COCA COLA QUESTION / QUANDARY

[SODAPOPBOB]

I apologize for what might seem like an obsession, but since I'm good at that and have nothing better to do this morning, I thought I'd share this picture which took me almost two hours to find. I found lots of similar pictures, but this was the only one showing the wood cases like the one's in question here. The only bummers are ...

1. No exact date. Simply described as circa early 1900s.
2. I can't tell whether the cases have lids or not.
3. Obviously no way of determing the types of bottles.
4. Horse drawn delivery wagons were still being used at least as late as 1915+

I realize the picture doesn't prove a thing one way or another, but I still thought it was cool and worth sharing.

Bob

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Just for the heck of it I thought I'd share this picture, too ...

 

[celerycola]

I didn't say wood boxes of this type were not used for Hutchinson bottles. My comment was that most of these soda crates with the holes were made and used long after Hutchinson bottles were no longer used. When a high walled crate with 24 holes was pictured in the 1929 Coca-Cola Standardization Guide (pictured earlier in this thread) it was a quarter century after any Coca-Cola bottler used a Hutchinson bottle.

When you placed a hobbleskirt bottle in the red crate was it an actual 1915 or a newer bottle? There were subtle design changes between the 1915 and 1924 patents, and again for the D patent. A later bottle may have been a perfect fit and helped prove the age of the crate.

ORIGINAL: SODAPOPBOB

celery ~

Thanks for the follow up.

I think part of my confusion regarding the crates/boxes is because I primarily think of them as being used for bottles distributed from local bottlers to local grocers and not from the bottle maker to the bottler. Isn't that why some of them say "When Empty Return To?" And if they were used between local bottlers and grocers, why would this not have been a practice during the Hutchinson era? Surely they used some type of wood box/crate to transport them around town. Maybe I'm just misunderstanding you, so please correct me, but I can't help but think what you are saying is that they didn't use wood boxes/crates for Hutchinson bottles. And if not, then what did they use?

Thanks again

Bob

 

[celerycola]

Bob,

Your insistence that this is a pre-1900 box reminds me of a current ebay auction for a "Pre 1916 Billings Montana Coca Cola Bottle Straight Side Sided MT Coke".

Because the bottle is similar in style to the early Coke bottles the seller claims an early date for the bottle. Please look at ALL the pics for this listing and tell me if you believe the bottle is "pre 1916."

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pre-1916-Billings-Montana-Coca-Cola-Bottle-Straight-Side-Sided-MT-Coke-/321050166313?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ac014c429

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

celery ~

Thanks again for your input. I truly appreciate it.

It's not a matter of my insisting the box be turn-of-the-centry, but rather a situation where I am at the age and phase of collecting now where I seek proof positive information as opposed to just accepting opinions and observations without the proof to back it up. I'm not saying you aren't right, because you may very well be. I'm just curious as to how anyone can be 100% certain the red box was not originally intended for hutchinson bottles? The 1929 standardized illustration you referred to is on page one. But it doesn't have a lid. The lid is one of the main things I wonder about. Take for example the case pictured below which is also shown on page two and was contributed by member wonkapete. It too has a lid with an identical lock just like the red one and wonka describes it as "Turn-of-the century." But what if it was repainted with red paint and newer stenciling? What about it other than the original lettering tells us it's a circa 1900 bottle case? Or are wonkapete and Alan Peteretti wrong? Please don't be upset or think ill of me, but I guess when it comes to certain things I am looking for that appraiser who can say without a shadow of a doubt that such and such was made in this or that year "because" ....

Regarding you question as to whether it was a 1915/1917 hobbleskirt I tested the box lid with, the answer is yes, it was a patent 1915 bottle, and the lid would not close enough for the latch/lock to catch.

As for the eBay bottle you referred to, I can't make out all of the numbers, but "because" Owens-Illinois was not established until 1929, then the bottle cannot be any earlier than that.

Thanks again

Bob

[ wonkapete case described as turn-of-the-century ]

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

For those among us who really want to scratch their noodle over something, check this out ...

Here's a guy who claims to have been collecting Coca Cola for 42 years and states that his box was used for hutchinson bottles. I could be wrong, but just the paint alone leads me to believe it's newer than that. But then again, maybe he is dating it based on the box construction itself or the bottler it came from. Whichever the case, you'd sure think after 42 years of collecting that he would know a thing or two about Coca Cola stuff.

http://forsale.oodle.com/view/rare-vintage-coca-cola-wooden-hutchinson-bottle-crate-1888-1902/2952172466-houston-tx/

Be sure to click on each picture to enlarge it.

[ Described as circa 1888-1902 ]

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

PS ~

Or is the guy's box just another "case" of mistaken identity?

 

[CreekWalker]

Great forum topic, very interesting! The box may be post straight side coke bottle, and probaly a early pre-1915 hobbleshirt coke bottle. Which was slightly shorter and squat made until the HS pattern was standardized. In which case, the box would be an intermediate pattern and short lived, rare, made after the straight side coke, thus for the shorter pre-1915 standardized hobbleskirt Coke bottle. Notice the 1923 in the center, (dark green) and the shorter amber and standardized 1915 Coke,to each side, the pre-1915 early Coke was as short as the amber or less, but fatter and squat to carry six ozs.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

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[SODAPOPBOB]

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