Wish Review

[bottlebugs]

First batch of wishes...2 x 3 = 6 wishes...

First Three Wishes...on a Thursday (I think)

FRIDAY Day 1 for 1) 26 oz Pepsi drum bottle to match cap...doesn't exist..there is a
rare 24 oz variety. Found other Pepsi bottle to match cap but I'd say that the wish wasn't quite complete...but see below

SATURDAY Day 2 for 2) Marked Nehi-Cola 9 oz bottle to match cap...doesn't exist...rec'd NEHI bottle marked Chero-Cola on bottom edge. Note that a bottle actually marked "NEHI-COLA" was only 7 oz

SUNDAY Day 3 for 3) Benjamin Kent pharmacy bottle to tie in Coca-Cola...rec'd Jacob's pharmacy bottle, Kent bottles likely didn't contain Cola as he was using concentrates ready made. Jacob's bottles actually contained Coca-Cola syrup and sold for 25 cents for a bottle. (5 hits)

Next Three Wishes...on another Thursday

FRIDAY Day 1 for 1) NOS Single Dot US Pepsi paper body and neck label, circa 1951-52. Received Suburban Club 26 oz bottle with labels as requested. Bottle was made in
around 1957 so actual labels were NOS...just like all the other examples shown. The bottle is scalloped like a syrup drum on the top quarter. Interesting or a stretch?

SATURDAY Day 2 for 2) NOS Double Dot US Pepsi paper body label circa 1942-50
Day 2 of this batch ended yesterday. But let's see what happens. Rec'd an unexpected offer last night for a 1941 bottle, NOS label but shipping was ridiculous so I countered with $1 to make the price more to market value. Doubt they'll accept but will wait and see.
UPDATE...went back and forth but best offer finally accepted and cut price back to
accommodate for high shipping cost..on its way.


SUNDAY DAY 3 for 3) Lets not forget that 6 cent Kik bottle cap!
Day 3 is not over yet...we'll see...

 

[bottlebugs]

Thought I'd check my emails etc before I go to bed. A friend from Montreal has an auction site that intrigued me.
I bid on the following and will find out shortly if I won. Whats better than a 6 cent KIK cap? 5 x 3 cent Kik Caps.

 

[bottlebugs]

Did some research on these puppies...they predate America Dry, meaning they belonged on the 7 oz version of the Orange Bloom bottle..now there's a challenge...I know who can get me one of those! He has lotsa KIK stuff too!

Orange Bloom 1926-1930

 

[bottlebugs]

So on the very last chance for a wish to being granted on Day 3, by an autocorrect fluke, I
ended up on an auction site that had been recommended by a fellow collector from Montreal. I
was in intrigued to say the least. This fellow collector recently said he may have a 6 cent Kik
cap but with no response, I eventually wished for it instead. They are apparently hard to find.
I won the auction yesterday and it compelled me think one thing...if anything would pry the
elusive 6 cent KIK cap from a reluctant collector, it would be the offer of an even older, rarer
cap. Lets see what happens next! I would assume the wish is still in play!

 

[bottlebugs]

So here we go again! The 6 cent KIK cap that I wished for to go with my earliest KIK bottle
never existed. The 6 cent cap I saw on the web was for the later O. ROYER bottle. The 3
cent cap that I am getting is for the America Dry bottle I rec'd years ago. The KIK cap that I
had for 3 cents was never used. They switched to a 5 cent format but it never went to
market either. It would appear that my collection is now complete and the genie can have
a nice long rest.


Circa 1940 O.ROYER bottle cap and label...he never upped his price.
(It also came as a blank so I'm all done)

1940 CAP

1940 LABEL

 

[Donas12]

Been enjoying reading some of your threads on the Kik evolution. Nice detective work!
I always thought it was exclusively a Canadian brand. So how does the Golden Orange brand fit into this? The small art deco bottle they used was the same one used for America Dry, however it was embossed with the Golden Orange words.

 

[bottlebugs]

Thanks Donas12,

It's certainly been a work in progress. I am not fully sure of the Golden Orange connection yet,
but I suspect it too had something to do with America Dry. Delatour was not too original in the
names he chose for his families soda flavours. Sometimes it was a veiled copy cat like America Dry
vs Canada Dry. KIK sounds surprisingly similar to Coke. I think Golden Orange was their version of
the ever popular Orange Crush. Its no surprise either, that the name Golden Orange dissappeared
around the time that Orange Crush International sought to buy the company. America Dry Ginger
Ale and Kik Kola, KIK Orange, and KIK Cream Soda etc. lived on up until the 1980s. I've sampled
both the kola and the ginger ale. They were not bad at all. Different but good.

I've been scouring the internet for some definitive answers but I have gotten nothing but anecdotes
thus far. The most compelling tale is the one where KIK was originally an orange beverage. There is
another Montreal bottler that existed at the same time, in the very same neighbourhood. HIT Bottling
Company made an orange beverage with a HIT. I suspect it was caffeinated like Mountain Dew, as
they were already producing an orange beverage under the parent company, Orange Freeze. HIT
disappeared from the marketplace in the early 1940s. A collector friend of mine sent me an amazing
variety of pictures of the bottles that they used. They may have been caught up in the Canadian law
that until just recently prohibited the addition of caffeine to light coloured beverages.

My source for the KIK orange theory is not without merit. The early labels were orangish red and
even the later bottles returned to that orange-red ACL. KIK did indeed produce a KIK Orange. I
was intrigued by the early KIK caps from the beginning of the brand's legacy. Some of the earliest
6 cent caps were fairly orange. I think that KIK simply chose their name to represent all of the flavours that were not the flagship America Dry ginger ale. I have seen the blank circle where the
price was placed used in Montreal for the different flavours instead.

The hunt for the truth continues!