Green River - soda bottle ontario 1920's era ?

RCO · Jan 6, 2017

I just happened to notice this bottle on ebay and I hadn't seen it before , I checked in the book and there is listings for Green River bottling from the 1920's in London , Hamilton and Toronto but they all seem to be short lived and from looking at this bottle I'm not even sure its that old to be from the 20's or not ?

anyone seen it before or know more about it ?

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/RARE-CANADIA...373745?hash=item1a230f9631:g:ATwAAOSwnHZYa7yk

Robby Raccoon · Jan 6, 2017

It looks correct for an art deco period (later 1910s up till 1960, but mainly 1920s-1940s) bottle. Had I dug it, I would think later 1920s through 1930s.

Not sure about its price, though, without a label or huge collecting market for the company.

CanadianBottles · Jan 6, 2017

It does look a bit recent for the 20's, doesn't it? Late 20's, maybe. I'd have guessed 30's personally. It's kind of a weird bottle for Canada, Canadian art deco sodas seem to usually be either generic designs or really artistic custom bottles, but I don't think this one is a generic and it's way too boring for your typical Canadian custom deco bottle. Reminds me more of a crown top ketchup bottle than a Canadian soda (I doubt it's a ketchup though).

CanadianBottles · Jan 6, 2017

Hmm, do you think that maybe they were bottling the American drink Green River in Canada? That might explain the weird bottle.

Canadacan · Jan 7, 2017

Green River came to Winnipeg in 1922, and probably at the same time in Ontario,....it started up in the USA about in 1919 http://www.greenriversoda.com/chicago/history/

Going back to my Thorpe's post from 2015.........

Re: Thorpe & Co. Ltd. Vancouver BC 1889-1935

Jumping back to the Thorpe & Co. Ltd display at the 1930 Vancouver Pacific National Exhibition I noticed a couple of syrup dispensers on the counter, at first just I assumed they were one of the Thorpe's flavors but upon a real good study of the picture I found out that It's another USA brand called Green River Syrup http://www.greenriversoda.com/chicago/history/I think the label is similar but not exact to the one I pasted on the left....and so was this Thorpe's go to drink before 7up?......about all I can say now is wow!

Circa 1930 Thorpe & Co. -Vancouver Pacific National Exibition..jpg

Circa 1930 Thorpe & Co. -Vancouver Pacific National Exibition. - Copy (2).jpg

My middle bottle is of similar style but is a 7oz instead of 6oz...it is dated 1929 and is American made, it is embossed on the shoulder Thorpe's Ginger Ale but this bottle would have also used paper labels for various other products. In the photo of the Vancouver exhibition I note it appears all the bottles are paper labeled...and I suspect the photo may be a wee earlier than 1930...I also believe that at least the first two bottles below are in the photo above.

I have a couple of items documenting Green River from Winnipeg in the early 1920's, and a few USA items. I may do a post in the future.

CanadianBottles · Jan 8, 2017

Ah there we go! I'd totally forgotten about those Thorpe's bottles, those definitely are quite similar. I wonder where this Green River bottle was used.

Canadacan · Jan 9, 2017

That bottle could have been used anywhere from Alberta to Ontario. Interesting to note that products like Whistle had a patented bottle fairly early (1923) but they have been around since 1916 so prior to that I cant say for sure but most places just server you soda on site, while Kist did not have one until 1927...so prior to that the bottlers were allowed to use their own bottles with the products label...for example I have a newsprint article from 1920 for Orange Kist and the ad is from Drewrys Winnipeg showing a paper label kist with an embossed Drewrys bottle. So Green River operated in a similar fashion....It is possible that those bottles were towards the end and that was their patent bottle or registered.

This is an American ad but works fine for illustration purposes as I cant find a Canadian ad with a bottle.

Green River- Shreveport Louisiana, The Times, 22 Jun 1920, Tue

Green River- Shreveport Louisiana, The Times, 22 Jun 1920, Tue - Copy.jpg

I tried to enlarge that photo as best I could. So surprisingly the Thorpe's 7oz ringed bottle was not used for Green river but rather the 6.5 oz was...well actually that is not surprising because the 6.5 are simply embossed Thorpe & Co. Vancouver BC...and the 7oz is embossed Thorpe's ginger Ale.

Circa 1930 Thorpe & Co. -Vancouver Pacific National Exibition. - Copy (3).jpg

RCO · Jan 9, 2017

some interesting information , it doesn't appear the 2 bottles on ebay have a city or even province on them so maybe they could be from Winnipeg or somewhere else if green river was a bigger brand in other areas . looking thru my book it doesn't appear to have lasted long in Ontario which was why I doubted the bottle on ebay was from here

Canadacan · Jan 10, 2017

Well the franchise that opened in Winnipeg in 1922 seemed to be a full fledged bottler, they even advertised company shares for sale, and it is possible they had the bottles made. I have quite a few bottles from Manitoba but have never seen that bottle. I noticed on ebay there is a Green river crown marked Canada but it is also marked 11 fl. oz on the face, I think 11oz bottles were introduced in the 1940's and used well into the 1950's as I do have examples from kist and Wishing Well, so that would indicate it was around for a while.

Green River - soda bottle ontario 1920's era ?

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