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Ellie

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they used the swimsuit design into the 50's so might not be from the 40's ,

Ah, that would make sense! I read somewhere that Owens Illinois used a dot next to the number to the right of the logo on the base to indicate it was a 40s bottle, before changing their date code format again later down the road. Would you, or anyone here, know if this is true?
 

Ellie

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Now THAT'S very interesting. So, is it likely that it did​ have red pigment but that just faded already?
 

iggyworf

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Ellie, your bottle is from 1942. Yes Owens used a 'dot' after the number to signify what '1940's' yr it was then they switched to using 2 numbers from then on. Like 56 for 1956 ect. I also have some 7ups missing the red on them. But I never found any in the wild.
 

Ellie

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Awesome! Thanks for confirming that hehe.

This is the first bottle I've found and I think it would look pretty weird to me if I find a 7up with red after this lmao
 

RCO

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Now THAT'S very interesting. So, is it likely that it did​ have red pigment but that just faded already?

I'm pretty sure it would of had orange paint on the front label

found a picture online of a similar bottle from Athens GA , only difference from yours is wording on back slightly different , yours seems to have an extra line where it mentions bottle is not to be used for any other drink , perhaps that was only on the earlier ones and removed later on


s-l1600.jpgs-l16001.jpg
 

RCO

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Ellie, your bottle is from 1942. Yes Owens used a 'dot' after the number to signify what '1940's' yr it was then they switched to using 2 numbers from then on. Like 56 for 1956 ect. I also have some 7ups missing the red on them. But I never found any in the wild.

I have a box in the garage full of damaged 7 up bottles that I mostly found when swimming , lots didn't have the label on them or all white . I'm pretty sure these bottles did have orange paint on them originally and it faded away from being outdoors


but her bottle is older than I realised as I found a picture online of a similar lady bottle from that area and the wording is slightly different , so it does seem to be an earlier version used in the 40's not the 50's
 

Ellie

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wow! that one looks really nice ngl lmao. I thought the red would look kinda weird but that actually looks really cool imo.
 

RCO

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( I did some deeper research , appears there was a brief period in ww2 when they didn't use colour on the front label on US bottles , ( not sure if they also did in Canada as can't recall seeing such bottles ) , so your bottle might not of had colour if its definitely from 42 , but pretty much all 7 up bottles used orange on the front label except those ones )



The exception occurred during
World War II, but the exact dates have not
been published that I know of. The swim
suit bottle lost its red-orange shield –
probably, sometime between 1942 and
1945 (
Figure 10). The red pigment was
saved for war use. With peace, the redorange
shield returned.


http://www.angelfire.com/zine2/thesodafizz/SevenUp_BLockhart.pdf
 

iggyworf

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RCO, forgot about that article. I have it in my 7up file. I have 3 bottles with no red/orange shield on them. one of them clearly has the 'ghost' ACL of the red/orange paint. But the others it's almost impossible to tell if the had the red/orange paint.
 

Burkenhill

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Hi Ellie,

Your bottle is certainly in reasonable condition notwithstanding that it has been out in the weather and the red/orange shield colouring has disappeared. The back label is back label #3 which is typical in bottles from 1940-1948 according to the most extensive research done by professor Bill Lockhart in his detailed article, "Bottles on the Border: The History and Bottles of the Soft Drink Industry in El Paso, Texas, 1881-2000" wherein he goes into a lot of detail of the numerous back labels on 7up ACL bottles. Your picture doesn't show the swim lady very well but it appears that she may have only 1 foot, which makes the bottle a little more interesting but probably doesn't change the value much. By 1942 the swim lady usually has 2 feet. As stated elsewhere in this thread, I concur that its value is +/- $10, though with the red/orange missing on the shield many would be buyers have a lot of comparable bottles available in more complete original condition for equal or lower prices.
 

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