5,595 dogs - dog statues, dog trinkets, dog dolls. When ``Personal fX: The Collectibles Show'' takes to the road, the hosts ask viewers to come in with their dolls, model trains, antique tea cups and other treasures to be appraised by experts who own antique shops.

What is this hubcap from a 1938 Packard worth? And this Beatles' lunch pail? There's a woman in Washington who wants to sell her entire collection of 10,000 refrigerator magnets. Do I hear a bid?

``People collect almost anything you can think of,'' said Martin, who qualifies as an expert after producing the show for three years. ``The passion for collecting touches all demographics. Collecting is a phenomenon. We couldn't stop the momentum if we wanted.''

If you are a collector, you're probably gathering things that remind you of when you were young - something nostalgic, said Martin. ``People who grew up in the 1960s might look upon G.I. Joe collectibles with fondness. The next generation might find `Star Wars' collectibles compelling.''

Others just collect to be collecting.

Has she ever met a collector of . . . toasters? You bet. A man in Portland, Ore., has more than 500 toasters.

Has Martin ever met a serious collector of . . . marbles? There's a kid in Iowa with 300,000 of them.

What collection left a lasting impression with Martin?

Rat traps. A man in Pennsylvania has a store of 1,000-plus traps for any animal you can name, said Martin.

With some, said Burke, a few items will do. For others, 300,000 aren't enough. ``The show has taught me that in any town, on any street, on any block you can find a house with a collection of something inside.''

He tells about a collector of John F. Kennedy memorabilia. ``The collection included the blood-stained seat from the limousine in which JFK was sitting when he was assassinated. That's a unique collection. We could do this show for another 20 years and it wouldn't be enough time to cover the variety of collections out there.''

The last time ``fX: The Collectibles Show'' visited Norfolk, they introduced a man who owns hundreds of neckties. This time around, the show will visit the Coor's man and Wheeler, whose egg collection is large and international in scope.

If the fX gang came to my house, they would see a pile of Cole Porter stuff. I have his music on records, tapes, CDs, videotape, 8-tracks. I have Cole Porter books, sheet music, posters from his films and Broadway shows.

To borrow a lyric from a 1936 Porter refrain, ``I've got you under my skin.'' MEMO: ``Personal fX: The Collectibles Show'' repeats at 6 a.m. the next

day. ``The Supercollectors'' is on at 1 p.m.

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