What was Cinco-Cola?

[morbious_fod]

Today I decided to get out of the house for a while and after fighting the crowds at the local wally world for a five buck blu-ray decided to hit the antique malls in Bristol, Va to see what I could see. I didn't find much until I came to the newest one. I looked the place over and was about to leave when I spied something in the case nearest the door. It looked like an early Coca Cola bottle opener but there was some black stuff on the first word so it was kinda hard to see especially in the not too bright light of this shop.

The tag said to read the note that had come with it. It was dated 1970 and was someone explaining that their mother had worn the opener on her apron when she worked at the mills to open her "dope" Coca-Cola. The note continued stating that her mother had been eighty six when she died. The family was local according to the owner of the shop, I believe him because his father was "picking before the pickers knew what picking was." I have actually ran into him hitting every yard sale in the area to I'm not surprised. Of course I inspected the opener before purchasing and to be honest with might have passed if it was actually a Coca-Cola opener. I noticed; however, that the first word didn't actually say Coca, but Cinco. I then realized that I was holding an advertising piece from a Coke imitator that I personally had never heard of before, and we just so happen to have the Rush Bottling Works bottling some unknown cola which they advertise, but never give the name for, and of course I bought it.

So the question is what is Cinco-Cola? When was it made? The only thing I could find on Google Books was a Cinco Syrup & Fountain Company in Greenville, SC, but if anyone will know this it will be the master of coke imitators Celerysoda.

 

[judu]

hey morb, cinco cola i know was produced here in greenville sc. not sure of where else...from what ive been told, it only lasted about a year or two before it got sued by coca cola and went out of buisness...you can see how the bottle looks very much like the ss cokes, just as all the other millions of copy cat cokes do.....

 

[madman]

very cool guys! thanks for sharing!

 

[morbious_fod]

Any idea of a time period? The Cinco Syrup & Fountain Company appeared to be from the late teens and early 1920's. As they were also in Greenville, SC I'd venture a guess that these companies are one and the same. I wonder if they tried to franchise the drink and that's how it got up here, or if someone was distributing the drink in the area.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Just tagging for e-mail updates, and wanted to add that "cinco" in spanish means "five" which possibly translates to "5-cents," which definitely translates to my 2-cents worth of knowledge on the brand. []

SPBOB

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Morb ~

Like I said, I don't know squat about the Cinco-Cola brand itself. But regarding the style and type of your particular opener, after looking at dozens of similar openers I found the following ... (Example photo below).


NOTE: Many older bottle openers have a small square hole called a "Prest-O-Lite Key". It was used to turn the valve on automobile gas headlights from about 1910 through the early 1930's before electric headlights were widely used. [/align]



But whether this means your opener is an exception and for some reason just didn't have the square hole, or that it was made in the 1930s after gas headlights were discontinued, I can't say.

And speaking of Coca Cola imitators, the brand below must have really created some headaches for the Coca Cola company. How dare they say ...

"Made From The Original Coca Cola Formula."

[8|]

SPBOB

"My-Coca Company" opener with square hole for adjusting gas headlights ... circa 1900-1919


[/align] [/align] [/align]

 

[judu]

morb, im thinking the date of cinco was somewhere between 1910 and 1920..prob about in the middle.....im just guessing this by the style of the bottle itself and what was dug with them when i found them...a lot of ss cokes from greenville.i always thought thats what i had untill i washed them up..........hope that helps a little

 

[morbious_fod]

It does get it closer, but I am doubting that it is Rush Bottling Works mysterious cola. That doesn't mean it wasn't bottled here, I'm sure the answer will present itself in time.

Thanks for the info Soda; however, I must point out that not every older bottle opener from that period had the small square hole in them. I have a 3-C Nectar 1920-1923 one just like that with no hole, and a Lemon Kola 1912-1920 that is completely different from both of them. I think that while there are quite a few of those with the square holes, they aren't exactly the best indicator of age.

Yes My-Coca gave Coca-Cola heartburn all the way to the court room where they won the case against My-Coca.

Five Cola huh? I can see why Cinco Cola was quickly jumped on by Coca-Cola, apparently this bottle opener has been fooling it's owners since 1970 into thinking it was a Coca-Cola opener. I'm sure if fooled some people into buying their product over Coke.

 

[celerycola]

ORIGINAL: SODAPOPBOB
And speaking of Coca Cola imitators, the brand below must have really created some headaches for the Coca Cola company. How dare they say ...

                                "Made From The Original Coca Cola Formula."

                                                           SPBOB

The inventor of My-Coca was Diva Brown. In the 1880's her first husband James Mayfield was a partner with Doc Pemberton in Atlanta where Mayfield was responsible for manufacturing Coca-Cola syrup. Asa Candler secured exclusive ownership of the Coca-Cola name and trademark but NOT exclusive ownership of the formula.

Diva Brown advertised herself for years as "The Original Coca-Cola Woman" and claimed to have the original Coca-Cola formula in her advertising. This claim was only challenged once in a sensational court case that included testimony by Asa Candler. The court declared her claim to be true. In addition to My-Coca the formula was the basis for Lime-Cola, Gay-Ola, and dozens of other drinks.

The full story is in the book: "The Original Coca-Cola Woman: Diva Brown and the Cola Wars".

 

[morbious_fod]

So what's the story of Cinco-Cola, Celery?