HIRES ROOT BEER ~ vs ~ VERNOR'S GINGER ALE

[SODABOB]

Hold the phone!

I believe I saw this medal in the link collection but I'm not sure. I'm going back to see if I can find it again, and possibly some of the other medals depicted on the label ...

 

[SODABOB]

I'm having a problem making heads or tails of the various Hires medals and haven't been able to find an actual medal that's a perfect match to the ones depicted on their paper label bottles. However, I did discover the paper labels with medals on them changed over the years.

For example ...

Blob-top Bottle



Crown-top Bottle



Blob-top Bottle Label Close Up w/ Eagle



Crown-top Bottle Label Close Up w/ Eagle



Compare the Eagle Medal on the Blob-top and Crown-top bottles to the Eagle Medal on this (Date unknown) paper label. Notice the Eagle Medal on this particular label is generic and not as detailed as it is on the previous two labels.





I don't know what type of award the Eagle Medal represents, but I'm continuing my search to see if I can find out. Plus, there's another Hires' Medal I'm investigating that might have the word "Centennial" on it. I will tell you more about that one later after I complete my investigation.

 

[SODABOB]

Here's what I'm working with that might be the word "Centennial"

Please Note: I'm still in the preliminary stages of my investigation on this and need to find a better image of this type of label in order to determine exactly what's on the medal. It may or may not say "Centennial" ... ???

 

[SODABOB]

By the way, there was more than one "Centennial" held in Philadelphia. The other one is sometimes spelled ...


Sesquicentennial and/or Sesqui-Centennial and was held in Philadelphia in 1926


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesquicentennial_Exposition


In 1926 during the Sesqui-Centennial in Philadelphia, the Hires Root Beer Company sold glasses of root beer from very large barrels. Seven persons could sit at one of them. When the fair was over a barrel was purchased and brought to Newtown and placed beside the stone house. Mr. Cunningham turned it into a luncheon stand, and years later acquired a beer license for a tavern. John Curley became the owner of the Barrell in 1957. Today the property is owned by Gus Costalas who remodeled the building and opened it in 1981 as Charlottes Restaurant.

 

[Canadacan]

I can't seem to match up any medals on my label at home, mine has less embossing on the suspect medal 'Centennial' than the label you posted...I'm sitting here looking at it with a magnified glass!..lol

 

[SODABOB]

Just foolin' around ...

(Click back and forth)

 

[SODABOB]

Question: Are these medals the same or different?

Artist Rendering ~ Hires Paper Label



Print ~ 1876 Philadelphia Centennial



Actual Medal ~ 1876 Philadelphia Centennial





Answer: I think they "might" be the same.

 

[SODABOB]

However ...


1. I still can't find concrete proof that Hires Root Beer was a concession at/during the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial.

2. Even if Hires was at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial, I have never seen an account stating it won a medal there.

 

[SODABOB]

Maybe Hires won a medal at one or more of these Expositions / Exhibitions / World's Fairs ...

List of world expositions
Retrospectively recognized expositions	Philadelphia 1876 ~ [*]Paris 1878 ~ [*]Melbourne 1880 ~ [*]Barcelona 1888 ~ [*]Paris 1889 ~ [*]Chicago 1893 ~ [*]Brussels 1897 ~ [*]Paris 1900 ~ [*]St. Louis 1904 ~ [*]Liège 1905 ~ [*]Milan 1906 ~ [*]Brussels 1910 ~ [*]Turin 1911 ~ [*]Ghent 1913 ~ [*]San Francisco 1915 ~ [*]Barcelona & Seville 1929 ~ [*]Chicago 1933

 

[SODABOB]

Some of you may recall this Hires Root Beer bottle that I used to own ...

(I sold it to a collector last summer for $175 plus a $25 bottle he had = $200)

Notice the neck label says ...

"Bottled Expressly For ~ Universal Exposition ~ St. Louis"

The St. Louis Exposition was held in 1904









The main reasons I'm posting this bottle are ...

1. Its from 1904

2. The label depicts numerous medals

3. The medals depicted are pre-1904

4. Which suggest the medals on the 1904 label were awarded sometime prior to 1904