JOHN PEMBERTON "FRENCH WINE COCA" BOTTLE SELLS AT AUCTION FOR $13,750.00

[SODAPOPBOB]

A man named John Vergo of Albuquerque, New Mexico found a 130 year old John Pemberton "French Wine Coca" bottle (with it's original paper label) at a flea market that he only paid $4.00 for and ended up selling at auction for $13,750.00.

Note: Some of the accounts say he paid $5.00 but it was actually $4.00. The bottle is apparently one of only a very few in existence and is considered the best example known with about 90% of it's original label still intact.


Read all about it ...


Newspaper Article

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2635308/Is-inspiration-Coca-Cola-Incredibly-rare-130-year-old-Cola-bottle-discovered-bought-5-flea-market.html


Article With Video

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/05/23/what-one-man-bought-at-a-flea-market-for-4-is-worth-thousands/

Auction Article

http://blog.ukauctioneers.com/

Auction Listing

http://historical.ha.com/itm/advertising/soda-items/french-wine-coca-bottle-with-original-paper-labels/a/6114-38223.s

Auction Results ~ May 24, 2014 ~ Bottle Sold For $13,750.00

http://finbotclub.blogspot.com/2014/05/pembertons-french-wine-coca-bot.html

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Hey, cowseatmaize I must have double-clicked when I posted this thread - could you please delete the other one along with this request. Thanks Bob

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

This is an experiment to see if this super-enlarged image of the bottle will post. If so, great. If not, well, it was worth a try ...

 

[cowseatmaize]

Oops, I forgot the buyers premium in the other post. []

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Oops, I forgot the buyers premium in the other post. []

Cows: Thanks for fixing my goof-up. Next time I will wait a little longer before double-clicking. $11,000.00 + $2,750.00 Buyer's Premium = $13,750.00

 

[cowseatmaize]

No problem. I've seen a few that I guess the mouse stuck and WHAM, 6 in a row. []I saw that $11k on liveauctioneers but didn't add the 25%.

 

[glass man]

WOW! THANKS FOR POSTING! I live in GEORGIA..the DOC. was raised in te town tht is only 2 miles from my town and I live only a little over 60 miles from ATLANTA..so maybe one day at a local flea market..maybe I too will find one..in't happened in the 40 years I have been collecting bottles..bu have found some pretty rare items in the past..like a promo 45 of DAVID PEEL'S record "F"..is not a dirty word" [he was a street musician that JOHN LENNON became friends with]..a LENNON song is on the flip side..a rare single..bought it for 25 cents and though it was pretty scratched up I still got 85 dollars for it! That sort of thing has happened for me a few times..never anything worth as much as that WINE went for..but was close once..I was going by a booth when a guy pulled out a bottle I knew was god..didn't know how good till a few years later..only one buyer there..he got it for 8 dollars...I told him he did good and to take it to the upcoming ATLANTA BOTTLE SHOW and ask around..he did and was told it was worth in the $800 range..good for him he didn't stop there...he got in contact with ALAN PETRETTI well known for his book on COKE items..he auctioned the bottle and got $33.000 !! Of course I think he said it was $31,000 or so after all was taken out..I did not know this till two years ago when he came up to me and told me the story...we were at my local bottle show in ROME GEORGIA..the place where the DOC. was raised. The bottle was a mint hires root beer syrup bottle a variation Petretti said he ad never seen.. If I had bought it I would have sold it in the 800 dollar range and thought I did great..never knowing it's true value. HEY IT HAPPENS!! JAMIE

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

glass man: Interesting story - thanks for sharing it. Speaking of Hires Root Beer ... My best find is the paper label bottle pictured below which is from the 1904 St Louis World's Fair. It's the only one like it I have ever seen or heard about. I still have it but not sure what it's true value is.

 

[cowseatmaize]

A good auction house with internet and a lot of publicity is the way to find out value. The corner auctions are a place to get the stuff.Keeping with Coke® I'll go with this.A was the only bidder on 2 lots of cokes, about 40 bottles in all at a local. I went with my gut when I saw the Charles and Diana wedding cokes (Diana had just passed). There were a few others I thought maybe and figured the rest were recycle bin bound. Well, the market was hot for the stuff and I sold the ones I suspected and made about $250 for my $14. ($5X2+20%). Of coarse with the coca wine it could be the sheik was back. Maybe two of them bidding against each other. []

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

It wouldn't surprise me if the French Coca Wine bottle was purchased by and winds up in the Coca Cola museum in Atlanta, Georgia. I'm trying to find out who purchased it but so far haven't found anything. The auction results show there were six bidders but no names. Be sure and check out this article as well. It's about the Gary Salb 1916 Coca Cola contest bottle made by Graham Glass. It has references and links to this forum including mention of a member named Sodapopbob. http://finbotclub.blogspot.com/2014/02/coca-cola-prototype-bottle.html