Posted 13 years ago
Spratjack7…
(1 item)
Here is a 7UP bottle that I found while doing house renovations in New Orleans, LA. I've tried to find out more about it and an approximate value, but have had no luck. Here's some particulars:
8" Tall
Crown Top
Smooth Base with embossing
Embossed Text on Base reads:
DR. PEPPER BOTT. CO. NEW ORLEANS, LA. around outer edges
In center of base there is an embossed "7UP" (the "up" is underlined)
Above the 7UP, it is very difficult to see, but it looks kinda like a circle within a star, or between parentheses??? with a faint number 3 to the left and a 5 to the right of it.
Under the 7UP, there is a faint number 2 or 3 embossed as well
On the face of the bottle there is a painted white label: 7up ALKALINE REACTION THE GAS PURIFIES, with a white baseline.
Under the label there is a faint embossing which reads c67
There is a slight brown discoloration on the "S" of the word PURIFIES...see photos.
Otherwise there are only the slight scratches common with a bottle of this age.
Hello, do you still have this bottle?
I do. It's the pride of my collection. I've found this out about the bottle:
I received this information from the Collections Manager at the Dr. Pepper/7up Museum in Waco, TX.
I had sought further information from them on my bottle, and this was her reply:
I did some more research on the Dr Pepper franchise in New Orleans. The Zetzman family, who owned the franchise, was awarded a 7UP franchise by mail in 1933. This was typical of the time, with the 7UP company's President C. L. Grigg trusting the word and handshake of bottlers in order to get 7UP in markets. Apparently the introduction of 7UP in New Orleans was an initial flop, so in 1934 Mr. Grigg himself went to New Orleans (among other places in the south) to see if he could fix things. In 1934 the Zetzman family officially joined the 7UP family and made it their top priority. This didn't sit well with the Dr Pepper Company, who note in their franchise book that their relationship with the Zetzman family was "never very cordial" because they wouldn't do the advertising necessary to make sales. In 1937 the Dr Pepper Company bought their franchise back and put someone else in charge, and the Zetzman family made sure 7UP was the main drink in New Orleans.
Because the bottle says "Dr Pepper Bott Co" this bottle has to date between 1933 and 1937. Based on everything I've read about C. L. Grigg, he was very fastidious and insisted bottlers stick to the formula and the 7 ounce green glass bottle. It is weird that the logo would stray this far, so I'm still not sure. My co-worker Joy has never seen the bottle either. Perhaps this was one of the bottles in production in that uncertain and unsuccessful year between 1933-1934?
That's a great story and history. That bottle is one of the first 7up bottles. You probably have the yr correct. 33-34. An excellent bottle and worth a good amount of $$. I collect 7ups but don't have one like that.
Thanx for the reply.
What, if any, numbers or logo's are on the bottom? A little tough to make out from your original pic.
I just found this about your bottle.
ACL
Applied Color Lettering was introduced by the Owens-Illinois
Glass Co. in 1934 and was quickly copied by the leading soda
bottle manufacturers. The earliest, probably experimental ACL
Seven-Up bottle had a white label and was made in 1935 by the
Huntington, West Virginia factory of Owens-Illinois. The bottle
was marked: “7 up / ALKALINE REACTION / THE GAS
PURIFIES” below the “up” and a bold underline beneath it a
Taken from this article. Great info on 7up.
http://www.angelfire.com/zine2/thesodafizz/SevenUp_BLockhart.pdf
Yes, that article was written by "Bottle" Bill Lockhart. He had emailed me information about my bottle. I may have sent him that photo he used in the article.
I looked back in my emails, and yes, I corresponded with Bill back in 2005.
Here is the email that he sent me in November 2005...
Hi Jack,
I will also send this on to my group, but here is my take on the bottle. I suspect this was a trial bottle put out by Seven-Up. The drink was originally advertised as a headache and overall cure.
The embossing on the base tells a lot of the story. The logo is actually the I in an oval superimposed on an elongated diamond used by the Owens-Illinois Glass Co. The bottle was made in factory #3 (the 3 to the left of the logo) at Huntington, West Virginia, one of the plants that made soda bottles. The date code (right of the logo) indicates that the bottle was made in 1935, only a year after the ACL process was adapted to use on glass. Thus, it is almost certainly the first bottle used by Seven-Up!! In 1936, the company went to the swimsuit girl label.
I will be writing an article on the early bottles of Seven-Up at some point, although I am still gathering information, now. I will certainly use your bottle and photo (giving you credit, of course).
It is a very cool bottle and an important find for the history of Seven-Up!!
Bill
Hey that's even a better story!! That's awesome! Great bottle! Thanx for sharing all that.