Possilbe prototype Mountain Dew bottle or hoax?

[morbious_fod]

Flittering around the bay just now and found this item. It appears to be using a Teem bottle design, but has a never before seen by me acl on the shoulder. Was this actually an attempt by Pepsi to make the Mountain Dew bottles fit the rest of their line, and was abandoned, or is this a fake created by someone with a Teem bottle and money on their minds? The guy seems to have a huge reserve on this as I bid just over $150 and didn't even crack it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Extremely-Rare-10-oz-Mountain-Dew-bottle-1965-NICE-/130471424449?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e60b3f1c1

 

[fishnuts]

Speaking from the point of view of a screen printer (for 54 months) the pair of screen for this artwork is going to run well over $100. At least in Arkansas...and in the late 90's. That's just for the screen creation. The artwork itself has to come from somewhere and that cost money. Then one would need the specialized screen printing machine that does cylinder bottle shapes. And a dryer. And the oven for annealing the paint onto the glass. Money, money and more money.
One would have to make at least two dozen to make it worthwhile. In this hobby, we all know, if a cluster of previously unknown bottles turns up, that the first one is high then not so much for each one after that. And because the bottle is no longer deemed rare if a case, or more, turns up. It doesn't seem a sensible enterprise to me. Lots of front-end labor with not much payoff on the back end. Plus gaining the eternal enmity of all bottle collectors (as if a dirt bag counterfeiter cares what his marks think).

I know absolutely nothing about the 'real'ness of this bottle, but I posit that one would be loopy to try and pull off a fake like this.
I was planning to call the seller anyway...I'll let ya'll know what he knows about it...unless he's on here...then I'll ask him to tell us.

 

[morbious_fod]

I realize that Fish, that's why I also put forth that this is possibly a previously unknown prototype that Pepsi produced to make the brand blend in with the bottle style that permeates the rest of it's line during this period. I personally can't stand Pepsi bottles from this period, so I'm glad they didn't go with this. On top of that the font and the hillbilly used are the ones used on the later "laughing pig" bottle design, which tells me that even at this early date of 1965 they were already working on replacing the Hartman design, which gives me more proof that this is a prototype. Also the bottle looks to have never been used. That's why I placed a $150 dollar bid, the pro-real points greatly out number the cons, but I just don't have the money to blow a thousand dollars on an unknown bottle. I doubt that there will be more for the same reason, if there are more they will be far and few between. This one has the potential to reach the price range of a party jug.

 

[fishnuts]

...so, why can't it possible that it is neither prototype, or fraud?
I'd be interested to know if these were overprints. Possibly some bottle maker or bottler has thousands of Teem bottles and made secondary use out of them. Creating this interesting item, and the puzzle it represents.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Mainly just tagging thread and posting photo of a 1960s "Teem" bottle for easy comparison. But while I'm here I thought I would, as Morb touched on, (and according to my sources,) mention that on December 30, 1965, PepsiCo, Inc. officially became the owner of the Mountain Dew trademark. I mention this "just in case" the bottle in question turns out to have an earlier date on the bottom. Unless I missed something, I didn't see in the e-bay description where a "specific" date was indicated.

Hey Morb ~

If December 30, 1965 is in fact the official date for the acquisition of the trademark after dissolving "The Tip Corporation of America," is it feasible that PepsiCo would already be messing around with prototypes or "any type" of new bottle design? And when I stop and think about it, I guess that is what this thread is all about and trying to determine.

Final Question : Do we know for sure that the bottle is marked 1965 on the base?

I hope I didn't muddy the waters here with too many unanswerable questions, and mis-information. If so, my apologies.

Thanks,

SPBOB

Notice on this original Teem bottle that the dots are higher up on the neck. Not that this tells us anything, but rather just an observation.

 

[cyberdigger]

Couldn't it just be a rare bottle? Perhaps less than 145 produced? Looks legit to me.. and you all know what an expert on ACL's I am.. [8|]

 

[madman]

hey morb looks real to me very nice!

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

I honestly think it's real, too. But just for the heck of it I just this minute sent the seller the following copy/pasted message. I will let you know what he has to say if/when I hear back from him. And even though I think it's real, it just strikes me as totally odd that PepsiCo would be making bottles marked 1965 that they didn't even have a copyright to until December 30, 1965. Maybe they made it on December 31st ... ???

SPBOB

Message sent to seller ...

Dear bottler,

The bottom of you bottle should have an embossed date code that might look something like this ... 21 <(I)> 65 Could you please check it for confirmation of what is embossed on the bottom, even if different than the above?

Thank you,

RCB

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Morb ~

How certain are we/you regarding the transition date from the "side-by-side" application of the words Mountain Dew on their earlier bottles vs. the "over-under" application that apparently didn't start until 1968? The e-bay seller's bottle is "over-under." I know you already touched on this, but are there hard facts to establish the transition? "If" it is a fake, this may be where the counterfeiter messed up! ???

SPBOB

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

I just heard back from the e-bay seller. Here is his reply copy/pasted ...

Hello. On the bottom is LG 65 and underneath that is 25. That is all the numbers on the bottom. James[/align]
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