Old Coca Cola Bottle

In the many years that the company has been in business there have been many styles of the old Coca Cola bottles. Each one is unique and collectible; however some of the bottles are rarer, and therefore more valuable than others. It is always a good idea to invest in a trustworthy price guide.

Is that old Coke bottle worth a fortune?

Coke was first bottled in Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1891. The Coca Cola Company sold the first bottle of Coca Cola in March 1894. Prior to that, it had been a soda fountain item as well as the syrup being sold in bottles as a patent medicine.

The earliest Biedenharn Coca Cola bottles used a Hutchinson patent bottle. These bottles were in common use for many types of soda and spring water from about 1880 to 1910. Coke was not the only company that used this type of bottle. Each bottle was embossed with, "Biedenharn Candy Company, Vicksburg, Miss."

Currently there have been over 16,000 different embossed Hutchinson style bottles located. You can see a picture of the Hutchinson style bottle at this bottle identification site. Scroll about halfway down the page.

There are two styles of the Hutchinson Coke bottle:

• Coca Cola in script on the bottle
• Plain bottle

After 1900 the company used a straight sided bottle with crown tops. Crown top refers to the type of bottle that has a lip. The bottle cap is removed with a bottle opener. This style of bottle protected the carbonation and flavoring or the Coke much better than the old Hutchinson bottles. These can be found in a number of glass colors including:

• Clear
• Amber
• Green
• Blue
• Aqua

While value will depend a lot on the condition of the bottle, as a general rule amber bottles will command higher prices than the other colors.

In 1913 the company wanted a more distinctive bottle so that the Coca Cola was easily recognizable to consumers. Ben Thomas, one of the bottlers, said that the consumer should be able to recognize the Coke bottle in the dark, just by feel. By 1916 the now familiar contoured bottle had been developed. Due to a lack of research by the team working on the new bottle it resembled a cacao bean rather than a coca bean but the company had a distinctive bottle. With its deep contoured shape, consumers could indeed recognize it in the dark. This design was recognized in 1960 by the U.S. Patent office as being distinctive and belonging exclusively to Coca Cola.

Caps for crown style bottles.

Other names that the contour bottle goes by are:

• Mae West bottle
• Hobble skirt bottle

The earliest contour bottles came in a number of colors:

• Clear
• Blue
• Green
• Aqua

There was one distinctive bottle produced in 1915 that is blue on the top and green on the bottom. After 1925 all of the Coke bottles were green. There was a brief time during World War II, from 1942 through 1945, when the lack of copper in the glass meant that the bottles were blue.

As with any antique or collectible it is important that you know that some bottles can be faked. Irradiation can be used to change the color of some bottles to make them look old or like a more rare color.

You should invest some time in studying and researching old Coca Cola bottles before you spend too much money on collecting them. There are numerous books available, as well as many websites with valuable, free information.

Identifying an old Coke bottle is much easier if you have images and good descriptions to go by. Here are some Internet resources that can help:

• Antique Bottles
• Biedenharn Coca Cola Museum
• Coca Cola Collectors Club
• Coca Cola’s History Blog
• Bobby’s Coca Cola on the Web
• Critter Bob’s Coca Cola Net

Many items from well-known companies are collectible because of the nostalgia involved. Old Spice collectibles, Avon collectibles, and Texaco are all companies whose brands are collectible because they remind consumers of a simpler era.

Enjoying, collecting, and displaying old Coca Cola products are a popular pastime for many hobbyists and collectors. Learn as much as you can and then begin looking for pieces to add to your collection. Just make sure that “It’s the real thing.”

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