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ww11 coca cola bottle top help


bigjoe
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guys..anyone have any info on the cap/top used on wartime bottles of coca cola dated 42-44 please..any info and pics would be a great help..many thanks joe

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This is actually an interesting topic. While I don't know much about the caps, I do know that there is a common misconception about the color of WWII Coke bottles. The GI Catalog by Henri Enjames incorrectly states that a WWII Coke bottle appears in green glass. He references a "42" date on the base of the bottle, which is also likely to be incorrect. From 1942-1945, Coke began producing bottles in blue glass, not green glass. The Iron Oxide that was used to color the glass green was needed for the war effort. While a small number of green glass bottles could have been produced in early 1942, there is no evidence to support this. I'm actually trying to find a set in the blue glass for a display that I am working on.

 

Chris

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thanks for the input chris.we picked up 2 bottles this weekend dated 42 and 44 in clear glass at the museum at poteauin in the ardennes .

8 AG 42 marked across the base of one with a small m just underneth the date the other marked 7 44 with a mark that looks like two number 8s on top of each other between the 7 and 44..all date marks on both bottles are raised...42 dated on also registerd design no r 17080 in raised detail below the trademark..44 dated also has bottle pat D -105529 also in raised detail under the trade-mark..any inupt on the pair would be very helpfull..we would like to get the correct caps for them to display..we saw some at ciney expo this weekend ,both had cork seals under the cap with white tops with coke ect in red.at $20 each pinch.gif i would want them to be correct..many thanks joe

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I have never heard of or seen a blue coke bottle. Where did you find this information? I wonder if the war time change in the composition of the glass made it slightly bluer than the pre war bottles. These bottles were produced in tremendous numbers and the name of the bottling plant it was originally made for was on the bottom of the bottle. Coka-Cola collecting is quite popular and I am certain a lot had been written and published about the bottles. If I recall correctly, the date codes are on the side of the bottle, not on the bottom. You could try to find some Coke Collectors on the internet and ask them the cap question and clarify the color and date code issue. I’m sure many of us would be interested in what you find out.

I am associated with a military history museum and our building is a former Coka-Cola Bottling plant built in 1938. It was donated by the owner of the local Coke plant after they built a new plant.

BKW

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Oh, something else, BigJoe, you mention Coke bottles in "clear" glass. I don't think any Coke bottles were made in clear glass during WW II. There were clear glass non-returnable bottles made in the 1970's if I remember correctly. Again, I think all WW II era bottles would be the light greenish color, raised letters and will have a town and state name on the bottom. This info would be for US produced bottles. I know Coke exported plants around the world later in the war and I suppose they contracted to have bottles made locally to support the production. I don't know a thing about foreign bottles. ALso, only the 6 1/2 ounce bottles were used during WW II. Later, probably mid 1950's, a taller 10 or 12 ounce bottle was produced in the hobbleskirt shape, greenish glass and raised letters.

BKW

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It is my understanding that the "date" that is found on Coke bottles are PATENT DATES, and not the actual date of manufacture. Coke bottles can be placed into a certain era not only by construction, but also by the patent information on the side of the bottle. I have an example here that is in green glass, and because of the patent information, the bottle was made between 1938-1951. Since it is not the blue glass, this bottle WAS NOT made during the war years. (Either from 1938-to beginning of 1942 OR 1945-1951) Let's also not forget that the blue Coke bottle did not begin with WWII - they had produced blue tints during other earlier periods of their operation.

 

People need to understand that there is a lot of confusion about bottle markings. This is true from Bitter's bottles from the 1840's, all the way to WWII Cokes.

 

The information about the omision of Iron Oxide in WWII Coke bottles is in a few Coke references. I will check my books -feel free to check online as well... I have 14 books on Coca Cola, so this may take a some time.

 

Much of my interest in Coke actually stems from my wife, Rachael. She has been collecting Coke items for quite some time.

 

Bottoms up!

 

Chris

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OK - There is a lot of information that I have to read through, and I mean a lot. However, I thought that I would share some of these interesting WWII facts with everyone about WWII Coke. Very interesting stuff! The following information was taken from Munsey's book of Coke Collectibles.

 

- "Coca-Cola is a beverage that was provided to millions on servicemen during WWII by sixty-four overseas bottling plants, fifty-nine of them carried abroad at government expense".

 

- "Coca-Cola is a drink that was considered so valuable by servicemen during WWII that in the Solomon Islands a bottle sold five dollars, in Casablanca a bottle sold for ten dollars; and in Italy in 1944 a bottle was raffled off for a charitable cause for four thousand dollars, with the winner so overcome with emotion that he couldn't drink it".

 

- Coca-Cola is a drink so important to Americans that during WWII the Japanese radio tortured American servicemen by frequently describing the pleasure of drinking Coca-Cola."

 

- "Perhaps the best example of an imaginative use of Coca-Cola bottles on the basis of shape took place during WWII, when the Seabeas converted empty bottles into electrical insulators".

 

- "Early in 1941 an aluminum-foil covered take-home carton was developed and showed great promise. Unfortunately WWII forced the Coca-Cola company to take this carton off the market because the materials involved were needed for the war effort. During WWII wooden take home cartons were introduced due to paper shortages and used for several years...."

 

- "The 1940's were the years of WWII, and the Coca-Cola company promoted its beverage through the use of service men and women, and defense plant workers".

 

"During WWII metal signs were not produced in the manufacture of outdoor signs".

 

"Among the most unusual of the decks of playing cards produced to advertise Coca-Cola are the ones issued during WWII. These cards are called 'Airplane Spotter Playing Cards. These cards have the markings of a regular deck of cards, but they are predominantly a series of illustrations and informative hints that could be used to facilitate airplane identification. Such airplane identification materials were popular during the early 1940's, when the nation faced the threat of invasion by air. Groups of volunteers organized and stood watch for foreign aircraft. As part of their training, which included them to distinguish between foreign and domestic aircraft, the groups liberally used the materials produced by the Coca Cola company. At least two sets of small poster-like cards featuring American aircraft of WWII were used in the promotion of Coca-Cola.

 

More to follow.... (I also have information on your caps)

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(Continued)...

 

"In November, 1941, Kay Kayser introduced a series of broadcasts for Coca-Cola called "Spot-Light Bands". This series featured a series of different bands selected to please young Americans in the armed forced. After the outbreak of WWII, in December, 1941, the broadcasts were increased to six a week in an ettempt to entertain service men and women and war plant workers. The programs, with some modifications, were aired from 1941 to 1946. Of all the "Spotlight Bands" programs the classic is one presented on Christmas Day, 1942. The program began at noon with a half hour introductory show, and continued for eleven hours with time out only for dinner. The format of the program was designed so that 42 different bands from all over the country presented fifteen minutes of entertainment each. The program, impressively titled, "The Victory parades Christmas Party of Spotlight Bands, was broadcast on 142 Blue Network stations. Collectors who own tapes of this marathon presentation for Coca-Cola have a portion of radio, as well as Coca-Cola history".

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************According to the same reference mentioned above, Coca-Cola used "Crown Cork" (Company Name). They used this "cap" beginning in 1909, right on through WWII. (Maybe they still do?) An ad from the 50's illustrates this cap as having the "CCS" initials on the cap. The WWII design would have been very similar, if not the same.*************

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Yes, you are quite correct about the dates on the side, under the Coca-Cola logo, (like the famous Christmas bottles) and patent number dates. If I remember correctly from something I must have read, there are date codes on the sides of the bottle, below the logo and patent numbers, in the ribbed skirt area. Very small. This date code would date when the mold was made, I don’t know how long a life the mold had. I may even have been talking to one of the factory workers who made the bottles in Dunkirk, IN. I don’t have any of the old bottles here, I’ll try to look at a few at home tonight. I probably have a couple of dozen. I’m not a coke collector but have handled and sold a bunch of the bottles. In over 30 years of seeing this stuff, I don’t recall ever seeing a “blue” bottle. It just may be a slight shade difference that collectors identify but those not into collecting don’t notice. Like the merrowed edges of patches, non-collectors haven’t the foggiest idea what “we” are talking about. As most people probably know, these bottles were returnable for refilling by the plant. There was a deposit on them when you purchased them (when I was a kid, it was 2 cents per bottle and we collected them and took them back to the store for the deposit money). I don’t know if there was a cash deposit on them during WW II but they were returned for refilling. The bottles were heavy and had a long life, most you see today have the raised letters pretty beat up from the years of handling. I referenced the town and state names on the bottom of the bottles, there are probably hundreds of various names on the bottom. Among Coke bottle collectors, some of these are very rare and command very high prices because a factory may not have produced their own named bottles for very long, thus, few exist today. The small bottles are regularly found here in my area (Indiana) for $2-$5 each.

Sorry for the ramble. I would like to see a “blue” bottle next to a “regular” one.

BKW

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***********A note on the blue Coke bottle**************

 

Below is a link that spells out the history of the blue Coke bottle. The information on the blue Coke bottle is about half way down the screen. Just as I had said, WWII production. I just mixed up Iron Oxide with Copper.. - I hope that this would be suitable clarification....

 

http://www.antiquebottles.com/coke/

 

Chris

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Great information Brian! Between the two of us, we just put forth a lot of information - probably a lot more than what the initial post was about - but I think this is all very interesting!!

 

BIGJOE,

 

The bottles sound like some interesting finds! Kind of like American militaria, those that were made abroad will likely have some differences than their American made counterpart. (The Alpha) While clear clear glass was not made in the States until after the war, (Generally speaking) this says nothing about foreign bottlers. Since CCS was probably one of the largest cap manufactures in the WORLD during WWII, it very well may be possible that those were the caps that were used on a foreign bottle. I will see what I can find, if anything on that particular cirumstance...

 

Chris

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craig_pickrall
************According to the same reference mentioned above, Coca-Cola used "Crown Cork" (Company Name). They used this "cap" beginning in 1909, right on through WWII. (Maybe they still do?) An ad from the 50's illustrates this cap as having the "CCS" initials on the cap. The WWII design would have been very similar, if not the same.*************

 

The CCS refers to CROWN, CORK & SEAL. I'm not sure if Seal was added to the name post WW2 or if it was used then as well. I think they were located in Baltimore, Maryland and I also believe they are still in business. Their website may have info on the WW2 bottle caps.

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Interesting site link! The "blue" bottle still intrigues me. I have had an interest in WW II “Home Front” items and substitute materials because of the war are an interesting side line. I will have to look into this further. You can never stop learning! When time and space allow, we will have a small exhibit in the museum about the original Coke Plant building. We have acquired a few local (Portland, IN) “Coke” items for this display but haven’t get it done yet.

BKW

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OK, I think I found one of the "blue" bottles. I'm here at the museum and we have three bottles we found in the crawl space under the building and one of them is slightly bluer than the other two, One of the three is a 1923 "Christmas" bottle and the other is a #4 version (according to the aforementioned web site) with what I believe a mold date code of 1954. The one with the very slight blue color has what I believe to be a mold date of 1943. It also is much less well defined in the lettering possibly indicating that they were getting as much use out of the wartime molds as possible. Again, I may be all wet on the mold date thing. The bottle is by no means what I would call blue, but compared to the others it is slightly "bluer".

BKW

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chris..brian...thanks for all the info so far..this is very interesting..some more info on my two bottles..both are marked 6-FL.OZS..could be they where made in one of the european bottleing plants.. think.gif

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Does you bottle have anything on the bottom. I think all Coke bottles made in the US at this time had the name of the town and state where the plant it was originally made for on it.

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In my little collection I have a green Coca-Cola bottle straight from the former Desert Training Center.

It has "Los Angeles - Calif." at the bottom.

Furthermore, it has "24 symbol 39" on the side (in the lower curve of the bottle).

It has a lot of sand corrosion thought, but I like it.

 

COCA-COLA

TRADE MARK REGISTERED

BOTTEL PAT. D-105529

 

COCA-COLA

TRADE MARK REGISTERED

MIN. CONTENTS 6-FL.OZS.

 

That "39", is it the year of production?

 

Thanks

 

Erwin

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I am under the impression that yes, the "39" is a date code for the glass mold. I either read it somewhere or was talking to an old time Coke collector who told me that. I live a few miles from one of the plants that I'm pretty sure made them years ago in Dunkirk, IN., and that info may have come from there.

As a caveat, I'm not a coke collector or researcher, and don't want to pass on bad info. My bet is that some in-depth research has been done on this by "Coke" collectors, just need to find it.

Neat bottles, I found and recovered a nice bottle from one of the impact areas at Camp Atterbury, IN., I was doing some recon with range control and we were going through an area that had been burned off from tracer fire. It is an intact, nice condition bottle, possibly WW II era, from Columbus, IN., just south of Atterbury.

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Just a side comment on clear glass coke bottles -- Several years ago I had the opportunity to explore a number of WWII related sites on the island of Tinian. There were a lot of clear glass WWII beer and Coke bottle laying about, especially in the old B-29 airfield billeting areas. All the bottles were rather thin clear glass molded the standard Coke pattern. Bottles were dated by month and year (most I found were dated from 6 - 45 to 11 – 45) and had the same mfg name on the bottom. I assumed the bottles were made in Australia). If there is interest, I will dig one out and post a photo.

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Here is a comparison of three different color coke bottles the one on the left was found in Belgium and was bottled overseas as there is no city and state on the bottom of the bottle its dated 1944 the one in the center is blue and dated 1943 and the one on the right is green and dated 1944 so not all WW2 coke bottles are blue

 

IMG_0408.jpg

 

I believe all coca cola bottled overseas was in clear bottles and not marked with a city and state :thumbsup:

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