Drink Vril?

[KentOhio]

Hi, I got this bottle last weekend. It's 11 inches tall, with a tooled lip and aluminum cap. The applied color label says "Drink Vril, The Strength of the Grape, 5 cents. The edges of the label are gold. Is it what I think it is, a syrup bottle that goes on the shelf behind a drug store soda fountain? Has anyone seen anything like this before? How old would it be and what would it be worth? And, has anyone heard of Vril?

 

[KentOhio]

No one knows anything about it?

 

[digdug]

Wikipedia had something sort of related to the drink. It was in a listing about a book called 'The Coming Race'.
(Link)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Coming_Race

In it it mentioned-
The book was quite popular in the late 19th century, and for a time the word "Vril" came to be associated with "life-giving elixirs"

I think it is a rare find! Syrup bottles similar to that (For Coca-Cola, Celery-Cola are very expensive and rare!)
Hope this helps.
Where did you find it?

 

[thesodafizz]

I think if you'll look closer, the label is not ACL, but label under glass. All these types of syrup bottles with the metal lids I've seen were label under glass. Something quite desirable among collectors and would look great in a display......

But these syrup bottles, meant for a soda fountain, pre-date ACL.

K

 

[celerycola]

Vril was on the list of drinks provided by the USDA Bureau of Chemistry (now the Food & Drug Administration) to the President's Home Commission in 1908. The report listed harmful soft drinks that contained cocaine and caffeine.

Dennis Smith

 

[GACDIG]

I beleave I have seen Coca-Cola put out a bottle like this one also.

 

[capsoda]

Yep it is a syrup bottle and I'd dare to say a very rare one. You have a good find there and Kathy is right it is probably label under glass.

 

[KentOhio]

Thanks everyone for the information. That makes it a lot more interesting. I got this at a sale a local auctioneer was having. That sci-fi story must be one of the strangest bottle connections I've ever heard. Neat! It's also neat that it had cocaine and caffeine in it. I know it doesn't make sense, but it is a painted label and not under glass. It's not missing the glass plate either, because there's no recessed area for it to fit into.

 

[thesodafizz]

The fact it is ACL makes it more interesting because according to Dennis Smith, who has boxes and boxes of bottling company data (the remote ones, that many haven't heard ot as well), that Vril was provided to the FDA in 1908. We know what this agency did to anything, patent medicine, soda, etc., that contained cocaine, caffeine and morphine. We also know ACL wasn't "invented" until 1932 and not widely used until the mid-30s. I don't know if Vril "survived" that report in 1908, but it could have gone on until the 30s, but if it had been around for that 20-30 year period, there'd be more items found with this name. Another post says it was popular during turn-of-the-century, which would fit with the 1908 thing. I also do not think soda fountain bottles were used that much during the 30s, but suppose it is possible.

So, this is very unsual for two reasons, ACL on a bottle that seems to predate the process as well as the unusal color.

I guess it may boil down to - was Vril still around - as a soda fountain drink, no less - during at least the mid-30s. And the 1908 list Dennis Smith mentions it being on may be all we can dig up.

Let me ask Dennis Fewless and see if he has any documentations on anyone who advertised Vril during the 30s, as a fountain drink or otherwise, and see what, if anything, he has. I'll report anything he sends me as soon as I get it.

K

 

[celerycola]

There were many fountain syrup, medicine dispenser, and whiskey back bar bottles with enameled labels around 1910. Those labels seem to be thicker and higher quality than later mass-produced acl sodas. Some of these labels are hand-painted and others appear stencilled. I have six fountain syrup bottles circa 1905-1920 with this type of label. Four are bimal and two are machine made. Three of these appear stenciled and three are hand-painted.

I suspect the Vril fountain syrup pre-dates acl bottles by 25 years or so.

Dennis