Cross & Co. Vancouver B.C. 1894-1963

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Canadacan

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Bob thanks very much for that. It does seem so odd that none of these labels have shown up, and I'm thinking more of the north American market, but even in the 1950's and 60's in the Vancouver region I'm pretty sure Canada Dry, Cross's, Felix Ginger Ale and Thorpe's had the lions share of the market.
I never really pursued Schweppes and only have two club soda bottles from Canada, both ACL's 10oz and 7oz dated 1971. I have a few cans one from the late 60's and it is marked Schweppes (overseas) Ltd London England, and by the mid 70's they were marked Cadbury Schweppes.
Sure would be something to find one of those bottles with the embossed heels...something to watch out for now!

20191116_230222.jpg
 

CanadianBottles

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That info is great, thank you! That explains why the earliest Canadian bottles anyone has been able to find have been the ACL ones. I'm quite surprised that they bothered with returning bottles from overseas, but I guess it makes sense since the bottle would have been worth more than the contents. That definitely explains why there aren't that many of them to show up in Canada since it would have been such a hassle. My impression so far is that only fairly high-class establishments would have carried Schweppes, since it seemed to be a bit of a status symbol in those days. The dump I mentioned earlier which had a bunch of early Schweppes bottles was a luxury hotel dump. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for those embossed bottles from now on, and I'd love to be able to find a paper label but certainly won't be holding my breath for one to show up here.
 

SODABOB

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Thanks for the kudos

However ...

I have been researching the early franchise years between about 1950 and 1960, and it now appears that the labels used in Canada and the United States during that time period were NOT the white/script labels we have been discussing. EVERY ad I can find with a picture of a bottle during that time period are like those attached here. The only exception is the one from London, England that depicts the label in question. I also discovered that the same labels as those depicted in 1955 were still be being used in Canada and the United States as late as 1985. So, as near as I can determine at this juncture, the white/script label was ONLY used on bottles sold in Europe, and possibly on bottles that were IMPORTED to Canada and the United States PRIOR to the franchise years. The white/script label does not appear to have been used by domestic bottlers in either Canada or the United States after the franchises kicked in starting around 1953. Hence, I now believe if we want to find a white/script label we will have to look for one from a European source such as UK eBay.


Vancouver, Canada 1955

Schweppes Ginger Ale_The_Vancouver_Sun_Tue__May_17__1955.jpg


New York, New York 1955


Schweppes Ginger Ale_Daily_News_New York, New York_Mon__Apr_18__1955 (2).jpg


London, England 1954

Schweppes Ginger Ale_The_Observer_London England_Sun__Nov_21__1954.jpg


Footnote: MORE research required - especially involving FRANCHISES
 

Canadacan

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Schweppes- Bottled on the island Malta by Simonds-Farsons-Crisk Malta 1960's. Although not Canadian still seems tough to impossible to find any example!
Note this is the 'Dry' version with embossed heel.

Schweppes- Bottled on the island Malta by Simonds-Farsons-Crisk Malta.jpg
 

SODABOB

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Cc

Cool bottle!

I searched UK eBay and there are hundreds of listings under SCHWEPPES but I did not look at all of them. So I changed my search words to SCHWEPPES GINGER ALE and it narrowed down to about 100 listings. The only thing I found that even came close to the label in question is this bottle described as being from the 1970s. It is priced at 15.00 pounds which is about $20.00 in U.S. currency. I don't intend to buy it, and it appears they don't ship to the U.S. and if they do it would probably cost a fortune. But I do believe that UK eBay is probably the best place to look for the label and/or bottle in question. There might be some other ginger ale stuff to be found by searching the hundreds of listings under SCHWEPPES but I don't plan to look through all of them, at least not today. It could take hours to look at all of them.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bottle-o...214984?hash=item420300a348:g:sXgAAOSwP9FdBiLh


Schweppes Ginger Ale Bottle 1970s UK eBay.jpg
 

SODABOB

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I took another look on the UK eBay and found this bottle. Its not in the greatest shape and I probably won't bid on it, but I did contact the seller to see if they shipped to the U.S. and how much it would cost if they did. There are no bids on it yet that starts at about $7.50. They describe it as being from the 1950s or 1960s. I'm attaching a pic of the base but can't make out everything on it. It appears to be European made but I'm not sure. Nor do I know how to date it. Maybe one of y'all can.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-...798663?hash=item1f05977707:g:Qo8AAOSw-qldwfVN

Schweppes Bottle UK eBay described 1950s or 1960s.jpg

Schweppes Bottle UK eBay described 1950s or 1960s Heel.jpg

Schweppes Bottle UK eBay described 1950s or 1960s Base.jpg
 

SODABOB

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P.S.

I just found this in their description ...

"[FONT=&quot]On the bottom is written J L & Co and serial number 234LI6"

Now the research REALLY begins!


[/FONT]
 

SODABOB

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I just found this on David Whitten's bottle marks site. If its accurate, then the Schweppes bottle appears to be older than the 1950s or 1960s ???

Schweppes J L & Co. from David Whitten site.JPG
 

SODABOB

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And this from Bill Lockhart and the Bottle Research Group (BRG) which I am a member of now. Its a pdf - just scroll to where you will find some detailed information about J L & Co ...

https://sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/JOther.pdf

But I'm still confused about the date of the UK eBay Schweppes bottle. ???
 

SODABOB

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Take another look at the UK eBay bottle and you will notice it also has the LDC mark -- which the seller failed to mention. The LDC mark is discussed in the pdf I posted -- but I'm still confused -- how old is that danged Schweppes bottle?

This link and pics are from a forum discussion about a similar bottle / mark. Notice the L [small D] C

https://www.antique-bottles.net/showthread.php?519501-Odd-shaped-soda-bottle

J L & Co LDC Bottle.jpg

J L & Co LDC Bottle Base.jpg
 

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