7up 3-1-3 bubble bottle!

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SODABOB

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In other-other words, according to Bill Lockhart there should be at least a few 7 bubble bottles from 1938. Which still leaves the door open for both Los Angeles and San Bernardino as possible contenders. :cool:
 

SODABOB

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Dare I say I will give away another ACL book to the first member who finds and post good pictures of a confirmed 1938 seven bubble 7up bottle from anywhere in the United States? With the exception that you can't use any pics from any of Bill Lockhart's articles. But to tell you the truth, I don't recall him actually posting any pics of a confirmed 1938 bottle. :confused: I'll double check some of his articles and see if he did!
 
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SODABOB

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I just checked Bill's pdf articles I keep on file and did not see any confirmed 1938 seven bubble bottles. But I did have this artist rendering of a 3-1-3 seven bubble bottle from a 1938 newspaper advertisement. Of course its not the real deal but it should give us some idea of what to look for ...


7up Bottle Image 1938.jpg
 

SODABOB

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Rich

Don't panic - your 3-1-3 Los Angeles bottles are still strong contenders for possibly being some of first seven bubble bottles - its just that there might be a few earlier examples out there from 1938-39 and 1940. Of course, finding them is a lot easier said than done.
 

SODABOB

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Just for the record, here's Bill Lockhart's chart again where it indicates the existence of 1938 seven bubble bottles. I know Bill personally and I can assure you if he claims there are seven bubble bottles from 1938 that he or one of his group of researchers has actually seen examples of those bottles. They are sticklers about that and do not rely on 'maybes'

7up Chart Bill Lockhart (2).jpg
 

SODABOB

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Hey, Rich

Check out this BAKERSFIELD bottle I just bought on eBay. Its not as early as I would have liked, but it will serve as a nice souvenir to remind me of the time I've spent on your thread. I especially like the back label, which according to Bill Lockhart was used between about 1938 and 1945. As you can see, its a 1944 with Duraglas. But what's weird about the 44 is that every 1944 7up I have seen has a 4. with a dot, but this one appears to have a double-digit 44. Speaking of which, the 4 on the right looks kind of odd and it might not be a 4 at all but some type of an anomaly. I also see what appears to be a dot? But whatever it is, I will know better after it arrives in about a week. If nothing else it at least tells us that Bakersfield used 2-2-3 seven bubble bottles by 1944. After it arrives I will take some pics and be able to tell you more about it.

7up Bakersfield 1944 Duraglas  Front.jpg

7up Bakersfield 1944 Duraglas Back.jpg

7up Bakersfield 1944 Duraglas Base.jpg


From one of Bill Lockhart's Articles

7up Back Label.JPG


7up Back Label (2).JPG
 
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iggyworf

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Rich

Don't panic - your 3-1-3 Los Angeles bottles are still strong contenders for possibly being some of first seven bubble bottles - its just that there might be a few earlier examples out there from 1938-39 and 1940. Of course, finding them is a lot easier said than done.

Good work Bob. It would be very cool if my bottles are the first 7 bubble bottles. But if not, oh well, I will just have to find the other ones. lol
 

iggyworf

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Just for the record, here's Bill Lockhart's chart again where it indicates the existence of 1938 seven bubble bottles. I know Bill personally and I can assure you if he claims there are seven bubble bottles from 1938 that he or one of his group of researchers has actually seen examples of those bottles. They are sticklers about that and do not rely on 'maybes'

View attachment 186530



I often go back to this chart also. But it does need some revisions I think. Regarding the 8 bubble story, but that is another thread. I have found 8 bubbles up to 1946. I have slowly been researching this and might have a new thread on it hopefully soon.
 

SODABOB

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Rich

Thanks

The new thread sounds good. Maybe you can eliminate / fill in some of the ??? and *** on Bill's chart.

The seller I bought the Bakersfield bottle from lives in northern California and they are going to check their inventory and see if they have any other early California 7up bottles. I gave them a crash course on how to date them which they were confused about. If they come up with anything out of the ordinary that I think you might want, I will let you know. That is, except for anything from Bakersfield. Now that I have two bottles from Bakersfield I thought I'd try to find other examples to fill in the gaps. As it stands now I have the 1955 I bought a while back and the 1944 I bought today. So I have a lot of searching to do if I hope to find any other bottles between 1939 and 1955. I'm not interested in anything later than 1955.
 

SODABOB

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Both of these bottles are currently on eBay @ $29.95 each and by the same seller. I exchanged several emails with them and asked if they could determine the bubble count. They are in extremely poor condition but the seller was able to make out the 'ghost' remains of 8 bubbles on both bottles. I explained to them that because of the poor condition they would probably have a difficult time getting $29.95 for them, so I offered $5.00 for each, which they declined. But that's okay because I really didn't want them all that much anyway and by way of the emails I found out pretty much everything I wanted to. Which is that both of the Owens Illinois plants in Los Angeles, namely plants #23 and #24 were producing 8 bubble labels and embossed neck logos when they were made.

1. Arcadia "Best Ever" bottle = 23 <(I)> 8 (The 3 is difficult to see but the seller said it was a 3)

2. Los Angeles bottle = 24 <(I)> 35 or 36 (The seller wasn't sure if the last number was a 5 or a 6)

If nothing else, it at least tells us that Owens Illinois 7up bottles from the Los Angeles area between about 1935-36 and 1938 had 8 bubble labels with embossed necks. Which leads me to think that the change from 8 bubbles to 7 bubbles occurred sometime during or after 1938. If correct, that leaves late 1938 to sometime in 1941 when the changeover occurred. (At least in the Los Angeles area)

Arcadia / Best Ever Bottling

7up Bottle Arcadia Calif 1938 front.jpg

7up Bottle Arcadia Calif 1938.jpg

Los Angeles

7up Bottle Los Angeles 1935 or 1936 Front.jpg

Owens Illinois plant #24 closed in 1937


7up Bottle Los Angeles 1935 or 1936 Base.jpg
 

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