SODAPOPBOB
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"30 BELOW"
First of all I would like to acknowledge and thank member JayBeck who recently sold me this bottle. He said he got it from an oldtime digger who found it back east somewhere. But just how a southern California bottle got back east and buried there is anybody's guess.
There are variation cities of this bottle, which include currently unknown locations back east and two California variations. One is the "Eastside Distributors" which is the one shown here and located in both San Bernardino as well as San Diego, Ca. And the other California example is from San Diego only and made by the "San Diego Soda Works." The most desireable by local collectors is the "San Diego Soda Works" variation which is the hardest of all to come by.
Notice the example here, which is the one I bought from JayBeck, has some serious label loss. The back-side is even worse and almost unreadable. However, even in this condition it is still highly sought after. Based on the testimonies of other local collectors, the odds of me finding another one (in any condition) are about a million to one. I know collectors who have been looking for years and still don't have one. So I am happy to be among the elite few to posess one. It is a perfect example of when rarity outweighs condition.
Ragarding the date when it was made, that's still a bit of a mystery. On the base it has a makers mark which is a entertwined GC. I know this stands for the "Glass Containers" company (see below). But what I and numerous others still don't know is exactly how to read their totally confusing codes. Below the GC are the numbers 3383. And below that is another 3. But is has never been confirmed if this represents 1938 or some other date. On other GC bottles I own and have seen the numbers make no sense at all. The "30 Below" bottles are definitely from the late 1930s and/or the early 1940s, but that is all we know as far as accurately dating them goes. If someone knows more about the GC company and has figured out their coding system, please let us hear from you.
[*]G C (entertwined angularly designed letters, vertically arranged) ... Glass Containers, Inc. (1933-1983),later Glass Containers Corporation, main office in Fullerton, CA, with several glass plant locations. Bought up the Knox Glass Company plants in 1968. This particular mark is stated to have first been used in 1945 according to Toulouse, but may in fact date from somewhat earlier. Peterson (1968:49) indicates at least one variation of the GC trademark was used beginning in 1933. Several variations of the "G C" mark exist, including one with the letters rounded (not angular), and another one with the letters touching, or nearly so.
Regarding value, I have compiled the following for "near-mint" examples. (Which I have never seen except in books. Most have label loss problems).
Values @ Near Mint
1. Eastern U.S. bottles ..................... $650.00
2. Eastside Distributors bottles .......... $750.00
3. S.D.S.W. bottles ........................... $850.00
I paid $75.00 for the one shown below that I bought from JayBeck.
SODA "HAPPY" BOB [
]
First of all I would like to acknowledge and thank member JayBeck who recently sold me this bottle. He said he got it from an oldtime digger who found it back east somewhere. But just how a southern California bottle got back east and buried there is anybody's guess.
There are variation cities of this bottle, which include currently unknown locations back east and two California variations. One is the "Eastside Distributors" which is the one shown here and located in both San Bernardino as well as San Diego, Ca. And the other California example is from San Diego only and made by the "San Diego Soda Works." The most desireable by local collectors is the "San Diego Soda Works" variation which is the hardest of all to come by.
Notice the example here, which is the one I bought from JayBeck, has some serious label loss. The back-side is even worse and almost unreadable. However, even in this condition it is still highly sought after. Based on the testimonies of other local collectors, the odds of me finding another one (in any condition) are about a million to one. I know collectors who have been looking for years and still don't have one. So I am happy to be among the elite few to posess one. It is a perfect example of when rarity outweighs condition.
Ragarding the date when it was made, that's still a bit of a mystery. On the base it has a makers mark which is a entertwined GC. I know this stands for the "Glass Containers" company (see below). But what I and numerous others still don't know is exactly how to read their totally confusing codes. Below the GC are the numbers 3383. And below that is another 3. But is has never been confirmed if this represents 1938 or some other date. On other GC bottles I own and have seen the numbers make no sense at all. The "30 Below" bottles are definitely from the late 1930s and/or the early 1940s, but that is all we know as far as accurately dating them goes. If someone knows more about the GC company and has figured out their coding system, please let us hear from you.
[*]G C (entertwined angularly designed letters, vertically arranged) ... Glass Containers, Inc. (1933-1983),later Glass Containers Corporation, main office in Fullerton, CA, with several glass plant locations. Bought up the Knox Glass Company plants in 1968. This particular mark is stated to have first been used in 1945 according to Toulouse, but may in fact date from somewhat earlier. Peterson (1968:49) indicates at least one variation of the GC trademark was used beginning in 1933. Several variations of the "G C" mark exist, including one with the letters rounded (not angular), and another one with the letters touching, or nearly so.
Regarding value, I have compiled the following for "near-mint" examples. (Which I have never seen except in books. Most have label loss problems).
Values @ Near Mint
1. Eastern U.S. bottles ..................... $650.00
2. Eastside Distributors bottles .......... $750.00
3. S.D.S.W. bottles ........................... $850.00
I paid $75.00 for the one shown below that I bought from JayBeck.
SODA "HAPPY" BOB [
]
