Barq's Root Beer

Welcome to our Antique Bottle community

Be a part of something great, join today!

SODAPOPBOB

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2010
Messages
11,502
Reaction score
49
Points
0
Check out this blue-label Barq's acl bottle that sold on eBay* four days ago for ...

$255

I put an * on eBay* because it appears to be a foreign listing? The bottle is from Tulsa, Oklahoma and described as 1939?

https://translate.googleusercontent...712670&usg=ALkJrhgTnIONRmYYOvpNj7njM_HNulb6bg

Barq's Bottle eBay June 2016 $255.jpg
 

SODAPOPBOB

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2010
Messages
11,502
Reaction score
49
Points
0
P.S.

As near as I can determine the eBay listing appears to be Italian
 

SODAPOPBOB

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2010
Messages
11,502
Reaction score
49
Points
0
All things considered ...

There are six Barq's and Barq's-Related bottles I'd like to acquire ...

1. Orangine ~ Cascade Bottling Works (Jesse Robinson) ~ New Orleans, Louisiana

Note: I consider this Orangine bottle the Holy Grail of the Barq-related bottles and would prefer it over any of the others.

Orangine Bottle Cascade Bottling New Orleans Embossed.jpg

Possible 1937

Orangine Bottle Cascade Bottling New Orleans Embossed Base (2).jpg

Notice the cap has the Louisiana tax symbol

Orangine Cap (1).jpg

2. Barq's Root Beer ~ Biloxi Artesian Bottling Works ~ First issue 1935 Patent bottle

Barq's Bottle Artesian 1935.jpg

Barq's Bottle Artesian 1935 Base.jpg

3. Barq's ~ Orange Slice ~ Baton Rouge, Louisiana ~ The Red version of this one from St. Paul, Minnesota

Barq's Bottles Orange Label St Paul Minn. 1956.jpg

4. & 5. Barq's ~ Both red and blue but only if they are first issue acls from 1939

Barq's Bottles Red and Blue Dates Unknown.jpg

6. Barq's ~ Tulsa, Oklahoma ~ This one is a bit of a mystery but I would be interested in it if the 1939 date is accurate.

Barq's Bottle eBay June 2016 $255.jpg
 
Last edited:

SODAPOPBOB

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2010
Messages
11,502
Reaction score
49
Points
0
The San Diego bottle show is today - maybe I will find a cool Barq's bottle. I'm just heading out the door now and will report back later.
 

SODAPOPBOB

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2010
Messages
11,502
Reaction score
49
Points
0
I attended the San Diego bottle show yesterday but there wasn't a single Barq's bottle in the entire show. In fact, there were very few acl soda bottles, with most of the soda bottles being Hutchinsons, Blobs, and straight-sided examples. But because I didn't want to leave empty-handed, I purchased a straight-sided Coca Cola bottle from a friend of mine. The bottle is a mid-script Coca Cola from Savannah, Georgia and made by the O.B. CO.

I haven't taken any pictures of it but its identical to this example from Sam Evans' website where he refers to it as common and valued at $25-$50

Sam Evans' Site

http://teampins.com/savannahcoke.html


Another reason I purchased this particular bottle is because I didn't recognize the makers mark and was pleased to discover later that the O.B. CO. was only in operation for two years, which made it easy to date my bottle as being made in 1904-05

O.B. CO ... Ohio Bottle Company, Newark Ohio (1904-1905). Short-lived merger of 3 factories. Later merged with several other plants to form the American Bottle Company.

Coca Cola Bottle Savannah Georgia (2).jpg


Footnote: The real highlight of the show was having a nice chat with Cecil Munsey who is member of the San Diego club and a longtime researcher of bottles. Cecil is 81 years old now and walks with a cane, but he's just as knowledgeable today about soda bottles as he has always been. He has done more research on 7up bottles than anyone I know and told me that he has at least six examples of early paper label 7up bottles, one of which he thinks might be similar to the one I discussed in an earlier thread. I have an open invitation to visit Cecil in his home anytime I want and plan to do just that sometime this coming summer. By the way, I asked Cecil how many copies of his Coca Cola book he sold over the years, which was first published in 1972, and he said he sold over 100,000 copies before it went out of print. He also said that a lot of the original manuscript was hand written that his wife would later type out before it was submitted to the publisher. That was before computers and he said a lot of the research for the book required a lot of traveling and a lot of letter writing to obtain the necessary information.

Here's a picture of Cecil's 1972 Coca Cola book ...

Cecil Munsey Coca Cola Book.jpg
 

Bass Assassin

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 15, 2013
Messages
1,039
Reaction score
7
Points
38
Location
Deep south
Bob, thanks for all the hard work you've dedicated to this thread. It has been a real pleasure following you and seeing what you discovered. I hope you do go by to see Mr. Munsey at his home. I'm sure that would be an enjoyable experience.
I have owned only 1 Barq's bottle and I gave it to a friend., it was a light blue and white ACL and if I remember correctly it was 12 ounces I think.
 

barqlady

New Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2018
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Points
0
The source of the "Jesse Robinson being the illegitimate son of Ed Barq" was made by a Robinson relative in an attempt to scam Coke for a payout. It didn't work but the media found the accusation salacious and reprinted it.

Ed was only 16 yo and living in New Orleans (or France) when Jesse was born. In order for this theory to be plausible, a young 16 yo Ed would’ve had to get on a train to Long Beach, MS, impregnate 14 yo Mary Smith, return to NO, years later relocate to Biloxi, and find his so-called "son."


My theory is that Ed, having never known his own father and having experiencing great personal loss of his own, took pity on a young boy who likely showed his scrappy, energetic, and outgoing personality as a child. Jesse was Ed's "ultimate" apprentice, friend, collaborator.
 

BARQS19

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2004
Messages
449
Reaction score
1
Points
16
Location
Brooklyn, Mississippi
Bass:

I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to toss this into the mix and see if it produces any results ...

And if you do mind, I will cancel it!

It involves my apparent obsession and inability to find a single bottle, sign, card, etc. with "Barq Brothers Bottling" on it. And regardless if such an item dates 1890 to 1897, I will give the first person who finds something along those lines a free copy of Rick Sweeney's 2002 acl book (pictured below), which is currently valued at $60. All I ask is that the qualifying item not be a newspaper article or similar reference, but be an actual item such as those mentioned above, even if all you find is a picture of the item. And if the person who finds something happens to be one of the members who recently purchased one of the books from me, I will send them their money back. There's just gotta be "something" out there that was produced by the Barq Brothers, but I'll be danged if I can anything despite the numerous hours I have searched!

Note: The free book offer will remain in effect until someone finds something or until December 31, 2016. In other words, whichever comes first.

So there you have it - be the first to find a Barq Brothers item and you will not only establish soda pop history, but also receive a $60 book to-boot!

Signed ...

Sodapopbob

View attachment 172237

If anything were to pop up with Barqs Bros on it it could be potentially be worth thousands of dollars. So far, no one has seen anything. As for the term "Orangine" I'm guessing it was not a patented name or it was like the word "cola" a term that could be used by everyone. I've seen way too many Orangine bottles, foreign and domestic, and came to the conclusion that no one owned the name.
BARQS19
 

SODABOB

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2016
Messages
2,121
Reaction score
479
Points
83
If anything were to pop up with Barqs Bros on it it could be potentially be worth thousands of dollars. So far, no one has seen anything. As for the term "Orangine" I'm guessing it was not a patented name or it was like the word "cola" a term that could be used by everyone. I've seen way too many Orangine bottles, foreign and domestic, and came to the conclusion that no one owned the name.
BARQS19


BARQS19

Good to hear from you. Except for barqlady, no one has posted on this thread for about three years. I posted the attached newspaper snippet earlier but don't recall exactly when. Based on the way its worded, it sounds like the Barq Brothers had some type of rights/patent for Orangine - at least at the time this ad was published in 1893. But what might have happened after that, I'm not sure.

Barq Brothers The_Times_Picayune_New Orleans_Louisiana_Mon__Apr_24__1893_ (3).jpg
 
Last edited:

SODABOB

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2016
Messages
2,121
Reaction score
479
Points
83
But then again, maybe it was Sparkling Orangine that was protected ... :confused:
 

Members online

Latest threads

Forum statistics

Threads
83,216
Messages
742,899
Members
24,229
Latest member
TracyPecora
Top