PLEASE HELP! NOT A WAR TIME 7UP?

[SODAPOPBOB]

Today is the first time I've seen this thread from 2008. And right away I noticed something that may create even more controversy, (as if there wasn't enough to drive us crazy already). But if you take a close look at the following two photos, (both of which are taken from this thread, and both of which are seven bubble bottles), you will notice on the so called "White Label" bottle that the top bubble on the right is directly below the P ... but on the "Red Label" bottle in my next post, the bubble on the right is directly next to the P. So even though it doesn't answer the "White vs. Red" controversy, it does open up another question as to why is there a difference in the location of the bubble? And does it have anything to do with the color scheme? Hmmm ... more questions to rattle our brains! I don't have the answer, and probably never will. But if someone else does, I love to hear it.

Thanks.

SODAPOBBOB

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Here's the red label one.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

P.S. ~

Surely I am not the first person in soda bottle collecting history to notice the different bubble locations ... or am I? I do some painting and art work on the side, and I guess my eye is just atuned to such differences. Maybe we should start checking our other 7up bottles and see what the majority of them look like. Just in case I'm the first to discover this, I officially call it "The Offset Bubble Bottle." Lol []

SPB

 

[epackage]

Very cool find SPB, this is an interesting post and I don't even collect ACL's....gonna do a bit of research myself....Jim

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

I just surfed the internet and looked at more 7up bottles than I can count, and found only two so far that have the bubble below the P. The two I am referring to are the white label one above and the 1935 amber example from San Diego shown below. Other than that, I have no evidence one way or the other as to why this was done.

SPB

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Based on everything I could find after about two hours of extensive searching, it appears that the bubbles location below the P was discontinued at the same time when the company changed from eight bubbles to seven bubbles in 1938. So it appears this so called displacement was intentional, and only appears on bottles and other advertising items between circa 1935 and 1938. Of course, there may be exceptions to this, but if they exist I have not been able to find one. If you have a bottle or any other 7up item with the bubbles below the P, and which is dated later than 1938/39, please share it with the rest of us. Below is a match book cover with the lower bubbles, but I haven't been able to date it yet. But hope to as soon as I can determine when the slogan "Take Some Along" was first introduced. Slogans are a great way of determining dates. And for those interested in reading the Bill Lockhart article on 7up, here's the link. It may take a minute to load, but is well worth the wait. []

SPB

http://www.sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/BLockhart_7UpBottlers.pdf

 

[morbious_fod]

I think I found an explanation of why the earlier logo had the bubbles below the P while later ones didn't. That answer comes from the paper label 7-up from Johnson City, Tenn., where you will notice that there appears to be a line of trademark information directly under the up in 7-up and the bubbles are lower to accommodate that. This of course wouldn't translate that well on an acl and they dropped the line and eventually moved the bubbles up to eliminate negative space. Just a theory, but it does make some sense.

Just for a thought. My 1944 Bristol, Tenn. 7-up has the bubbles moved up while my friend's 1940 Johnson City Tenn. has them below. Granted the '40 is an eight bubble, but has a seven bubble neck acl. BTW the same gentleman who operated the Johnson City, Tenn. Seven-up bottling company, moved to Bristol, Tenn. to start up that company around 1941. Same guy, different bottles, most likely a company mandated running change to the logo in the early 1940s.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Thanks Morb ~

I had a feeling (and hoping) you might be the one to save the day. Your explanination makes total sense to me. Plus I think there was likely a lot of confusion and experimentation going on in the early days, especially during the depression when people didn't know if they were coming or going. And then after that the world was topsy-turvey again because of the war. But man, did us "Baby Boomers" ever get it right! Heck, by the 1950s there was no end to the variety of cool things a dime could buy, including an ice cold bottle of soda pop. I remember it well!

Thanks again,

Bob

 

[morbious_fod]

I'm gonna keep my Gen-X mouth shut on the subject of boomers getting it right. LOL! As for experimentation you are correct, remember that this was the same period when they changed from 8 to 7 bubbles as well.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Geez, Morb ...

With your vast knowledge of soda bottles, I figured you were at least 70 years old. Lol [] And if my Baby-Boomer memory serves me correctly, Generation-X would put you in the "Thirty-Something" category. But there is no need to respond to this, and we will just let it go knowing that it appears I am old enough to be your uncle ... (I'm 58). []

Plus, I want to apologize to bamascavenger for getting off topic here with the bubble thing. But there doesn't appear to be any objections so far. So with that said, I would like to add one final thought regarding the "Red vs White" labeling controversy. I said earlier that I recently looked at more 7up bottles than I could count. (With the majority of them being on e-Bay). And although I am no expert on 7up bottles, I can say with conviction that I have never seen so many problems with deteriorating labels than those that occur with 7up. Just cruise the 19 pages of bottles currently on e-Bay and you will see what I mean. It seems that about one out of every ten of the older bottles has label issues. So it seems possible that the company had some kind of paint problems all along, and not just during the war years.

Here's a short-cut link for anyone interested in going directly to e-Bay. But be prepared for it to open on a most unique 7up item that is just about as good as it gets, and something that I am watching and would dearly love to have. Be sure to scroll through all the images and description info. No label problems whatsoever, and it has the lower 8 bubbles, and dated 1937. The photo below is intended to wet your whistle. (From this particular page you can access the other 18 pages of 7up bottles to check out the various label problems).

SPB

http://cgi.ebay.com/EXTREMELY-RARE-1937-7-up-7-up-7up-6pack-6-5-oz-bottles-/120577996059?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c1302351b