Newbie with a Coca cola bottle questions

[grime5]

i too wouldnt mind having a couple of those odd marked coke bottles.you havent seen any 1923 cokes there have you? thanks greg

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Dave ~

Questions ...

1. Have you ever been to this location?

Butler’s Store/Butler’s Emporium is situated on Route 4, next to Leonard’s White House. It is the longest continuing business on Guam. Next to the building the concrete foundation is the only remnant remaining of the Coca-Cola bottling factory owned by the Butlers. In the 1920s, founder Chester Butler was the first person to receive a license to manufacture and sell Coca Cola outside the continental U.S.

2. Have you ever found or seen a Butler Coca Cola bottle? If so, how are they marked?

Thanks.

Bob

 

[daven2nl]

Bob,

Answer is no to both questions. I need to visit the store, but my gut feeling is that the people who work there will be people who know little or nothing about the history.

It will have to happen in August when I get back from my deployment however. No time to get over there this week.

-Dave

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Dave ~

Thanks.

I think it would be interesting to see if we can figure out how the Butler bottles were marked. At present I don't even know the name of the town in Guam where the Butler bottling plant was located.Its possible that it is embossed on the base of the bottles, and if so, should make them easy to identify. And because the Butler's received their Coca Cola franchise in the 1920s, there should be a variety of different patents and dates. If anyone has an example of a Guam marked bottle or other clues in relation to this, please let us know.

Bob

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

PS ~

No doubt the Butler's produced some fruit flavors as well as Coca Cola. I wonder what a Butler fruit flavor bottle looks like? They likely produced fully embossed bottles as well as acls.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Happy Fourth of July

I have not been able to find a picture of or any specific references to whether or not a Butler/Guam Coca Cola bottle was marked on the base. However, I did discover the followng ...

1. Butler's Bottling Plant was established in 1915 and they received their Coca Cola franchise in 1923.
2. The bottling plant was completely destroyed during WWII and was not rebuild afterwards.
3. Chester Butler died in 1952 and by way of a lawsuit was able to retain the Coca Cola franchise after the war. But I'm not sure why he wanted the franchise if he did not rebuild the plant nor continue to bottle Coca Cola. Maybe he intended to, but because of failing health was not able.
4. Even though she did not bottle any Coca Cola after the war, either, Chester's wife was able to retain the franchise (I believe) until the early 1960s.
5. The original bottling plant was located in the town of Hagatna, Guam.
6. After the war the Butler Emporium/Store (not the bottling plant) was relocated to Sinajana, Guam, and is still open today and operated by a grandson named Gerry Champion.

Based on what I know regarding Coca Cola Hobbleskirt bottles, the Butler's likely used three different variations during the course of their franchise years (1923-1944) which would have been as follows ...

1. November 16, 1915 ~ Made/Distributed between 1917 and 1928
2. December 25, 1923 ~ Made/Distributed between 1928 and 1938
3. Patent D 105529 ~ Made/Distributed between 1938 and 1951

Its possible that Butler ... "Hagatna, Guam" Coca Cola bottles were not marked as such on the base. But, then again, its possible that they were. More research is needed to determine whether they were or were not marked.

Here's everything I have been able to find so far related to the history of Chester Carl Butler and family ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X7KJyjR9sY

http://guampedia.com/chester-carl-butler/

http://www.butlerfamilyguam.com/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/guampedia/3988938626/

http://www.guamdiner.com/reviews/review.php?review=305

Below is a picture of what is described as ... "A 1945 Butler's Inc. (Store/Emporium) one-cent trade token from Guam."

(But where-o-where are all of the Butler/Coca Cola/Hagatna, Guam bottles?)

Bob

 

[daven2nl]

Bob,

Thanks for all the research! I'll dig into it later - I'm fully into packing for my 4-week trip stateside coming up.

I am sure I have been poking around all the wrong places to find pre-war coke bottles. There were only a few villages here at the time, and the bigger ones were completely leveled during the pre-liberation bombardment. After the war they were bulldozed flat and rebuilt. The areas I have been poking around were largely uninhabited aside from a few ranches/copra plantations until 1944. For me - these areas are easy - as I can walk to them from my front door.

The problem with the old villages is that the original town of Agana (capitol) was bulldozed flat and rebuilt. The original village footprint is all asphalt/commercial buildings now, and the areas around the old village are heavily populated - not conductive to finding anything. Likewise, the village of Sumay (the 2nd largest village) is now on the Naval Station and was completely blasted off the map in 1944. It was never rebuilt - the whole area was bulldozed flat and turned into a military base with Quonset huts lined up everywhere. The only remnant not disturbed is the graveyard - and I'm not digging there!

I'll definitely visit Butlers when I return - I hope they have an area set aside with items from the Family's history. I just don't have time to get down there before I leave.

-Dave

 

[hemihampton]

Did Dave ever return from his 4 week deployment? Said he'd be back in August. It's now November & he never made a recent return comment? Anybody here from him? Wonder what Happened to him? LEON.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Good question. He should be getting email notifications (like I just did) whenever someone post a reply ... ???

Bob

 

[RED Matthews]

While we are here on the CocaCola readers pages. I have a 1996 Olympic Touch Relay CocaCola bottle; Atlanga Ga. It is labeled Coca-Cola Classic and has a 5-3/4" x 1" x 3/8" wooden arrow through the sidewalls of the bottle. I have no idea how they got the arrow through the two 7/16" holes. Does anyone know anything about this. RED Matthews <bottlemysteries@yahoo.com>