Bottles for 1930s Feature Film

[mattprops02]

Hi there,

I am a prop master on a period feature film set in the late 1930s. I am looking to buy art deco soda bottles that are correct for the period. The more interesting the bottle the better - with swirls, ribbing, unique shapes, and other deco detailing.

Our film is set in NY, Chicago, and Kentucky. There is so much variety on ebay from Bob-O-Link to Nu-Icy to Galu I wanted to reach out here as you seem like a great resource for dating and identifying and hopefully have other deco suggestions for me.

Also if anyone is selling, or knows where to go to buy, please let me know! Not looking for crazy numbers, but hoping for two matching of each in good condition.

Thanks so much everyone!
Matt

 

[CanadianBottles]

Welcome to the forum! I'm sure you'll have a huge selection for New York and Chicago. It's easy to date soda bottles from that era because most have the date marked on or near the base. If you want to go for full historical accuracy make sure that it's a brand which would have been sold in the place where your film takes place - most bottlers in those days only operated in one city or town, and didn't distribute too far beyond its environs. For full accuracy you'll also want to make sure you're getting the colour of the drink right, if you're going for bottles of a specific brand. The clear "krinkly" Orange Crush bottles are a safe bet, they're cheap and widely available, and would have been used across the US. By the late 30s the deco era was already coming to an end, but there were still plenty of them in use and some companies still producing them.
I'm sure that some collectors local to those areas will be able to point you towards some more specific local bottles.

 

[hemihampton]

a lot of late 30's bottles will be ACL (applied colored labels a.k.a. Painted) or paper labels. Art Deco bottles I believe were slowly starting to fade away by then but still existed. just my amateur opinion, others may vary. I'm sure someone in here could help you with those. Good Luck. Leon.

example of 2 of the type of bottles I mentioned.

 

[Bottle 2 Rocks]

Hi there,

I am a prop master on a period feature film set in the late 1930s. I am looking to buy art deco soda bottles that are correct for the period. The more interesting the bottle the better - with swirls, ribbing, unique shapes, and other deco detailing.

Our film is set in NY, Chicago, and Kentucky. There is so much variety on ebay from Bob-O-Link to Nu-Icy to Galu I wanted to reach out here as you seem like a great resource for dating and identifying and hopefully have other deco suggestions for me.

Also if anyone is selling, or knows where to go to buy, please let me know! Not looking for crazy numbers, but hoping for two matching of each in good condition.

Thanks so much everyone!
Matt

I have about 500 in my collection but I do not have many doubles but am willing to let some go