hemihampton
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I’ve been a collector of commemorative soft drink bottles since 1974 when I pulled a Notre Dame 7up bottle for the 1973 National Champs out of the empties rack at the grocery store I worked at in high school. Found a few more, and a lifetime hobby was born. I love collecting soda bottles and will never give up on it, or at least until I’m no longer able.
I’ve never had a problem with buying bottles and never have looked at my hobby as an investment. I get a lot of enjoyment out of it and also love the hunt. I’ve been told it’s better to focus on the “good” stuff and not try to collect a lot but I’ve never really cared about that. If I like a bottle, I’ll get it unless it’s priced way over my head. Also, I’ve made a lot of lifelong friends in this hobby, and that means more to me than the glass on the shelf.
Over the years, I’ve noticed a sharp decline in all types of soda bottles. I’ve not been a member here for very long but looks like most don’t collect commemoratives, I’ll be the first to admit it’s a very small segment of the hobby. I started with ACL’s a few years ago and can often pick up what I consider the “good” bottles a lot cheaper the past couple years than before. In a good way I partially blame eBay, but often will find bottles on there I never knew existed or would never see locally. And what was once considered scarce in my part of the country was in good supply somewhere else. Others have commented on the cost of postage, I’ll pass on a bottle if it’s the only one a person has listed due to the cost of shipping unless it’s something I consider rare for the collection. I learned a long time ago to just walk away and leave it on the shelf or on the web site as it will almost always turn up someplace else later.
On eBay I’ll see the same bottles over and that are priced in the hundreds of dollars range. Have to wonder if anyone actually pays $500 for an ACL bottle? It may be worth that but I have a tough time justifying it. I’ll try to work out a trade or just pass.
When I started collecting in the 1970s there was the World Wide Commemorative Soft Drink Bottle Club in Sidney, Ohio ran by a man named Homer Hughes. He’d travel to pick up a new commemorative and try to get 25-30 cases for the membership. When I joined, I was member number 574 and it was a very active group, with a regular newsletter announcing new bottles. Homer would come up with just about anything in his travels and I made several trips over there and would bring back 3-4 cases of new bottles each time. The club folded years ago and Homer passed a short time later.
Another collector, Harold Davisson in Seward, Nebraska was a major collector and dealer in bottles on the side. I visited him in the 1990s and he had hundreds of cases for sale. Harold is gone now too and I have no idea what became of his collection. He also built the World’s largest Time Capsule in Seward in 1975 and it’s due to be opened in 2025. I’m going to do my best to be there, as there was a bottle issued for it and I’ve always wanted to see what the 1975 Chevrolet Vega that was placed in there will look like fifty years later.
In the mid 1970s interest remained high with commemorative bottles, I’ve got well over 100 that salute the nation’s bicentennial alone. Today, you still see these bottles for sale as thousands were made, supply and demand. There are a lot of very limited issue commemorative bottles out there and collectors still actively seek them, most issued prior to the mid 1980s and tough to find. But, as the soda companies started moving away from glass the commemorative bottles dried up as well. Today, Coca-Cola issues a lot of the 8 oz. Hobbleskirt bottles but a lot of collectors don’t mess with them. Cost for a six pack is around $6, and sometimes thousands of cases are made. For the most part, the graphics look cheap and these bottles will never be worth anything. For years Coca-Cola issued NASCAR series drivers on both a regional or national basis and millions of these bottles are floating around. I’ll often see them in malls and flea markets for some silly price. A hundred years from now if there still antique malls there will probably be NASCAR Coca-Cola bottles on a shelf with an asking price of $10. There are always a few bottles Coca-Cola issues in very limited quantity for internal events that collectors actively seek and often variations of these will show up too, a color missing or a different color, etc. I’ve got friends who collect these and I’ll bring bottles back from a trip for them. It’s all good; we all collect what we like.
I’ve got two of the three Collecting Applied Color Label Soda Bottle books written by Rick Sweeney in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Excellent books with thousands of pictures and realized prices, but the past few years I’ve found several bottles that were listed as either very rare or extremely rare for less than $5 each. There a lot of ACL’s that will always hold their values just like a some of the commemoratives but it seems that by and large prices have hit bottom or getting there.
I’ve thought for years that it’s an older person’s hobby and a lot of collectors are either selling or passing away. I’m a member of the state chapter of the Coca-Cola Collectors Club and we’ve had five long time members pass away within the last three years. The chapter tries to hold six meetings a year in member’s houses but with COVID we had no meetings in 2020 and none scheduled so far this year. We’ve attended a lot of regional Coca-Cola collector conventions over the years, some are no longer and the conventions that are still active seem to have a lot less attendees each year. In the 1980s we loved going to Elizabethtown, KY for Septemberfest and two hotels would be full of Coca-Cola collectors. This get-together ended years ago, but a lot of great memories. Give it another ten years and there may not be any more conventions to go to.
The better bottles seem to be in private collections and won’t come to market until the end. We try to visit a lot of antique malls and flea markets over the course of the summer and by and large it’s the same things everyplace. Common bottles with case wear marked to sell or common bottles priced way to high. And if we go back a year later, they’re still on the shelf. Once in a great while might find something but it’s few and far between. Bottle shows still have nice bottles but not that many in my area to go to.
We don’t have any children, my wife has several nieces and nephews, and they’ve been over and seen my collection. They look and say its neat then get back on their smart phones, no interest whatsoever in collecting not just bottles but anything else. When I’m gone, my collection will probably wind up in an estate sale and go for next to nothing like most other sales go.
Interesting Story, Thanks.
