RARE SODA BOTTLE BOOK ~ By J. L. JONES ~ COPYRIGHT 1972

[SODAPOPBOB]

Meet ...

J. L. Jones and his 1972 soda bottle book

Soda and Mineral Water Bottles
(2000 Varieties)
By J. L. Jones
Copyright 1972
Published by Palmetto Enterprises, Greer, South Carolina

(The book is out of print and extremely difficult to find. There are currently no available copies from Internet book sellers that I am aware of. Even a picture of the book's cover seems to be non existent on the Internet).

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[ The Author ]

John Lemuel Jones

Birth: October 13, 1907
Death: January 13, 1980
Parents: Lemuel Van Jones, Mary Almira Wood
Spouse: Bessie Lowes Stepp

J. L. Jones was a true pioneer of bottle collecting. He started the Greer Bottle Club in Greer, South Carolina in 1972. He was also an avid coin and stamp collector. He was born in 1907 and was 65 years old when he started the Greer Bottle Club. His only book I am aware of is the one being reviewed here.

J. L. Jones operated a coal distribution company for a number of years in Greer, S.C. and was considered a leading citizen in the community. He was 65 years old when he published his book in 1972 and died in 1980 at the age of 72.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=14748936

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Brief history of J. L. Jones ...

Legendary Citizens of Greer
Copyright 2012 ~ By Ray Belcher and Joada P. Hiatt

http://xrl.us/bptrt5

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Picture of J.L. Jones from the 2012 Greer book ...

http://xrl.us/bptrtn

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J. L. Jones ~ President of [Numismatic] Coin Collecting Organization ~ Greer, S.C. ~ 1960 ...

http://www.brna.org/BRNAbylaws.pdf

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Spartanburg, S.C. Herald-Journal ~ June 11, 1975 ~ Greer Bottle Club third annual show ...

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=cG4sAAAAIBAJ&sjid=iIoFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4686,2119210&dq=greer+bottle+club&hl=en

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Postcard of Jones Coal Company ~ Greer, South Carolina ~ The Chevrolet pickup in the postcard appears to be from the late 1940s or early 1950s, but this doesn't necessarily date the postcard. My best guess on the year of the pickup is 1947 thru 1953. In 1946 the grills were different, and in 1954 they no longer had the divider on the front window. The earliest date I am aware of for the Jones Coal Company is 1938 and at that time was listed as L. V. Jones & Son, Inc. Lamuel Van Jones was John's father who was born in 1879 and died in 1956. J. L. Jones was 31 years old in 1938. The 1940 U.S. Census record list J. L. as being 32 years old at the time and employed as a Retail Coal Salesman.

(I did a brief search on the Dexter Press postcard number 46491 but I did not find anything specific regarding a date. I think it is safe to assume the postcard is 'circa' 1950).

http://digital.infodepot.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/wlpc/id/1157/rec/19

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When the demand for residential coal diminished in the 1960s, J.L. Jones diversified into the transfer and storage business.

1965 LIFE magazine ad listing Jones Transfer and Storage Co. ~ Greer, South Carolina ...

http://xrl.us/bpuecw

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Jones Transfer & Storage Corporation is still in operation ... but not certain if by the same family related to J. L. Jones ...

https://plus.google.com/111553916897981254138/about

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Greer, South Carolina according to Wikipedia ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greer,_South_Carolina

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[ The Book ]

Reference from the BLM/SHA.org ~ Historic Glass Bottle Identification & Information Website ...

Notice where it says "lots of ACL sodas"

http://www.sha.org/bottle/references.htm

"Jones, J. L. 1972. Soda and Mineral Water Bottles. Palmetto Enterprises, Greer, S.C. Contains photos (and some history and estimated dating) of “over 2000 varieties†of soda/mineral water bottles with an emphasis on late 19th to mid-20th century bottles, including lots of ACL sodas. An interesting book."

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Reference from the HutchBook website ~ By Ron Fowler ...

http://www.hutchbook.com/Resources%20HutchBook.com%20Resources/Default.htm

"Jones, J. L. Over 2,000 Varieties Soda And Mineral Water Bottles. Greer, South Carolina: Palmetto Enterprises, 1972."

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Antique-bottles.net forum thread about searching for a copy of the book ~ By psmason73 ~ July 18, 2010 ...

https://www.antique-bottles.net/forum/m-326704/mpage-1/key-/tm.htm#326704

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Antique-bottles.net forum thread with a reference to the book ~ By Red Matthews ~ May 11, 2013 ...

https://www.antique-bottles.net/forum/m-606193/mpage-1/key-/tm.htm#606193

THE FEDERATION OF HISTORICAL BOTTLE CLUBS ‘JOURNAL’ March 1973 Volume 1 Number 1 ~ Book Reviews ~ “SODA AND MINERAL WATER BOTTLES†~ By J. L. Jones

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Article that mentions the formation of the FOHBC ...

http://www.americanbottle.com/the-current-state-of-the-bottle-hobby/

"The [bottle collecting] hobby had already gained a head of steam on the Pacific Coast. The first recognized bottle club was actually started in Sacramento, California by John Tibbitts during the mid 1960’s. It was called The Antique Bottle Collectors Association, which later became the Federation of Historic Bottle Collectors or FOHBC."

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Soda bottles from the Spartanburg / Greer, S.C. area ...

http://www.goldminers90.com/bottles/pages/crown_top_page.htm

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The J. L. Jones book is not the first ever published to contain pictures and values of soda bottles, but in my opinion it is definitely the best of the early soda bottle collecting books. In the pictures that follow you will notice that a great deal of emphasis is with Applied Color Label (ACL) soda bottles, which was a category of soda bottle collecting that apparently didn't generate all that much interest with collectors until the early 1970s. Prior to the early 1970s, the majority of interest seems to have been with embossed soda bottles, especially those produced prior to about 1900. There are numerous books which contain references and images of pre 1900 bottles, but the J. L. Jones book seems to have broken the mold in that it recognized the value and future popularity of post 1900 soda bottles, especially ACLs. This is just one of the reasons why I referred to J. L. Jones earlier as a true pioneer of bottle collecting. He seems to have had the foresight in knowing what would soon become the next phase for special interest soda bottle collecting and then took that vision to the next level by publishing his amazing book.

It would be of special interest to this discussion if there was someone still around who knew J. L. Jones personally and who might have been a member of the Greer Bottle Club. Should there be such a person now or in the future, and who happens to come across this thread, please share with us everything you recollect about J. L. Jones, the Greer Bottle Club, and especially anything you can recall about what was involved when he decided to publish his book.

As far as I know there were no second printings of the book, which might explain why there are so few copies currently available. I suspect that anyone who owns a copy of the book, and who are aware of it's rarity, probably want to hold onto it because finding another one might be next to impossible. And if you do find one, especially from an Internet book seller, expect to pay a premium for it. I highly recommend the book to all soda bottle collectors and hope your search for a copy is a successful one. The book is not necessarily a valuable resource for pricing, etc; but instead is a rare and valuable collectible unto itself to compliment your soda bottle collection. Old bottles and old books go together.

As you will see in the pictures that follow, the book is separated into sections. Notice instead of using the term ACL that it refers to them as "Silk Screened Bottles." The words Applied Color Label / ACL are not used in the book.

(I did a brief search for Palmetto Enterprises of Greer, South Carolina, but I did not find anything past or present. Consequently, I do not know if they were an actual book publishing company or just some type of small town printing business/store).

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[Side note #1]

Regarding other soda bottle books earlier than the J. L. Jones book, there is one in particular I think worthy of mention here with a copyright date of 1968 which is titled ...

Dictionary of Soda & Mineral Water Bottles
Co-authored by John C. Fountain & Donald Colcleaser
Published by "Ole Empty Bottle House Publishing Company"
Amador City, California
Softbound / 3-Ring ~ 97 Pages

I have examined this book and discovered of the approximately 400 soda bottles pictured it contains approximately ...

130 pictures of 'embossed only' crown soda bottles. (About ten of which are Deco style sodas).
30 pictures of straight-sided 'paper label' crown soda bottles.
240 pictures of soda bottles which have various other types of closures including Hutchinson, Blob, and Marble (Codd type).
But zero pictures of any ACLs.

In fact, I can't find the words Applied Color Label / ACL / Painted Label used anywhere in the book. The only thing even remotely related to acls I can find is on Page 4 where it says ...

"Graphite Pontil marked sodas are rare, wooden molds are semi-rare, Machine made, crown tops are generally more common, but still classified as collectible. Generally the cruder the glass, the choicer the bottle. Note many of the 3 piece mold bottles (crown top) were made in semi-automatic bottle machines, which are cruder in design and are more desireable than later machine varieties." (With the loosely related reference to acls being the words "later machine varieties.")

In other words ...

I get the impression from the 1968 "Dictionary" that acls and the majority of other varieties of crown closure soda bottles were not that popular with collectors in 1968 and that the emphasis was with blob top and Hutchinson soda bottles and not embossed crowns or acls. If acl soda bottles were being actively collected in 1968 I think the Dictionary would have included at least a few them. Thus, this makes the J. L. Jones book all the more interesting because of it's inclusion of numerous crowns and acls. Because the J. L. Jones book contains a broader variety of soda bottles I consider it the more complete book in comparison to various other early soda bottle books I've seen. The J. L. Jones book might very well be the earliest specifically devoted to a broader audience of soda bottle collectors, especially acl collectors.

If I were to guesstimate as to when acls became classified as a popular niche of soda bottle collecting nationwide, I would place an approximate date for this as circa 1970.

(Unless you are a Hutchinson and/or blob-top collector, I do not recommend the Dictionary).

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[Side note #2]

Another entry on Page 4 of the 1968 "Dictionary" is an article subtitled 'Life And Death of a Soda Factory' which talks about the early days of soda bottling in the Napa Valley area of California which started around 1830. (Napa Valley is north of San Francisco). The article states (in part) ...

"Three men bore claim to this hillside area, and they all had settled on this valuable property; however, since Amos Buckman had made his claim on August 19, 1855 and his claim pre-dated all the others, he was granted temporary ownership."

The interesting thing about this is for me is that Amos Buckman eventually relocated to southern California where he purchased 160 acres in San Diego's east county and started a Lithia Water bottling plant in 1881. But even more interesting is the fact that the Buckman bottling plant is located only five short miles from where I grew up and currently live. Over the years I have dug around the old Buckman homestead and bottling plant more times than I can count and have found at least a dozen bottles, every one of which is either chipped or broken because those were the one's disposed of by the wheelbarrow load. In fact, I was out there just a few weeks ago but unfortunately had to call it quits shortly after arriving because I encountered not only one, but two diamondback rattlesnakes. Needless to say, I won't be going back again until the snakes go into hibernation which typically occurs around Thanksgiving and last until about Easter.

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Last but not least ...

Please enjoy the pictures from the J. L. Jones book that follow. If anyone is interested in knowing what their favorite soda bottle was valued at in 1972, and it is included in the J. L. Jones book, please ask and I will be more than happy to share that information with you.

By the way, I stand corrected about a picture of the cover of the J. L. Jones book being nonexistent on the Internet, because here it is ...

(And you're seeing it here on Antique-Bottles.Net ... where collectors, diggers and traders meet).

I hope everyone finds this thread to be interesting, helpful, and an in-depth review of a man and his book.

Sincerely,

SODAPOPBOB

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Copyright Entry August 11, 1972

http://xrl.us/bpuwci

[ Book Cover ]

 

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Introduction ...

 

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Contents ...

 

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Sample ~ Page 20 Text ... Embossed Bottles

 

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Sample ~ Page 21 ~ Pictures Related to Text on Page 20 ~ Embossed Bottles ...

 

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Sample ~ Page 132 Text ~ Silk Screened Bottles ...

 

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Sample ~ Page 133 ~ Pictures for Silk Screened Bottles on Page 132 ...

 

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Postcard ~ Front ~ Jones Coal Company ...

 

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Postcard ~ Back ...

 

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1940 U.S. Census listing John Lemuel Jones as a Retail Coal Salesman ...