Agana Guam Hobbleskirt Coke

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SODAPOPBOB

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Re: RE: Agana Guam Hobbleskirt Coke

Dave: Good to hear from you. I haven't discovered anything new and it appears that it's up to you military guys to save the day again as you so often do. So the ball is still in your court and I hope you eventually find the "Holy Grail" you mentioned - surely there's one laying around there somewhere? Good luck and please keep us posted. Bob Here's the Agana Guam bottle again to remind us that they do in fact exist ...
 

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SODAPOPBOB

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Re: RE: Agana Guam Hobbleskirt Coke

I haven't researched this topic lately and thought I'd take a quick look around. I found this snippet from a 1939 copy of the "Guam Reporter" newspaper and thought it was most interesting. I wonder why they had to use "rain water?"
 

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daven2nl

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Re: RE: Agana Guam Hobbleskirt Coke

Back in the pre-war years there was one reservoir that served the Agana area - Fonte dam and reservoir. During times of heavy rain, apparently the reservoir could get silted up so the water quality wasn't the greatest. After the war, wells came online, but much of the Agana surrounding areas were swamp and rice patties so I can imagine water was somewhat of a commodity. City water as we know it didn't exist until relatively recent times (in the last 50 year or so). During the rainy season plenty of water could have been collected this way... we get about 90 inches of rain a year here. FYI before I depart Guam this summer I hope to get that museum bottle out from behind the display glass so I can check the date and get some better photos. My gut feeling is that the Agana bottles are very old - perhaps from the initial days of coke bottling on Guam. I have found two bottles from 1940 - these differ from the stateside bottles of the time because they only have "TRADE MARK" embossed, not PAT-D. I believe this matches the bottles used for overseas bottling elsewhere which makes sense, because Guam is an overseas territory. If this is the case, the AGANA GUAM bottles may be even more rare. -Dave
 

duanekiszak

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Re: RE: Agana Guam Hobbleskirt Coke

Here is the numbers and embossing on the 1944 and earlier bottles I got. They all have the vertical and horizontal O's overlapping. I will use capital O below for that symbol below. All these bottles were found underwater in the harbor in Guam.

Green bottles- all have the patent D info on them
31 O 42
44 O 42
8 O 42 OAKLAND CALIF embossed on the bottom
2 O 42
47 O 42
89 O 42
35 O 43 OAKLAND CALIF embossed on the bottom
67 O 43
54 O 43 SANFRANCISCO CALIF embossed on the bottom
8 O 43 OAKLAND CALIF embossed on the bottom
42 O 43
39 O 44
18 O 44
10 O 46 SANFRANISCO CALIF embossed on the bottom
9 O 46 SEATLE WASH embossed on the bottom
5 O 45 SANFRANISCO CALIF embossed on the bottom
1 O 40 NEW YORK NY embossed on the bottom
1 O 41 NEW YORK NY embossed on the bottom

Clear - all have patent D info on them

20 O 43
10 O 44
6P O 44
47 O 43
11 O 43
7 O 44
9 O 44
15 O 44
6B O 44
 

daven2nl

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Re: RE: Agana Guam Hobbleskirt Coke

Duane, those pre-1944 bottles are very intriguing, especially the ones without city embossing on the base. Since Guam was occupied in December 1941, the NY NY bottles could have been here before the war started but the 1942/43 bottles must have come in after the liberation in July 1944. The embossed bottles make sense - probably loaded out on a ship and dumped overboard at anchorage. The ones without the embossing are the real question mark. I thought the overseas bottles for troops were all clear and did not start production until 1943. I thought all the earlier stateside bottles would have been embossed. Interesting to say the least... The embossed ones I find in the jungle are 99% San Francisco, Oakland, Seattle, and Portland. This is logical because that is where the supply ships heading to the Pacific theater were all loaded out. -Dave
 

SODAPOPBOB

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Re: RE: Agana Guam Hobbleskirt Coke

As a sort of update, I thought the following aptly describes the two main topics involved with this thread ...
[h2]Coca-Cola and the Military[/h2]
[URL=http://cocacolabottleman.wordpress.com/2010/05/27/coca-cola-and-the-military/]http://cocacolabottleman....cola-and-the-military/
Coca-Cola has been with our military through the years, aboard ships with our Navy and found on bases across the globe. December 1941- Robert W. Woodruff announced The Coca-Cola Company’s wartime policy: “We will see that every man in uniform gets a bottle of Coca-Cola for five cents wherever he is and whatever it costs the Company.” In 1943, General Dwight D. Eisenhower sent a telegram requesting 10 Mobile Bottling Plants be sent to the European war front. The Cablegram also requested that three million bottles and complete equipment necessary for producing the same quantity twice monthly be sent. Before 1944, small portable bottling units, capable of being hauled behind jeeps, were used. By 1944, more permanent installations showed up in the Pacific and European War Theaters. Bottle production began in 1943. The bottles were to be made using clear glass and no City/State markings on the bottom. There are two theories about why clear glass was used instead of the normal Coke Green in manufacturing these bottles. One was that it made the bottles easily identifiable as military bottles. The other is that copper is needed to create the Coke Green glass and, due to a shortage of copper, it was necessary to manufacture them with clear glass. This latter theory may not be correct since all U.S. Coca-Cola bottles manufactured during the War years were in the standard Coke green glass. The first bottle manufactured in 1943 was simply the PAT’D D-105529 bottle in clear glass with no City/State markings. A new bottle mold could not be made quickly to allow a different style bottle for Military use only. By 1944, the new style bottle began production with the word ‘TRADEMARK’ below the Coca-Cola script. This bottle was produced until 1946. Over 5,000,000,000 bottles were served to our troops during WWII.


~ * ~
[h1]Chester Carl Butler Brought Coca-Cola to Guam[/h1]http://guampedia.com/chester-carl-butler/
Chester Carl Butler (1884 – 1952) founded Butler’s Inc. In 1915, along with his wife Ignacia Bordallo Butler. It survives today as the oldest family business on Guam. Butler is best known for opening the first Coca-Cola franchise outside the continental United States. He also owned and operated the popular Butler’s Soda Fountain and Butler’s Emporium in Hagåtña. He and his wife, two of Guam’s earliest business pioneers, were inducted as laureates in the Guam Chamber of Commerce Hall of Fame in 1996. Butler came to Guam as a sailor from Texas, purchasing a soda-making machine after getting out of the Navy and starting a carbonated soft-drink business in 1915. He manufactured and bottled fruit-flavored seltzer drinks, root beer and ginger ale which became very popular on Guam. He then met Ignacia Pangelinan Bordallo when she was only seventeen years old. A year later the two were married. They had five children: James, Beatrice (now Sister Martha of Jesus and Mary), Clara Mae, Benjamin and Dorothy, known as “Dolly” (now Sister Carmencita of the Infant Jesus). Together the two entrepreneurs started Butler’s Incorporated and made it a success for many years. The reputation for Butler’s great-tasting soda pop grew throughout the island, and the bottling company became a success. In 1923, Chester Butler traveled to Atlanta, Georgia and obtained a franchise for a new brand of cola drink known as Coca-Cola. The Coca-Cola Company was young and eager to introduce its product into new markets, and thus Butler was granted the first license to manufacture and sell the product outside the continental U.S. The Coca-Cola franchise brought even more success to Butler’s, and they upgraded their original bottling plant and installed modern equipment, including Guam’s first automated conveyor assembly line. Within a few years, Butler’s became synonymous with the popular Coke brand. In the early 1930s, they added to their growing business the Butler’s Merchandise Retail Store in Hagåtña, several warehouses, and the Gaiety Theater also in Hagåtña, one of only two movie theaters on Guam at the time. In 1936 the couple opened Butler’s Emporium in Hagåtña, a dry goods store featuring major U.S. Franchises such as the popular picture weeklies Life, Post, Collier’s, Newsweek and Time magazines, General Electric, and Hamm’s Beer. Butler’s Soda Fountain, located inside the Emporium, was the most popular ice cream spot on Guam before World War II. The Butlers also started Guam’s first commercial radio station, K6LG. It only operated a few hours a day, with their son Benny at the microphone. He entertained his small audiences with music and commentary and sometimes had his aunt, popular singer and pianist Rosalia Pangelinan Lanford, perform live. The station didn’t last long as most people didn’t have radios.[h2]POW in Japan[/h2]When World War II started in 1941, Chester Butler was one of the American citizens taken to Japan as a prisoner of war. He was interned in a prison camp in Japan. When he returned to Guam after the war his businesses were in ruins. The bottling plant, movie theater and Butler’s Emporium were completely destroyed during the American bombardment of Hagåtña in 1944, and the re-established American naval government took possession of most of his property in Hagåtña. The Coca-Cola Company, by then a powerful corporation, also tried to take back its franchise from the Butlers, but Chester Butler filed a suit against the company and won the settlement out of court. He retained the franchise but didn’t regain his businesses. His health had also been failing since his long internment in Japan and he died on February 14, 1952. Chester Butler was active in the community during his time on Guam. In 1924, he organized and was a founding member of the Guam Chamber of Commerce. He was also a charter member of the Elks Club and the Charter President of the Rotary Club of Tumon in 1939.
 

daven2nl

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Re: RE: Agana Guam Hobbleskirt Coke

I exchanged emails with one of the Butler grandchildren who still owns and operates the Butler store here on Guam. Unfortunately he didn't know too much about the Coca Cola history on Guam specifically. He also did not have any of the Agana bottles I've been looking for.
 

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