One Gallon Smile Soda Bottle

[godelescher]

Hi everyone. I'm brand new here, so I apologize in advance if I make a forum etiquette mistakes. I buy and sell antiques and last week, I picked up a one gallon Smile Orange Syrup counter display bottle. I know many of these displays were entirely orange, but this one is clear. I wanted to know if that sounds correct or not. Also, I wanted to ask about value. I've seen some for sale in the 700-900 range, and I've seen some in the 300-400 range. I've priced mine at $225 because, even though it's in pristine condition otherwise, someone drilled a 1/4" hole into the bottom (ostensibly to make a lamp or something out of it). I wanted to know what you guys think of my pricing. Here's a link to the ad: https://www.etsy.com/listing/215415913/1922-smile-soda-counter-display-one?ref=shop_home_active_3 I appreciate any feedback, thanks.

 

[godelescher]

Did I post this in the wrong forum? I was hoping for a reply. Again, my apologies if I've posted this in the wrong place.

 

[godelescher]

Did I post this in the wrong forum? I was hoping for a reply. Again, my apologies if I've posted this in the wrong place.

 

[woody]

No, your post is fine. It just may take a while for people to respond to it.

 

[cowseatmaize]

I don't collect them but they have been posted quite a few time on here. That leads me to believe they aren't all that rare. 7-9 hundred $ is extreme, $225 may also be.

 

[botlguy]

If I were a staunch soda bottle collector of items from that era I MIGHT pay that much but I doubt that the average bottle collector would want it at anywhere close to that price. It is a specialty item for a very narrow market in my opinion. I think it's very neat and I like it, the hole to make a lamp is a bonus as far as I'm concerned, it was meant as a display item and would look great as a lamp. Jim

 

[bubbas dad]

it is very desirable bottle and people will pay some big money for one in very good shape. that being said, i can't guess what effect the hole will have on selling price. if i came across that bottle for sell in a place i could handle and inspect it i would pay that price if it didn't have the hole. but i've been told i'm a cheap skate. i'm not familiar with the site you have it listed on but on ebay i've seen them seen for high prices. it looks to be a very nice bottle with the exception of the hole.

 

[godelescher]

I agree, John. It's a great bottle and the hole just hurts to see. For what it's worth, I had the bottle for two days before I even noticed the hole was there, which is weird because I looked right at the July 11, 1922 date and that's where it is.

 

[godelescher]

Update: I noticed some traffic from antique-bottles.net in my shop, so I thought I'd update this thread. I couldn't bear looking at the hole in the bottom, so filled and faired it with epoxy resin. I happen to have some antique surgical tools left over from an auction, one of which is essentially a really really long skinny clamp. That was how I was able to get some tape inside for backing. The repair turned out well, and after a long time fairing and polishing, it was invisible to the touch, but it was a slightly different color than the glass. At that point, I figured it was time to paint. I matched the orange as close as I could to the original, but it was really just a guess since the only images I had to go off of were heavily oxidized and chalky. The result is what you see in the link above. By the way, the hole was between the "D" in "patented" and the "J" in "July". Overall, I think it came out well. The repair is invisible from both the inside and the outside and the paint looks good. It won't really be finished until the embossed "smile" is painted black - which I'm not really looking forward to because that's going to be an absurd amount of fine line tape work. I'll update again when it's finished finished.

 

[godelescher]

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