RC Cola!

[iggyworf]

Bob about how long did debossed style bottles last? Did the glass fail at the debosing lines you think? Because it was thinner? I have a Dr Pepper debossed also, but it has a different glass mark on it. It's from 1945. If I have a rare RC bottle, that's awesome. I paid 99 cents for it. + 8$ shipping off of ebay. I wish it was in better shape. I hope we can figure out what the LGW 1 thru 6 mean. I like your theory though.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

iggy To the best of my recollection, the debossed RC only occurred on the pointed pyramid bottles. As I recall, all of the flat-top pyramids are embossed. As for the debossed portion being weak, we can only speculated about that at the moment, but simple logic suggest the thinner the glass the weaker it is. All things considered, I can only think of one reason why a soda manufacturer would want to deboss a bottle, and that reason is ... To be able to apply a paper label over the top of the debossed area, and yet still be able to identify the bottle when the paper label fell off or was removed during various stages of handling such as washing, etc. As evidenced by this example image from ... The Gazette And Daily ~ York, Pennsylvania ~ December 3, 1936 (Placing a paper label over embossing would have been difficult to say the least)

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

P.S. iggy I'm thinking the only thing rarer than your debossed aqua bottle with a pointed pyramid is a debossed aqua bottle with a pointed pyramid that has the paper labels still intact - but I think you'll agree the odds of finding one of those is pretty slim!

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

iggy As for how long the debossed bottles lasted, its hard to say without doing a great deal more research and a lot of hands-on examination of those bottle types. My best guesstimate is, they were produced from 1935 to maybe 1937. I'd also like to add that anything with a number 1 on it, such as comic books, etc; is always better than something with a number 2 or higher. I think you really lucked out by finding that bottle as I have been looking around and can't even find a picture of one, let alone one for sale. You did great! Congratulations.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

iggy Things keep popping into my head, which explains all of my PS's. Anyway, I'd like to emphasize that your bottle is aqua and not the later greenish color bottles they eventually settled on. Hence, the aqua color makes it even rarer in my opinion.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Aqua and Green side-by-side for comparison ...

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Lastly ... I'm currently of the opinion that iggyworf's Royal Crown Cola ... 1. Aqua 2. 12 Ounce 3. Debossed 4. Pointed Pyramid 5. Nehi Bottling 6. LGW 1 ... bottle is one of if not the first experimental prototype bottles ever produced by the company.

 

[Bass Assassin]

Nice bottle iggy. This is a great thread.

 

[iggyworf]

Thanx Bass. I know now too keep an eye out for a paper label on this type of bottle. But like Bob mentioned, that might be very hard to come by.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Another thing to bare in mind is that whatever took place at the Nehi Company when they decided to start bottling Royal Crown Cola and the type of bottle they intended to use was conceived in advance of actually placing an order with Laurens Glass Works for the new bottle. In other words, they had the option to create either a debossed bottle or an embossed bottle and their decision to go with a debossed bottle was deliberate and must have had a reason. With this in mind it occurred to me that around 1934-35 glass manufacturers were experimenting with and starting to produce the first painted label (acl) bottles. The earliest known and confirmed acl soda bottle was a brand called "Jumbo - A Super Cola" and the bottle was made by the Owens Illinois Company in 1934. I'm not certain when the first Laurens Glass Works acl soda bottle was produced, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was in 1935 or 1936. In fact, determining when LGW produced their first acl soda bottle could be the topic of an entirely new thread. But regardless of that, its possible when Nehi got together with LGW, that LGW told Nehi they were on the verge of perfecting their acl process and they should keep this in mind regarding their new Royal Crown Cola bottle. Its possible they agreed on a bottle style that would start out with a paper label that could also be used when LGW perfected their acl process, which I'm sure was on the drawing board at least as early as 1935. So what they came up with was a debossed RC in a triangle (or pyramid) that would easily accept a paper label but could still be used later when the acl process was introduced. Hence, a debossed RC/Pyramid with a relatively flat surface for the paper label.