1915 Coke looking for some info

[NOLA_Ken]

yeah there's definitely no makers mark, there was a bottling works here that was started in the late 1890's by a guy named N. Naylon. I know they made hutches and crown top sodas, and it may be that they made the local cokes, but it will take some research to find out.

As for value, maybe I'll try that ebay idea, and if someone wanted to give me 500 I surely wouldn't tell them no, I could make a good dent in my new metal detector fund with that

 

[SODABOB]

Ken

Please keep in mind that a "Bottling Works" and/or "Bottlers" of any type didn't MAKE bottles. They only filled and distributed them. Your bottle was definitely made by a "Glass House" and/or a "Glass Factory" of some type. Did N Naylon make bottles or were they a bottler?

 

[NOLA_Ken]

I'm not entirely sure, I know they were a bottler of sodas and mineral water, and that they sold glassware to bars and restaurants, I haven't really done much research on them yet and what I have found was pretty limited information so I honestly don't know if they made the glass or contracted someone else to do it. I'll have to see what I can find out. The site of their plant is fairly close to my house and right by the local history museum, and maybe coincidentally about a block from where I dug this bottle.

 

[SODABOB]

Ken

Just a few more reminders and I will call it a day ...

1. Your bottle is marked Pueblo and no doubt came from a Coca Cola bottler in Denver, Colorado whose territory included Pueblo.

2. According to Cecil Munsey (who wrote the Coca Cola book and died recently) the Denver Coca Cola Bottling Company was established in 1902. I have a copy of his 1972 book and in it he list every Coca Cola bottler in America and the years they were established. He list eleven Coca Cola bottlers for Colorado, including the one I mentioned for Denver. But he does not list a Coca Cola bottler for Pueblo. Hence the likelihood that Pueblo was a distribution territory of the Denver plant.

3. The likelihood that your bottle originated in New Orleans or anywhere else in Louisiana is slim, although its possible it was transported there by some means such as a traveler, etc.

4. If I were to do any extensive research, I would look into the history of the Denver Coca Cola Bottling Company first.

Please let me know if I can help - I have lots of resources available to me.

Bob

 

[NOLA_Ken]

Bob,
I'm from New Orleans, but I live in Pueblo now and found the bottle here. I have some New Orleans bottles but they're all Christmas Cokes.... Denver makes sense to me, I've been looking for some industrial history of Pueblo I haven't found any mention of a glassworks here and I would assume there should be some mention of one if there had been. I would like to know where this one falls in the time line of the Pueblo Cokes, is it the earliest version of this style? Was the DENVER - PUEBLO earlier and they just dropped DENVER for some reason? It's just something I find interesting for whatever reason and I enjoy knowing some history of the various things in my collection. I'll keep looking into it, and if you happen to come across any info I would really appreciate the help.
Thank you!

 

[SODABOB]

Ken

Sorry about the mix-up on my part. I thought you found the bottle in Louisiana - but stand corrected after re-reading this thread from the beginning. I will see what I can find about the Denver plant, and hopefully some clues to explain the solo Pueblo. It could be something as simple as the glass factory messing up an order and unknowingly used the wrong mold or changed the one they already had. Is there any evidence where the word Denver might have been ground out? That was a fairly common practice when it came to changing date codes. They would grind out one date code and then retool the mold with a new date code. A lot of collectors are not aware of that practice, and it makes it difficult to accurately date certain bottles. I'm attaching an example of what I'm referring to. Notice the offset zero next to the 5. This particular 7-Up bottle was made in 1945 (single digit 5) and the zero was added in 1950 (double digit 50) Crazy but true!

 

[SODABOB]

I stand corrected (again) It appears there was a Pueblo Coca Cola Bottling Company. The bottle pictured is straight sided, in rough shape, but still sold at auction for $160. I found similar straight sided bottles from Pueblo that were described as having been made by two different glass houses ...

1. Root Glass Company - whose mark is ROOT
2. Chattanooga Glass Company - whose mark is CHATT

I can't say if the price this particular bottle sold for is a reflection of what Ken's bottle might be worth, but if someone paid $160 for this ratty looking bottle, I gotta believe that someone would pay a lot more for Ken's near-mint bottle. (maybe)

Notice the ABM for Automatic Bottle Machine - Which would circa date the bottle to around 1905 to 1915. I realize this bottle is straight sided and that Ken's bottle is a Hobbleskirt, but based on what I have seen, Ken's bottle is rarer and in my opinion more valuable. If I had a choice between the two bottles, I would take Ken's bottle. I love them Hobbleskirts, especially the patent 1915 examples. I have a ROOT 17 (1917) that is a first issue and paid $125 for it - and still have it!

[ Click to enlarge ]

 

[SODABOB]

I dug a little deeper and found this excerpt from a 1907 periodical called The Bottler's Help. The 1907 date likely correlates pretty close with the bottle I posted in my last message. The periodical clearly illustrates the existence of a Pueblo Coca Cola Bottling Company in Pueblo, Colorado. Notice the manager as Will De Tolliver. I conducted several searches for the name, including United States Census Records, Genealogy, and various other sources. However, I did not find very much no matter what spellings of the name I used. The only thing I found that even came close was in a 1885 Pueblo, Colorado census that listed a Will Tolliver as a Baker. The Tolliver I found was 43 years old in 1885 and would have been about 65 years old in 1907. So I don't know if they are one and the same or not - although they might be. It is not unheard of for Bakers to become bottlers.

I also found a newspaper article from 1951 that reports an accident at the Pubelo Coca Cola Bottling Company warehouse. It reads as if there was a bottling plant associated with the accident, and mentions an office, but I can't confirm that it was a full bottling facility. It might have been just a warehouse that was located there at the time.

Hopefully this information will shed some light on things. This will just about do it for me because I have already dug just about as deep as I can and doubt I will find much more. Although it might pay off if someone were to pursue the Will De Tolliver name and see if that produces any additional results, especially if they have access to Pueblo Newspapers, Directories, Library, etc.

 

[SODABOB]

Ken

Did you see this N Naylon bottle on eBay? It confirms that N Naylon was a bottler and not a glass factory. I'm thinking it must be rare because I looked for N Naylon stuff yesterday and couldn't find anything until now.

3 Soda Bottle Bottles Dixon Stumpf N Naylon Pepsi Cola All From Pueblo Colorado | eBay

All 3 bottles for one price. All from Pueblo Colorado. The Dixon Stumpf is in pretty nice condition, but does have a small mouth chip. The N Naylon has more scratches etc per photos.

www.ebay.com

 

[SODABOB]

One clue leads to another ...

Nicholas Naylon ~ 1910 U.S. Census ~ Pueblo, Colorado ~ Bottling Works

[ Click to enlarge and Zoom ]