Oldest ACL Royal Crown Cola Bottle?

[SODAPOPBOB]

dbv: Based on everything you know about Royal Crown soda bottles, what is the "latest" date you would guesstimate my clear, pointed pyramid RC bottle to be?

 

[dbv1919]

Sodapopbob, Your bottle lip and ring on top reminds me of some of the old par t pac bottles from the early 30's. I think its older than any I have. Maybe that experimental seven years before mass production? Sometimes I overthink bottle dates ect. and need to use old common sense. Even though I think I know better my gut wants to think 1932. I know everything says it wasn't produced until 1934 there had to be some initial tests. I didn't think LGW had a bunch of different factories like Owens Illinois. I'm not aware of them having mold numbers, the most logical answer to me would be 1932. Cant really really see having a bunch of molds from the 34-35 period but just not sure let me know if you find out.

 

[squirtbob]

Squirtbob:

Thanks for the info on your Glenshaw bottles. Do you have any insights as to why they would put two letters on the lip? The letter/number combos almost make sense, but two different letters indicating two totally different dates has me baffled.

Speaking of baffled, I thought I knew a thing or two about Laurens Glass Works marks. But as it turns out, I can't recall when it was they used the LGW mark without numbers on either side to indicate a date? For example; I know that 3LGW9 stands for 1939. But how do you date a LGW bottle without the numbers? And was the solo LGW first or did it come later? The reason I ask is because the RC bottle I purchased this morning has LGW on the base but no numbers. If anyone has the answer to my LGW quandary, please let me know.


Here's a picture of the base with ...


LGW
2


Note:
Based on what I've learned about RC bottles recently, I'm pretty sure this particular bottle is pre-1939, but I'm not 100% sure about that, either. It has Nehi Bottling on the heel.

SODAPOPBOB, It is NOT two letters. One side has a capital G followed by a 1 (one). The reverse side of the lip always has a two digit number, perhaps a mold number, I've never seen it remotely correspond to a date. Is it possible that G1 stood for 1935+1 or 1936. I've never seen an H or an I Glenshaw bottle. As mentioned earlier in the thread the OI bottle that matches the Glenshaw bottle is definitely 1936.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

i looked at some of mine and the odd one i found is a clear one with the g in a square on the bottom and and the letters g j on the lip.what would that date be? later greg

Bob: To clarify my question, I was referring to the double letters on grime5/Greg's Royal Crown bottle that has a G and a J on the lip.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

dbv: Thanks. 1932 crossed my mind as well but I dared not say it without something to substantiate it. So with that in mind, I'm breaking out my backhoe and plan to dig even deeper.

 

[squirtbob]

i looked at some of mine and the odd one i found is a clear one with the g in a square on the bottom and and the letters g j on the lip.what would that date be? later greg

Bob: To clarify my question, I was referring to the double letters on grime5/Greg's Royal Crown bottle that has a G and a J on the lip.

Since I've never seen a Glenshaw bottle with a lip mark of H, I or J is it possible that G3 is 1935 + 3= 1938. Does that make any sense for this thread? I know that it picks up with K= 1939 and L= 1940 because I have squirt bottles with those marks. ???

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Bob:

The confusing part about grime5's Royal Crown Cola bottle is that it has two letters on the lip. It has a G for 1935 as well as a J for 1938. We were wondering if you had any insights as to why his bottle would have two letters on the lip? We were also wondering if you had a best-guess as to which of the two letters might represent what year the bottle was actually produced?

~ * ~

While we're waiting to hear back from Squirtbob, I thought I'd add this tid-bit about Nehi. As we know, Nehi played a major role in the history of Royal Crown Cola. According to most accounts, Nehi was introduced in 1924 by the Chero-Cola Company and became a huge seller. In fact, Nehi was such a success they even changed the name from Chero Cola Company to Nehi Corporation in 1928. Of course, Royal Crown Cola would soon follow Nehi around 1934.

The main tid-bits I was referring to are ...

1. Nehi Bottle Patent ~ Filed December 6, 1924 ~ Approved March 3, 1925

2. Nehi Ad ~ Middlesboro Daily News ~ Middlesboro, Kentucky ~ October 29, 1925

This is the earliest Nehi advertisement I have been able to find. Notice it's by the Chero-Cola Bottling Company. Also notice the word embossed on the bottom of the bottle. I'm not 100% certain what the word is - the best I can come up with is ARBATCY. I don't see any other letters and pretty sure that's a T and not an R. None of the other R's have the overhanging part on the front of it. Does this word (whatever it might be) ring any bells with anyone?

3. This Nehi Ad is a little later but I couldn't pass up sharing it ...
The Time Recorder ~ Zanesville, Ohio ~ March 7, 1926

 

[squirtbob]

Bob:

The confusing part about grime5's Royal Crown Cola bottle is that it has two letters on the lip. It has a G for 1935 as well as a J for 1938. We were wondering if you had any insights as to why his bottle would have two letters on the lip? We were also wondering if you had a best-guess as to which of the two letters might represent what year the bottle was actually produced?

~ * ~

While we're waiting to hear back from Squirtbob, I thought I'd add this tid-bit about Nehi. As we know, Nehi played a major role in the history of Royal Crown Cola. According to most accounts, Nehi was introduced in 1924 by the Chero-Cola Company and became a huge seller. In fact, Nehi was such a success they even changed the name from Chero Cola Company to Nehi Corporation in 1928. Of course, Royal Crown Cola would soon follow Nehi around 1934.

The main tid-bits I was referring to are ...

1. Nehi Bottle Patent ~ Filed December 6, 1924 ~ Approved March 3, 1925

2. Nehi Ad ~ Middlesboro Daily News ~ Middlesboro, Kentucky ~ October 29, 1925

This is the earliest Nehi advertisement I have been able to find. Notice it's by the Chero-Cola Bottling Company. Also notice the word embossed on the bottom of the bottle. I'm not 100% certain what the word is - the best I can come up with is ARBATCY. I don't see any other letters and pretty sure that's a T and not an R. None of the other R's have the overhanging part on the front of it. Does this word (whatever it might be) ring any bells with anyone?

3. This Nehi Ad is a little later but I couldn't pass up sharing it ...
The Time Recorder ~ Zanesville, Ohio ~ March 7, 1926

Is there any way to get a close up of the lip of the bottle in question. Sometimes they are not clear at all ...so I wonder if this is really a G and a J. Could the J be a 1 ...they look relatively similar?

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

sodapopbob my dual numbered rc has the big r.c letters in the label not the smaller ones.would that be a 38 or the older date code 35.just wondering.thansk greg

Squirtbob: That's a good question about the J possibly being a 1. But even if it is a G1 for 1935, it's still a little confusing because Grime5's bottle is an ACL. So does this suggest that Grime5's bottle is a 1935 ACL? I guess the answer depends on Grime5's response as to whether the mark is in fact a J or a 1. ~ * ~ Speaking of confusing ... I communicated with the seller of the clear RC bottle I purchased on eBay and they had this to say ... [Partially edited] "I dug the bottle in a dump where all the bottles I found dated between 1928 and 1937. I believe the clear RC bottle is from the early thirties. It was found among a bunch of Christmas Cokes all of which were dated either 1933 or 1934." ~ * ~ I'm not sure this tells the whole story, but I can't help but wonder if the LGW-2 might very well be for 1932?

 

[dbv1919]

Sodapopbob this is all hearsay/word of mouth so I didn't post it earlier but but I believe there may be something to it. I could never find any literature to back it up. I purchased a bottle from a from a man in West Virginia a few years ago he also had a paper label embossed neck rc that I was afraid to buy because he said was a 1933. He was a more than eccentric to say the least but had some good full bottles. I purchased a OI 38 and was afraid of the 33 which was super high priced. It had a bottom like yours, he told me that LGW bottles 1939 and after were marked 3L G W9 and before that the were marked LGW with the year number below the G. I have since come to believe it may be true so take it for what it's worth. Break out backhoe...