Oldest ACL Royal Crown Cola Bottle?

[SODAPOPBOB]

This identical Royal Crown Cola article appeared in numerous newspapers coast to coast on the same exact day, April 15, 1942, and was no doubt coordinated by the parent company to hit the newspapers at the same time. Notice the reference to 1934. Of equal interest is that it gives the impression their 1934 bottle was a 12 ounce. I'm not sure if the amber test market bottle I posted is a 12 ounce, but it might be. Initially I thought it was a 6 ounce. The individuals who sent the picture to me did not say. Other than the label itself, there is very little about the picture to indicate scale or the bottle's size. In the post following this one I will show an example of scale and see if that tells us anything.

The article is from ...

The Hutchinson News ~ Hutchinson, Kansas ~ April 15, 1942

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Here's the test market bottle alongside an amber Pepsi Cola bottle and believe
the Pepsi bottle is from about the same time period. The Pepsi bottle is from a
2013 forum thread by jblaylock, which I chose because his hand helps to indicate
scale. I'm pretty sure the Pepsi bottle is a 12 ounce - but still not sure about
the size of the Royal Crown bottle. However, I'm leaning toward it being a 12 ounce. ???

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

And here's the test market bottle alongside a later Royal Crown paper label bottle. The labels look about the same size to me - as do the bottles themselves.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

I haven't heard back from the people who sent me the picture of the 1934 test bottle but I have been doing some zooming/etc of the label and so far have come up with the following. Please note that my examination of the label is still preliminary and because of a key missing section I am not certain what that missing word is. The words/letters that are in bold print below are the one's I am fairly certain about, but the others are definitely questionable ...

NEHI BOTTLING C???ON & NEWTON CORP Highly questionable are the ??? - the N after the O - and NEWTON


Note: I found several references for a Douglas A. Newton who was a Royal Crown Cola bottler in Del Rio, Texas during the 1940s but otherwise have not been able to connect him to any test marketing. Plus, I'm not 100% certain the word on the label is Newton, but it could very well be.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

This is the best I can do with enlarging the 1934 label and hope it post well enough for everyone to examine the small print below the word COLA. Although somewhat distorted in this particular image, that's a capital W on the pyramid on the right and is not a tear in the paper ...

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

And here's a close up of the 1934 bottle's neck which has little Stars / X's / Dots embossed around it

 

[M.C.Glass]

The word showing after Bottling C[o] could be (P)ortsmouth, to my eye.But, NH? VA? England? No, probably not England.

 

[dbv1919]

It looks like Portsmouth to me. There is a Portsmouth Ohio just across the river from Huntington WV where a Owens Illinois plant was.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Hey, guys! Good work! I think you both hit a homerun! My current vote is for ... NEHI BOTTLING CO. PORTSMOUTH, OHIO 1. Portsmouth Daily Times ~ Portsmouth, Ohio ~ June 14, 1929 2. Portsmouth Daily Times ~ Portsmouth, Ohio ~ September 22, 1939 I found an article stating the company relocated in 1936 but kept the same phone number 284 ( I don't know what the blurred-out picture was supposed to be in the 1929 ad )

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

SLIGHTY EDITED ... ( Any thoughts regarding the capital W )