Same mold, same city, different companies

[HunterTheFox59]

I have these two soda bottles from Springfield, Massachusetts. One is X-Tra Jr Beverages from the X-Tra Bottling Co, and it's made by the Glenshaw Glass Co. The other is Nocafeen from the Nocafeen Co, and it's made by the Thatcher Glass Manufacturing Co. I thought it was weird that these 2 bottles were identical and made by different glass companies. Does anyone have an explanation for this, or any more bottles like these?

 

[DavidW]

Hi Hunter,
That looks like an instance when a metal bottle mold was sold by one glass maker to another, and the mold was retooled with different lettering and reused for an unrelated soda.
However, honestly I can't tell if that would be the same EXACT individual mold, but the design certainly looks very very similar. Are you able to study the design on the front and match up any unique pecularities (such as exact shape/positioning of some minor aspect of the design) that would show it was definitely from one unique mold?
It may be a patented design that was awarded an official US patent number, and for some unknown reason (maybe the first soda bottling company changed bottle designs after a short period, or went out of business quickly) and then the glass bottle maker sold the mold and it was acquired by the other glass factory and retooled. Very interesting question!

 

[HunterTheFox59]

Thanks, David! The only difference I can see is that the Nocafeen has an orange/pink hue. Both bottles have 3 stars and 8 stripes. I believe X-Tra beverages survived into the 1960s or 1970s. As for Nocafeen, I have no clue what became of it. I've only ever seen these art-deco-style bottles before, so I assume they didn't last long. I did find this post thought which eludes to a different variant.

 

[CanadianBottles]

Interesting, that was standard practice here in Canada but I don't remember seeing many examples from the US. Here the glass companies would have a certain number of mold designs that bottlers could choose from. If they wanted a unique design it would cost extra, and almost no bottlers in smaller cities bothered because they only needed to distinguish their bottles from the one or two other bottlers in town.

Do yours have date codes? I can't make any out in the pictures. Since it's the same city and different glassmakers, it's possible that it's actually the same company and at some point they changed their name. Maybe Nocafeen wasn't very good for marketing purposes since the only thing the name does is tell you what it isn't - especially considering that most sodas don't contain caffeine.

 

[HunterTheFox59]

Thanks, CanadianBottles. The Nocafeen has a 47 to the right of the MTC mark, which I think is the date code. It also has 2389 and a 3 near the bottom. The X-Tra has a 71 to the right of the G mark, and the numbers 344 near the bottom.

 

[HunterTheFox59]

In addition, I believe that Nocafeen only made cola, and the slogan on the bottle reads "A Cola Supreme" "Without Caffeine". I'm guessing that was their main selling point.

 

[SODABOB]

Interesting bottles. Even though I don't know why they are the same but different, I did find one of each on Etsy ...

Nocafeen Etsy

https://shorturl.at/auxyS


X-Tra Etsy

https://shorturl.at/iFRZ8

Notice on the base of the Nocafeen bottle where it says "Licensed By." I'm not sure what that means but it could be a clue.

It's possible that the bottle was patented - which might explain the connection. I haven't looked for a patent yet but will the first chance I get.

Another connection I discovered is that both trademarks were filed by and granted to the General Beverage Corp. of Springfield, Massachusetts. Perhaps there is more to be found about the General Beverage Corp. that will provide some additional clues and possibly some answers about the similarity with the bottles.

(See attachments)

X-TRA Trademark - First use 1940
Nocafeen Trademark - First use 1943

That's all I have come up with so far.

Bob

 

[HunterTheFox59]

Thanks, Bob. It's weird that the bottoms of the bottles list the 2 different companies and not just General Beverage Corp. I've heard of General Beverages before and I've also seen a photo of the bottling plant. I'll try and see if I can find it.

 

[SODABOB]

Sounds good, Hunter

I found the attached ad from 1936 but nothing else so far ...

Bob

 

[SODABOB]

I'm still plugging along as time allows. I found this 1955 Springfield, Mass. directory listing for the General Beverage Corp. that shows Samuel, Albert, and Philip Swartz @ 106? (1/2 ?) Dwight. I have also seen some hints that the General Beverage Corp. might have been a distributor located in Detroit, Michigan. I still need to take a closer look, but some of what I have seen so far sounds like they may have supplied bottlers with syrup, equipment, and possibly even bottles.

Also attached is a 1949 directory for Andover / North Andover, Mass. that shows the Lawrence Beverage Co. Inc. as a wholesale dealer for Nocafeen Cola. I haven't looked for any of their bottles yet. Andover / North Andover and Springfield are about 100 miles apart.

More later

Bob