GRAHAM GLASS COMPANY / FLAVOR BOTTLES / COCA COLA / SEARCH / RESEARCH

[SODAPOPBOB]

I decided to post that "other mystery bottle" now because I have given up trying to make sense of it. I'm not even sure if it's a Graham bottle. Notice it is straight all the way to the bottom and does not have a wide base. The thing about it that intrigued me most was in the description where it says "fancy writing." But because the image is so small (and I have been unable to enlarge it), I can't make out the so called fancy writing. I was hoping it was Cola Cola in script he was referring to but he does say the fancy part are the words "Soda Water." Whichever the case might be, I have never seen "any kind" of fancy writing on a flavor bottle, except the one that digdug shared with us and is the main bottle I am currently looking for.

Anyway, check it out. And if you know of some way to enlarge the image, please do so and share it with us. Plus, if you can find what he refers to as a "sister bottle," please share that with us as well.

Thanks

Bob

~ * ~

I find it especially interesting where he says "ATLANTA" is on the bottom.

Description: [ slightly edited ]

AN OLD 1915 (NOT DATED ON THE BOTTLE, MEANING THIS BOTTLE WAS MADE BEFORE 1920, AT LEAST 1915 TO 1917) COCA COLA SODA WATER BOTTLE, 6 OZ ~ ICE BLUE IN COLOR, THESE OLD FIRST SODA WATER BOTTLES IN THE COCA COLA HAD A LOOK OF THEIR OWN, LOOK HOW SODA WATER IS WROTE WITH THE FANCY WRITING, THIS BOTTLE IS ROUND AND OLDER THAN THE SQUARE BOTTLE ~ 6 STARS AROUND THE SHOULDER ... ON THE BOTTOM IT READS: ATLANTA (NOT MAKED GA BUT THAT IS WHAT IT IS FROM, BIRTH PLACE OF COCA COLA).

http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/old-1915-6-star-soda-water-bottle-coca-cola-atlanta-1

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

P.S. ~

That bottle looks like a "star" variation to me and despite what the guy says, I'll bet you dimes-to-donuts that it's not a pre-1920 bottle but rather a 1923 or later. ???

Bob

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

P.S. ~ P.S.

I forgot to acknowledge where the guy said, "OLDER THAN THE SQUARE BOTTLE ~ 6 STARS AROUND THE SHOULDER," but if those aren't stars I see in the image he posted, then what are they?

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

HAPPY 4th of JULY

Some of the following might be thought of as pure speculation, but I prefer to think of it as an educated guess. Call it what you will, but after pouring over numerous publications and documents dating back to the teens and 1920s, and taking notes for later comparison, certain common denominators came into focus which helped support my believe that ...

1. At least as early as December of 1915 the Owens Bottle Company (Some references use Owens Bottle Machine Company and others use Libbey-Owens), was involved in negotiations with the Graham Glass Company for Owens to buy them out. Negotiations would continue through early 1916 with the buy-out finally occurring in July of 1916.

2. In January of 1916, the Coca Cola bottlers convention was held in Atlanta, Georgia where numerous bottle designs were entered and voted on in response to the Coca Cola Company's request for a standardized bottle. Two of the entries were one by the Graham Glass Company and one by the Root Glass Company, with Root winning the competition.

3. In order for the Graham Company to have a prototype bottle ready for display at the January convention, logic dictates they were working on it prior to the December 1915 negotiations with the Owens Company.

4. Even though the Owens Company bought the Graham Company in 1916, the plant names and operations would remain pretty much as they were prior to the buy-out. (I strongly suspect the Graham brothers still had some influence in the company after the buy-out, at least as consultants. But documentation's regarding this are vague - with a portion of the vague part being related to who retained the rights to the Graham bottle patents - at least one of which is the primary focus of this thread and patented in 1916 ).

5. When the new standardized Coca Cola bottle (contour / hobbleskirt) finally went into production / distribution in early 1917, the Root Glass Company apparently had full control of it because it was they who held the patent at the time. Thus, Root was the dominant producer of the new bottle in the first year and made a jillion dollars as a consequence.

6. However, because of the huge demand for the new Coca Cola bottle, Root could not keep up with the supply, which required other glass companies to start producing it as well, which included the Graham/Owens Company.

Now for the good part ...

7. I have reason to believe the Graham Glass Company actually thought they were going to win the 1916 bottle competition, which would have allowed them to fully dominate the Coca Cola soda bottle industry like it did for the Root Company. But when this did not occur as anticipated, Graham/Owens decided to work with their other 1916 patent ( the 49,729 bottle ) and push that one down everyone's throat instead!

8. By 1918 Graham/Owens was producing the Coca Cola contour bottle, but Root still held the patent and taking in truck-loads of royalties because of it.

9. It's impossible to say how many of the patent 49,729 bottles (and it's variations) were produced by the Graham/Owens Company over the years, but based on what I have seen and researched, the count could very easily rival that of the contour bottle. If this hypothesis of mine is even close to being accurate, then it suggest to me that the Graham brothers weren't such big losers after all.

Bob

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

[sm=thumbup.gif]

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

P.S. ~

10. I also suspect the Coca Cola Company had their finger in the pie when it came to the Graham/Owens 49,729 bottle. There has to be some logical explanation why every? Coca Cola franchise bottler used the Graham/Owens flavor bottle at some point, and I don't believe it was just a coincidence.

Bob

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

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[SODAPOPBOB]

By the way ...

In case you're wondering about those "other types" of flavor bottles, it looks like the Root Company jumped on the band wagon around 1922-1923 ...

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Like the Graham flavor bottles, Root also produced variations of the own patents. Here's one of them ...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-CC-SODA-BOTTLE-MONTROSS-VA-/290556125699

BOTTOM - MIN. CONTENTS 6 1/2 FL. OZ. - COCA COLA BOTTLING COMPANY - BOTTLE PAT'D NOV 6 1923 - 3497 ROOT

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Final P.S. for today ... and then it's "Fourth of July Party Time" with the family!

Graham/Owens and Root would both be absorbed into the newly formed Owens-Illinois Company by 1930-1932, but the original Graham patent numbers would continue to appear on various flavor bottles by various companies well into the 1940s and possibly even the 1950s.

Here's my Laurens Glass Works example which is dated 1948 and embossed on the heel with 4LGW8 49729