Does anyone know the story behind 3C Nectar?

[morbious_fod]

I found a 3C Nectar bottle from Graham, VA yesterday. I know that this same brand was bottled in Marion, VA. My real question is, where did it come from? When it was bottled? Was it connected with any other brand? When did it stop being made?

I have looked online and in my Soda Pop book; however, there is no mention of dates or history.

 

[madman]

hey nice bottle ill say teens 20s on the date , keep yer eyes open for those marion bottles, there rare as hens teeth, also that ocbc bottle in green is a really nice find, if ya ever get the chance visit marion alot of soda history there mike

 

[morbious_fod]

Thanks for confirmation on the date. That was kind of what I was figuring, and also puts it around the time that the bottling company that I supect bottled it shows up on the Sanborne maps.

I have a feeling that Marion will be a place I wind up visiting more as I start to focus my research in that area.

 

[whiskeyman]

Hiya MORBIOUS and MIKE...[/align] [/align]Seen a few of 'em 3-C Nectar bottles from Marion, VA...most of them are pretty badly pinged, too. There is a also a Marian, VA. mis-spelled variant...[/align]Think they date to the mid-Teens, but I know nothing about their origins.[/align]

 

[bottlepoor]

I`ll need to look in a book I have but, I`m pretty sure 3C nectar drink of the gods started in Roanoke Va. around 1920. I will look it up and get back to yuo ASAP. Here is a picture of the one I have.

 

[morbious_fod]

Nice bottle and odd as well. Most of these I have seen have been the smokey gray type like my Graham above.

So this may well be a local brand that got started and wound up not lasting very long. Well Roanoke isn't all that local; however, it's only two hours away.

 

[bottlepoor]

I have found 3c`s in other shapes and in clear, smokey or aqua, most have been broken, some made in radford Va.

 

[RickNC]

Found one embossed with, "The Original 3C Drink" bottled in Wilson, NC today.

 

[bottle-o-pop]

Found one embossed with, "The Original 3C Drink" bottled in Wilson, NC today.

I have one of these bottles (an all-embossed deco type). Its town label is: Winchester, Virginia.
Besides "3-C Nectar", the bottle also has "The Drink of the Gods" embossed on it.

 

[KungFu]

3-C Nectar, "The Drink of the Gods", was a cola produced by the Columbia Chemical Corporation of Roanoke, VA.. 3-C does not mean 3 cents (or centa), but stands for the 3 "C's" of Columbia Chemical Corporation. The brand advertised their product as having no caffeine, cocaine, or other habit-forming drugs, thus suitable for children.
The 3-C Nectar Bottling Co. of Marion, VA was a franchise incorporated May 12, 1921 and gone bye-bye toward the end of 1922.
This bottle is a misprint as "Marian" instead of Marion. My guess is that the 'error' bottle was held back from further use in favor of the corrected bottle but kept "in case". They were in business only 18 months hence the relative availability of this particular version of the 3-C bottle in excellent condition, probably found in the back of a warehouse.
Reference: www.tazewell-orange.com/3cnectormarion.html