Posted 12 years ago
Jacquelyn
(1 item)
Hello,
My children was creek-stomping a few years back. They ran across this Coca Cola bottle sticking out of the sand. Since they know Mom (Me) has a weakness for old bottles they brought this home to me. It is , of course, a Cola Cola bottle from the early 1900's. It is green, made in Zanesville, Ohio, it stands about 7 and a half to 8 inches tall. Around the base of the neck, embossed in raised letters is "This bottle never sold." I have taken this bottle to numerous antique stores and they can not tell me why it has this bottle never sold on it. They also say that they have never seen a bottle like this before. Many have offered me money for it but I just want to find out why it says "This bottle never sold." I would just like to find some history on it. There is a story behind this bottle and I can not find it. Please if you know anything please let me know. I value your input. Thank-you for reading this. Sorry about the pictures. I am not a photographer of any kind. I can send more pictures if you want. Again Thank-you and I value your knowledge and input.
Hi Mustangtony,
Yes it does.
I did a search for:
coke "this bottle never sold"
and it comes up with a lot of them. I cannot get a true good link for you, but it looks like this means that it cannot be sold by anyone but coca cola. It was part of their trademark. Interesting find, thanks for sharing this?
maybe this link will work for you:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=what+does+mean%22this+bottle+never+sold%22&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&ved=0CEIQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.antique-bottles.net%2Fforum%2Ffb.asp%3Fm%3D2883&ei=8lZHUaujOIPa9QS7oYGgCA&usg=AFQjCNGYtMVQwPDeKYxHpCQQe_zx07TQRg
Hmmm, this is interesting
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3313935?seq=2
I think back in the day, glass bottles like this were recollected by the company that sold them. So Coca Cola would have been "leasing" the bottle to the local store or supermarket. Having "this bottle never sold" must mean that the supermarket could not refill it with their own soda or juice or today, water, and resell the drink. Must mean the bottle still belonged to Coke, even after the drink was drunk. Make sense am I right?
Hello BHock45,
This link, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3313935?seq=2, helped very very much. This is the most information I have ever had on this bottle. Thank-you, Thank-you very much. It is a bottle in my collection I knew nothing about. Thank-you again for the link.
Hi BHock45;
Why is it they never put things in layman terms. I read it 2 times and yes you are right. I guess they had a problem back in the day with retailers taking their bottles and refilling them with their own concoction of cola, juice or whatever. This was a way for the manufacturer to retain his rights to the bottle. Again THANK-YOU for everything. I have been researching online for 6 months and found nothing. Again Thanks............
Hi Jacquelyn! You're welcome, I just hope I was able to help. It is rather confusing. Welcome to CW, hope to see more of your collections in the future!
I found a similar bottle. Aqua with appearance of blown glass. Many imperfections and bubbles. Words This Bottle is Never Sold on waist of bottle, no other identifying marks. Found in farmhouse dump.