GREEN ~ STRAIGHT-SIDED ~ ACL COCA COLA BOTTLE

[SODAPOPBOB]

I acknowledge and appreciate everyone's opinions. I hope they will eventually lead to proving whether the bottle is genuine or fake. At this point I recommend addressing your doubts to the seller and not me. It is they who are claiming the bottle is a genuine prototype. Even though I feel there is possibility that the bottle is genuine, that too is just an opinion which I will never know for certain until such time if/when the bottle can be examined first hand. By the way, I received a reply from the seller in response to my inquiry, and as it turns out there are only two numbers embossed on the bottle. The base number (above the line) is 30. The heel number is 98.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Base and Heel numbers ... 30 98

 

[hemihampton]

This seller has sold lots of exspensive Cokes to the Sheik the past few months so they are not new at selling bottles or Coke bottles. LEON.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

I'd like to switch gears for a moment and focus on another green, straight sided (block letters) Coca Cola bottle, (which I posted pictures of earlier). They are often referred to as "Rare" but as you will see below there seems to be an ample supply of them. So I'd say they are actually somewhat common. But what do we really know about them? Which parts of the country were they distributed in? Which glass manufactures produced them? Which bottlers bottled them? Did they have paper labels? If so, what did the paper labels look like? Which brands and/or flavors of beverage did they contain?



Even without asking these questions it would be easy to assume that ...

1. They did not contain Coca Cola.
2. They are most likely "flavor" bottles.
3. They most likely contained Ginger Ale or a similar flavor.
4. They probably had paper labels.

Even though I am probably right on most (if not all) of the above answers, I admit I am just guessing and in reality know very little about these particular bottles and have no actual facts regarding them. It could very well be there is a collector among us that can tell us everything there is to know about these bottles - and if this is the case, please let us hear from you. But on the other hand, it wouldn't surprise me if the majority of collectors are like me and can only guess about these bottles and in reality don't know squat about them and cannot provide any documented facts pertaining to them. One thing I hope we can agree on is that these bottles are not fakes - the fact they are embossed and in apparent abundance suggest otherwise. And if you're thinking they are no-account, ordinary flavor bottles and not worthy of discussion, I acknowledge your opinion but emphasize that that line of thought does not help bring us any closer to understanding the true origin and use of these bottles.

The primary reason I selected these particular bottles as a side topic is to point out that it's one thing to categorize a one-only, unknown bottle like the green acl as a fake, but an entirely different thing to place these bottles in the same category, especially when you take into account there are so many of them. And yet, even with this said, what "facts" do we have about these embossed, green Coca Cola bottles that can clearly identify them? And by "identify," I'm referring to factual who-what-when-and where information.

Another reason I am focusing on these bottles is to illustrate that even a somewhat common bottle like this can sometimes elude us as to their exact origin, use, and distribution, and that pertinent information related to them is not always readily available. But just because these bottles are a bit of a mystery (at least to me) does this automatically mean we should throw them under a bus and forget about them? Or are they worthy of a little attention so as to solve the mystery about them once and for all time?

Maybe, just maybe we don't know everything there is to know about every soda bottle ever made (not yet, anyway) and there are still a few out there that need more research to determine exactly what the truth is about them.

~ * ~

These first five links pertain to the same bottle, but no one seems to know much about them and more often than not appear to be guessing ...

[URL=Http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/green-coca-cola-bottle-291805784]Http://www.worthpoint.com...-cola-bottle-291805784 [URL=http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/early-coca-cola-bottling-company-417016556]http://www.worthpoint.com...ling-company-417016556

[URL=http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/early-emerald-green-coca-cola-440062648]http://www.worthpoint.com...en-coca-cola-440062648

[URL=http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/deep-green-coca-cola-bottle-479590022]http://www.worthpoint.com...-cola-bottle-479590022

[URL=http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/coca-cola-rare-old-green-straight-side-bottle]http://www.worthpoint.com...n-straight-side-bottle

~ * ~

Here's one I thought was interesting. And even though it does not include a clear picture to support the seller's description, I really can't imagine him making up a thing like the following makers mark if the bottle did not have it. However, based on everything I know about Laurens Glass Works marks, I read this one to indicate 1911. But is it really a 1911 bottle or did the seller misread the mark? Or am I mistaken about my understanding of LGW marks?


E1LGW1 (1911?)

[URL=http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/coca-cola-ounce-green-coke-bottle-308396885]http://www.worthpoint.com...-coke-bottle-308396885


Here's a link about the history of the Laurens Glass Works ~ Since 1910 ~ pdf

[URL=http://scholarcommons.sc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1022&context=lib_facpub]http://scholarcommons.sc....amp;context=lib_facpub


Here's a link about Bottle Makers Marks that most of us are familiar with ...

Scroll to LGW

http://www.glassbottlemarks.com/bottlemarks-3/

~ * ~

If you opened all of links then you noticed that all of the bottles are basically the same - with each appearing to be the same size, shape, color, and all embossed on opposite shoulders with ...

Coca Cola Bottling Co.

~ * ~


The pictures below are of one of the bottles in question, with this particular example being marked ...

3 <(I)> 7

Which I interpret as being made by Owens-Illinois ~ Plant #3 / Fairmont, West, Virginia ~ 1937. (Or is it 1947?)

If the Laurens Glass Works bottle is in fact a 1911 bottle, then am I to believe these same bottles were made by different manufacturers as early as 1911 and as late as 1937-1947?

If anyone has factual information regarding these green, embossed Coca Cola bottles and can provide a link - book reference - or other form of a substantial reference to them, please share that information with us. However, no "guessing" allowed! Facts only, please. []

Gracias'

Bob

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

And the base of the bottle ...

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

I'm a little rusty on my LGW marks today, so I had to refer to the following website to refresh my memory. Based on the information it contains, it is not likely the LGW bottle I referred to is dated 1911 - but I have no way of knowing that for certain without seeing a clear picture of the mark. However, even if the seller did misread the mark, I think it's safe to assume that the bottle most likely does have the LGW mark - after all, he did post a picture of the base even thought you can't make it out clearly - either that or he was just lying about it. If anyone knows, please refresh us as to what the "E" represents in E LGW From shag.org ~ pdf file ~ Scroll to Page 52 ... http://www.sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/coca-cola.pdf Here's a 1951 Laurens Glass ad showing a similar bottle - although not necessarily referring to an emerald green bottle ...

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

P.S. So as not to get too far afield on this new topic, I recommend that we not spend time speculating whether the seller's bottle is an LGW or not because without a clear picture of the mark we will never know for certain anyway unless someone has a bottle exactly like it. The main emphasis is with the majority of these bottles and who used them. We know at least one of them is dated either a 1937 or 1947 and that should be a close enough for our purposes here. The main questions are ... 1. What "exactly" did they contain?2. Did they have paper labels - and if so what did the labels look like?3. Which Coca Cola bottlers used them and where?

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Oh-oh ... Look what I just found! I take back everything I said earlier about the E1LGW1 bottle because here's another one with a picture of the heel ... http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/coca-cola-dark-green-6oz-e1lgw1-base-431601725 I wish I could recall my LGW basics ... Does the E (5th letter of the alphabet) stand for the number five and the bottle is a 1951?

 

[morbious_fod]

Base and Heel numbers ... 30 98

Looks like date and mold number to me.

I just noticed something interesting in one of the close up photos of the Coca-Cola "acl". Am I the only one who sees a failed attempt to include the "trademark" in the tail of the first C? It looks like it ended up turning into a series of dots rather than working. Maybe this was a much later silk screen label put on the bottle by someone trying to make a buck, if it was nearly anything but Coca-Cola I would almost buy it; however, Coca-Cola is the single most victim of fakes and reproductions including placing the Coca-Cola logo on items that never carried it.

Here are some examples of reproductions on other glass items. Is it too far fetched to think that they can do the exact same with a glass bottle?

http://www.realorrepro.com/article/Coca-Cola-Fakes-in-Glass-and-China [attachment=Coca+Cola+Bottle+Green+ACL+(3).jpg]

 

[morbious_fod]

The seltzer bottle below which the above link states is fake has a label that is strikingly similar to the green bottle in question. Just different colors.[attachment=img06.jpg][attachment=Coca+Cola+Bottle+Green+ACL.jpg]