On the left is a 1938 Rums Dry from Bluefield, VA with it's 1943 counter part beside it. This is so you can see what I mean about the dingier/darker colors of these early acls.
This has to be a late 1930's Royal Crown from Appalachia, Va. Another of Frank's bottles; however, there is no definate date on this one so it's just an educated guess.
Quite possibly very early this Pop Kola is embossed L. L. Rice on the bottom. Lawrence L. Rice had bottling plants in Roanoke, VA, Johnson City, Tenn. (1940's), and Jacksonville, Florida. This bottle could have come from the first and last bottler as the Johnson City didn't open until 1941. It has a very dark appearance, which would indicate that it is an early acl.
I know that this particular bottle is at least the late 1930's. The acl is quite weak on these and very few have survived, unfortunately I no longer own this example. The bottling company which fits the time period of this bottle in Johnson City was the Seven-up bottling company of Johnson City which is embossed on the bottom. The company changed hands around 1940, and I am fairly sure this predates the selling. Yet again this bottle has no date.
A 1939 Lucky Giant Cola bottle from Tazewell, VA, the same company which experimented with the Was-Cott bottle posted earlier, appearenlty liked the result and converted all of their brands to acl by 1940. This is another of Franks, who outbid me on this one.
According to my research the Jumbo Cola bottle was the first production acl. It was one of the double barrel bottles from the Seminole Flavor Company of Chattanooga, Tenn, soon to be the Double Cola company.
All of a sudden I feel like we are turning back the pages of time. Seriously! The specifics to your bottles is stuff that isn't easily come by. I know! It takes a lot of digging to find, comprehend, and remember that kind of stuff. And I'm talking about digging with both a shovel as well as a keyboard.
The "WAS-COTT" bottle isn't even in the book. It must be beyond ER; "Extremely Rare." All of them are great bottles, and I will be chewing over and digesting on them for the next week! Double-Cola good stuff!
Thanks for bringing the past forward ...
Bob
small ps ... I "think" I may have one or more of Morb's bottles. There are a bunch of dust collector's in the back rows on my shelves that I'm going to take a closer look at tomorrow. Hmmm? We'll see!
While the 1936 Was-cott may indeed be extremely rare due to the age and weakness of the acl the more modern bottles aren't all that rare. I have two of them myself. The ACL book is a decent source; however, a complete guide it is not. It doesn't even have the Banner Beverages bottle I posted in my "new to the Morbious Fod collection" or many others that I have found over time. A truly all inclusive book would be huge, and would rely heavily upon the collection pictures of many collectors, and I still doubt we would have them all, but it's a good guide.