Gentleman,
I've been off the radar the last few months after making some posts here sharing my Guam finds and exchanging some Coca Cola bottle information with some of the regulars. I still have the data I collected from my WW2 coke bottle survey I did in the jungle and plan on continuing with plans to write a paper on my finds - just need to find the time.
One of the questions that came up was whether or not there was a Guam embossed Hobbleskirt from the time before WW2 when a man named Butler had a Coke franchise and bottled here on island.
Today I visited the Pacific War Museum and had a great conversation with the curator. One of the first questions she asked me when she discovered I find a lot of coke bottles was "have you found an Agana Guam coke bottle yet?". The museum actually has one on display, and I was able to take a photo through the glass. Unfortunately their bottle is broken - chipped at the base and broken at the top - and it looks like a scuba dive find.
Apparently there is one more known Agana Guam coke bottle known to exist - by one of the descendants of Butler himself. I attempted to visit their store but it was closed. Rumor is that the National Park Service here on Guam was given a couple found by hikers, but we suspect those are simply WW2 era clear Hobbleskirt bottles.
So - Agana Guam marked Hobbleskirt coke bottles do exist. As far as we know, there are two bottles in existence. I'm going to see if I can't find one myself in the time I have remaining here on Guam. It will be challenging - the two largest villages on the island were completely destroyed during the liberation in 1944, and during the Japanese occupation all things American were illegal - so for all we know the majority of bottles were destroyed.
I asked but they did not know the date of their bottle. Next time I go back I'll see if they can't let me pull it out of the glass enclosure to get some better photos and look at the date.
-Dave
I've been off the radar the last few months after making some posts here sharing my Guam finds and exchanging some Coca Cola bottle information with some of the regulars. I still have the data I collected from my WW2 coke bottle survey I did in the jungle and plan on continuing with plans to write a paper on my finds - just need to find the time.
One of the questions that came up was whether or not there was a Guam embossed Hobbleskirt from the time before WW2 when a man named Butler had a Coke franchise and bottled here on island.
Today I visited the Pacific War Museum and had a great conversation with the curator. One of the first questions she asked me when she discovered I find a lot of coke bottles was "have you found an Agana Guam coke bottle yet?". The museum actually has one on display, and I was able to take a photo through the glass. Unfortunately their bottle is broken - chipped at the base and broken at the top - and it looks like a scuba dive find.
Apparently there is one more known Agana Guam coke bottle known to exist - by one of the descendants of Butler himself. I attempted to visit their store but it was closed. Rumor is that the National Park Service here on Guam was given a couple found by hikers, but we suspect those are simply WW2 era clear Hobbleskirt bottles.
So - Agana Guam marked Hobbleskirt coke bottles do exist. As far as we know, there are two bottles in existence. I'm going to see if I can't find one myself in the time I have remaining here on Guam. It will be challenging - the two largest villages on the island were completely destroyed during the liberation in 1944, and during the Japanese occupation all things American were illegal - so for all we know the majority of bottles were destroyed.
I asked but they did not know the date of their bottle. Next time I go back I'll see if they can't let me pull it out of the glass enclosure to get some better photos and look at the date.
-Dave