Hobbleskirt Coke with 1916 date error

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Dmellman

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I picked this up on a road trip in Virginia. I have read a couple of threads that mentioned this bottle and one eBay auction. It is very crude, the embossed plate is whittled. There are large bubbles. Color is Aqua/sky blue. Some bruising. It is a few millimeters shorter than the Johnson City TN 1915 bottle next to it in the pic and slightly lighter in weight. Base is embossed with "4". It is early ABM given the seams. No heel embossing or marks. Hard to photograph embossing because it is weak. Anyone know more about these. Who made them? Laurens? Or unauthorized? Old ads seem to imply there should be lots out there.

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morbious_fod

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If you will notice the date on this rendering from a 1917 introduction ad for the bottle. The date is 1916. Maybe the memo sent to the creator of this graphic and that bottle had a typo.
 

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Dmellman

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No town listed on bottom. No manufacturer marks except for "4". The other examples also had "4" on the bottom. So far I have seen 3. Mine, the eBay bottle, and one posted here a few months ago.
 

Canadacan

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Hmmmm interesting bottle, I have no idea who made it or the rarity. Even the Canadian adds from 1918 show the bottle with the 1916 patent year...which I believe is incorrect?...the patent was granted in 1915 but it applied to the prototype bottle that did not work out. Here is a link to something you should read...Yo may also want to send Bill Porter an email along with a picture or two and ask him about it if you don't get your answer here.Hope this helps............. http://www.sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/coca-cola.pdfCheers, Ivan
 

grime5

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ive got 2 bottles with the date being nov.6,1915.one from st.louis mo and one from ohio i think.there are some with the 9 in 1915 backwards.guess they were not as good at quality control back then. later greg
 

sandchip

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Wow, that's cool. I like the squatty look. Great score!
 

SODAPOPBOB

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It would be interesting to know if the error bottles with 1916 were produced by a single glass maker or if it occurred randomly throughout the industry. Even though I have searched, I've never seen an official explanation by the Coca Cola Company that addressed the mistake, but I suppose its possible that one exist. Most of what I've seen places the introduction of the new bottle during the spring of 1917, with the most often mentioned month being April. Speaking of which, it was on April 6, 1917 that the United States officially declared war against Germany and entered WWI. This likely had an effect on the new bottle causing its introduction to be delayed in some areas of the country. Another factor was the sugar rationing which reached a peak in 1918. WWI officially ended when Germany signed the Armistice agreement on November 11, 1918.

I thought the attached newspaper article was interesting, especially where it refers to the new bottle as ...

"Seven-ounce corrugated green or white bottles ..."

I suspect the use of the words "Seven-ounce" was a typo because elsewhere in the ad it says "Min. Contents 6 FL. Ozs.," which was the correct amount for the new bottle. However, I'm a little puzzled by the reference to "white" bottles. Surely they meant "clear" bottles? If so, does anyone have a clear glass Coca Cola contour bottle with the November 16, 1915 patent date on it that was issued in 1917? Most if not all of the 1917 bottles were produced by the Root Glass Company and should have ROOT 17 embossed on the heel. I have two of the ROOT 17 bottles but both of mine are green. The November 16, 1915 bottles were used until 1928, which is when the 1923 Patent bottle was first distributed.

I thought the use of the word "corrugated" was interesting as well. Imagine if the term had caught on and what we think of today as the Contour / Hobbleskirt / Mae West bottle was instead referred to as the "Corrugated" Coca Cola bottle.

I'm posting the article in three parts for easier reading, which is from ...

The Washington Post ~ Washington, D.C. ~ April 20, 1917

1. Entire Article
2. Cropped 1 of 2
3. Cropped 2 of 2
 

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SODAPOPBOB

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This image was in my photo files but I don't recall where I got it. I titled it as being dated ... April 12, 1917
 

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SODAPOPBOB

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This is from Bill Porter's Coca Cola checklist book and shows the issue dates for the various hobbleskirt bottles ...
 

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