Home ยป Arts & Culture
Arts & Culture
COCA-COLA COLLECTIBLES AND THOSE WHO LOVE THEM
By Robin Anderson
Why do people collect Coca-Cola bottles? Isn't the bottle simply a vessel which holds flavored, carbonated water? Once you quench your thirst, what purpose does the bottle serve? What is the worldwide infatuation with a lowly soda bottle?
And the fascination for Coca-Cola bottles extends to all things Coke including calendars, trays, posters, stationery, coolers, trays, thermometers, checker sets, stuffed animals, trading cards, candles, yo-yos, salt and pepper shakers, clocks and Christmas items. Around the world, collectors search antique shows and flea markets, auctions and eBay for whatever Coca-Cola item their collection lacks.
To understand the phenomenon of Coca-Cola bottle and memorabilia collecting, one must consider the reasons people collect anything.
Some people collect for profit, planning to sell items to fellow collectors. Others have a real interest in the items they collect and relish the research which goes into building a top-notch collection. They love to delve into the history of collectibles and enjoy being an expert on something, even if it is only, for instance, World War II weaponry. On a deeper level, collecting speaks to a need to feel complete and in control of the past, allowing small moments of satisfaction and victory when a hard-to-find item is finally acquired. And finally, some collect to connect themselves to the past, usually to happy memories which the item invokes.
For those who collect Coca-Cola bottles and memorabilia, the reasons are as varied as the range of the company's collectibles. But maybe it's as simple as the fact that Coca-Cola is associated with good times. That it has been a part of our lives for close to 90 years. This is what we drink at baseball games, on picnics and on road trips. That it is a "fun" product.
Even without the cursive logo, the iconic Coca-Cola contour bottle design would be recognized most anywhere in the world. The design dates back to the early 1900s when Coke's great success invited scores of competitors hoping to cash in on their success. Bottles up until then had been straight-sided and Coca-Cola recognized the need for "a bottle which a person can recognize as a Coca-Cola bottle when they feel it in the dark…so shaped that a person could tell at a glance or a feel what it was," as one company executive put it.
The company held a design competition with only two requirements, that the bottle is distinctive, and that it also fit in with its existing bottling equipment. The winning design from The Root Glass Company of Terre Haute, Indiana was inspired by a picture of a cocoa bean - grooves running vertically the length of the pod - in the 1913 edition of Encyclopedia Britannica.
The distinctive contour shape bottle has also been called the "hobble skirt" bottle after the restrictive ladies' skirt style of the early 1900's. A bottle of Coke appeared on the cover of Time in 1950 (the first consumer product to be so featured) and was one of only a few packages granted a trademark from the U.S. Patent and Trade Office.
Bottle collectors even have their own "bible" of Coca-Cola collecting, Petretti's Coca-Cola Collectibles Price Guide. Here you will find items from the pre-1960s which are considered vintage. In 1970 companies recognized that collectors preferred older bottles so began producing reproductions which collectors didn't usually want. Many of these reproductions are sold on eBay, making it difficult to tell if a bottle is truly vintage. Consulting Petretti's book will help identify an original versus a reproduction. The fact remains though that contour bottles are so durable and have been produced for so many years that they are still very common and not necessarily valuable.
There are those collectors who favor new bottles. For them choices include bottles produced for Super Bowls, sports, festivals, and bottler anniversaries, for Mother's Day, Father's Day, Happy Graduation, Christmas and the new President Obama Inauguration Coca-Cola bottle 2009.
There is even a Coca-Cola Collectors Club that, though not part of the Coca-Cola company, are licensed to use the Coca-Cola name and have permission to use the trademarks. They are run entirely by volunteers, have a monthly newsletter and an annual national convention.
It is impossible to think of any other collectible with such a devoted following!