Unfortunately with this bottle being a Chattanooga glass works bottle it doesn't have a date which has lead to your confusion. These bottles were acl bottles used to bottle Rums Dry Ginger Ale in the late 1930's and early 1940's. The bottle pictured is from 1938. The acl was quite week on these and you tend to find quite a few of them missing the acl. It is possible that there were earlier versions that would have been made sans acl for use with a paper label. Sorry it doesn't pre-date Chero.