On May 12th, Coca-Cola Malaysia sponsored the third Coca-Cola Collectors Fair in Berjaya Times Square Mall in Kuala Lumpur’s Golden Triangle.  Over 40 collectors participated setting up displays with highlights from their collections.  Last month, I was fortunate to be able to attend an event in Singapore and I experienced the passion the collectors have for their hobby.  The Malaysia event looks like it was even more exciting. The Archives provided the centennial bottle that was given to the best display as well as a few other items.  I hope that I will be able to attend the fourth collectors fair.  This video give a good overview of the event and the great collections on display. ^TR

Yesterday I was interviewed by Good Morning America about a Georgia man who claimed to have the secret formula for Coca-Cola.  Last week, I had seen an eBay listing for a document that was being offered with a "buy it now" price for the princely sum of $15 million.  While careful to indicate that he could not guarantee it was authentic, the seller had a document that he purported was a version of our secret formula.  I chuckled when I saw the listing, because as you can see from the photo above, people have been claiming to know the formula for more than a century.  The price does appear to have increased a little though!

Click the image above to watch the the segment from Good Morning America, but you can sleep easy and save your money.  The seller does not have the secret formula for Coca-Cola. The formula is safely locked away in the Vault of the Secret Formula at the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta. 

Thanks to the millions of people who love Coca-Cola, the secret formula has a tremendous mystique in American pop culture, as was shown a few years ago when an episode on the formula aired on This American Life. This episode caused their servers to crash because of the number of hits they received. As one might expect this eBay listing created quite a bit of media interest including Good Morning America, and other media outlets have been calling for more information.  My answer is always the same.  The formula is safe and sound in the vault at the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta. ^TR

I love Star Wars Day.  Each year I have tried to find a different tie in between the movie and Coca-Cola.  This year, we have the Cobot, the nine inch remote controlled R2D2 like figure that the Company produced in 1977.  Enjoy the day and make sure to watch one of the movies today, but beware the Revenge of the Fifth!. ^TR

One of my co-workers was traveling in San Francisco this week and visited Alcatraz, the famous island prison in the middle of San Francisco bay.  She took a moment to snap the photo here with this quick note.  "Visiting Alcatraz and what do I see?  It was in the supervisor's/officer's room and not only had the cooler but glass bottles to the left hand side of it in a wooden crate."

I always love to run into elements of Coca-Cola heritage when I travel!  Now I need to plan a trip to San Francisco to see it myself ^TR 

A unique musical instrument arrived in the mail for the Archives a few years back. While I would often pluck away at it, I always thought it would be interesting to see what it’d sound like in the hands of a true musician. Meet Steve Soltis, who also works with us at Coca-Cola. Steve has played the banjo for a number of years, and he agreed to have a go at the Can Joe for us. The original inventor of the Can Joe (also referred to as the canjo) was Herschel Brown of Jacksonville, North Carolina .

Herschel Brown had the idea that sending Can Joes to troops serving in the military would allow him to put music and happiness into the hands of people all around the world. He titled his business “Can Joes For World Peace”, and said his instruments were for everybody – whether you could hold a tune or not. Even though the Can Joe was designed for those who could not play a lick, Steve proves that it doesn’t hurt to have the skills (it sure doesn’t sound like that when I play). Many thanks to Herschel Brown for sending the Can Joe to us.

I found a couple of interesting items today as I reviewed a collection of letters written by Coca-Cola Bottlers around the world addressed to J.J. Willard, the editor of the Coca-Cola Bottler magazine.  The bottlers were sharing photographs and stories they hoped Willard would include in the publication.  The collection dated between 1930 and 1945.

The first item is a letter (below) from the Grenada Mississippi Coca-Cola Bottler with a photograph of the 1933 Queen of the Watermelon Carnival in Water Valley Mississippi.  The day of the judging, the bottler proudly noted they sold 1,000 cases of Coca-Cola.  If you look closely at the photograph, you will notice the "Loving Cup" that was presented to the Queen.

I have always been a big fan of Leonard Maltin and enjoy both his great knowlege about the movies as well as his reviews.  Last week I was excited to see this great post about Coca-Cola and the movies that Leonard Maltin wrote after a recent visit to the World of Coca-Cola.  It is always interesting to see what people focus on and how they react to the artifacts we selected for the World of Coke, I just wish I had been there to give him the tour!