Coca Cola Collectibles

Early Coke Collectibles

The Coca Cola company started in 1886 and was first served as a patent medicine. This was a time when bookkeepers had to have clear and even elegant handwriting, and so the inventor, John Pemberton, asked his bookkeeper, Frank Robinson, to write out the name in his own hand. Robinson's contribution didn't end there: He also came up with the name.

In 1887, Asa Candler, a pharmacist and entrepreneur, bought the formula and began an aggressive promotions and advertising campaign. Promotions included items like trays, calendars, and posters, usually depicting a fashionable woman in the very pink of health, drinking a glass of Coca Cola. These items almost always refer to it as “delicious” and “refreshing,” and magazine ads, in particular, often add enthusiastic claims about its ability to relieve fatigue. Occasionally, they advertise the price, five cents. Some of these early Coca Cola collectibles can sell for tens of thousands.

Coca Cola first advertised nationally in the Saturday Evening Post, home of the famous Norman Rockwell paintings, in 1904. Magazine ads usually included even more copy about its invigorating powers.

The famous Coca Cola bottle, known as the “contour bottle” or the “hobble skirt bottle,” was first produced in 1915. These were made by the millions, so while they are popular Coca Cola collectibles, they are not particularly expensive. However, one of their predecessors, the Hutchinson bottle, is both rare and valuable.

Advertisements, calendars, trays, and even bookmarks featuring operatic soprano Lillian Nordica are also among the more rare and valuable, particularly because they appeal to arts and opera collectors as well as Coke collectors.

In the 1920s, the company began to create a wide variety of Coke-themed school supplies, including ink blotters, book covers, rulers, pencil sharpeners, and flash cards. Students can still purchase Coke pens, pencils, and folders today.

Coca Cola and Santa

In 1931, Haddon Sundblom, a noted illustrator, made his first Santa Claus themed advertisement for Coke. For inspiration, he used Samuel Clemens' poem, Twas the Night before Christmas, and his image of a fat, bearded Santa Claus in a red suit with white fur trim and black books. Because of the prevalence of these advertisements and promotional items, including printed copies of the poem and even ornaments, during the 1940s and 1950s, this became one of the dominant images of Santa Claus worldwide.

WWII Years and Beyond

Calendars continued their popularity, but around the 1940s the company began to use photographs rather than drawings or paintings. Also in the 1940s, the Coca Cola company introduced a wider variety of games and toys, many in conjunction with Milton Bradley, the famous games company.

During WWII, Coke included military themes in its advertising at home and provided Coke to American troops overseas. These items are popular among war collectors as well as Coca Cola collectors.

In 1971, the Coca Cola Company embarked on an innovative new radio campaign that fell absolutely flat, no pun intended. However, Bill Backer, the ad director behind the campaign, felt so strongly that he was able to persuade the executives at McCann-Erickson, his advertising agency, into taking a new idea to their client. The Coca Cola executives ended up converting the failed radio campaign into television ads at a cost of nearly $250,000 (about $1.3 million in 2006 dollars), rather than abandoning it. The campaign? It was a song called I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing. Records and sheet music from this campaign, also known as “the hilltop ad,” are popular Coca Cola collectibles.

Crossover Coca Cola Collectibles

Some Coca Cola collectibles were created in conjunction with other companies. Two of the world's biggest collectibles combined when Coca Cola and Mattel, maker of Barbie joined forces to make a Coca Cola Barbie. Coca Cola created other collectibles with Madame Alexander and Major League Baseball, including ads featuring baseball players.