A bunch of Coca-Cola bottles... with a twist

[SODAPOPBOB]

peejrey ~

You might do better to post some good photos of your bottles on a seperate thread. I bet you would get a ton of replies. After all, one good photo is worth a thousand words! []

Good luck.

SPBOB

 

[peejrey]

tomorrow my friend.......... tomorrow.....................[]

 

[stonebottle]

Bob, My brother does not want to get rid of his Utica, NY 1915 Coke at this time, but Thanks for the offer and for answering questions. It is very possible he will find another one in the same area, if he does we will keep you in mind. stonebottle

 

[Photon440]

I worked in a bottling plant (Vancouver, Canada) in the late 70's, producing Pepsi, 7-up, Schweppes, Hires and other brands. At that time, Dominion Glass was one of our main suppliers, so they were still going then. Our other usual supplier was Consumer Glass. Dominion Glass went through different owners and eventually was bought out by Consumers Glass (by then called Consumers Packaging) around 1989.

-=Photon=-

ORIGINAL: SODAPOPBOB



The one on the right is the 1948 Canadian bottle. Plus here is what I found on the Canadian glass maker ...
[*]D in a diamond ...Dominion Glass Company, Montreal, Quebec & other locations (1913-??). "D within a diamond" mark was reportedly first used by Dominion in 1928. The mark used before that time was just a diamond (on their insulators), but I'm not certain if that was also true of their bottles.

I though this reference was interesting in that it is not known when the end date was, and the company may very well be producing bottles to this very day. Maybe I should contact the author who put the list together and inform them that Dominion Glass was still going at least as late as 1948.

SPBOB

 

[celerycola]

ORIGINAL: SODAPOPBOB

I love the chart below. It will give you a general idea of bottlers over the years. Check it out.

SPBOB

Bob,

I'm glad you said "general idea." There were more Coca-Cola "bottlers" than there were "franchises." And the dates do not always match up.

For example: the Coca-Cola bottling plants in Macon, GA and Birmingham, AL were in operation in 1901 but franchises were not issued until 1902. The plants originally were sub-plants of Atlanta and became independent franchises the next year. The Birmingham plant had sub-plants at Bessemer, Ensley, Leeds, Patton, and Warrior but franchises were never issued for those towns even though some of them had embossed bottles.

There were also a number of unauthorized bottlers (most using Coca-Cola fountain syrup) that did not have franchise rights to bottle Coca-Cola. Some of these were sued by Coca-Cola and others eventually secured franchise rights or operated as sub-plants.

Regarding the rarity of the bottles: In 1912, the Birmingham Coca-Cola bottler was bottling forty thousand bottles a day of Coca-Cola and soda water and had the largest production. That's 200,000 bottles filled in a five-day work week. That total does not include the sub-plants. Birmingham narrowly beat out Atlanta, Chattanooga, Memphis, and New Orleans.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Celery ~

Thanks. I was careful to word it that way because I suspected there were exceptions. I got the graph from page 61 of Rick Sweeney's (and other contributor's) book " Collecting Applied Color Label Soda Bottles" Third Edition. The graph apparently originated from Coca Cola's own records. I met Rick once when I received two copies of his book, and I recall him telling me there was a time years ago when the Coca Cola company would gladly release just about any information anyone requested. But that as time went by the number of request was so numerous that they had to close the vault and discontinued the practice. It wouldn't surprise me if these days the company charges a fee for that type of information to individuals who are involved with compiling the endless number of books there seem to be on the market now. It seems like every time I turn around there is a new Coca Cola book. I have heard that the best of the best is supposed to be the one done by Alan Petretti. In fact, his big ole' thick book is on my Christmas wish-list just in case someone wants to send it to me. I think it retails for $50.00 ... Lol []

SPBOB

 

[seeker201]

trying to find out more about what i have here...i have three individual 14x17 inch glass sheets that were used to apply the coca cola logo to the bottlecaps. the bottlecap art repeats over and over across the face of the plate glass.

i also have a dozen other such photo plates that were co-branded with coca cola. these caps have Crass' New Orange soda, grape imitation, birch beer, root beer, cheery soda, old pale dry ginger ale. all these say, "Crass' (grape, cherry) Soda, Coca Cola Bottling Co Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.

any idea to the rarity or value of these?

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

seeker201 ~

Welcome to the forum.

This isn't my thread, but I did take the liberty of looking for some of the info you requested. There was a discussion just a week or so ago about those glass plates, and even though I looked for it, I couldn't find it again. It may be buried under a different title. I am sure someone will come along shortly and help you out. I also recall a discussion I was involved in myself regarding the Crass Company, but I couldn't find that one either. So I guess I'm really no help at all, am I? But hang in there anyway, the answers are only a click away. In the meantime you might try the search option. I bet you will find a ton of stuff on both subjects. If I find anything I will be back. If not, good luck.

SPBOB

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

photon440 ~

Thanks for the Dominion Glass info. I have been wondering about that. You should put a book together on what you know about glass making. A lot of people have a lot of questions (especially about molds, etc) and I will personally buy a copy of the book if you ever do such a thing. []

Thanks again,

SPBOB

 

[fanboy]

A couple of tidbits on the Canadian manufacturers. As pointed out Dominion went through many changes; originally it was Diamond Glass and became Dominion in 1913. Around 1973 or 1974 it was changed to Domglas. It was them sold to Consumers Glass in 1989. Consumers glass was sold to Owens Illinois in 2002.

Dominion glass used a D in a diamond upto about 1976; however in about 1973 they started using a new mark that was a D with a blob in it (light bulb, or glob of molten glass maybe?). The earliest mark I know of (from a Coca-Cola bottle) is 13 in a diamond. I suspect that there was confusion between the design and the year. So what was intended to be a D ended up as the year 13 in the diamond. Bottles before 1913, I do not believe were marked.

Chris