A rare Coke collectible - the Export Bottle

In 1926, The Coca-Cola Company first established an office to market Coca-Cola outside the United States. To help introduce Coke to these audiences, a unique package called an “Export Bottle” was created.

These were green bottles with tops resembling champagne foils that were served on ships crossing the Atlantic Ocean. These bottles were used in the late 1920s and early 1930s as our business was first developing in Europe. You can see one of the bottles in the magazine ad I’ve included here.

People often ask me about the most unusual Coca-Cola collectibles. An Export Bottle is definitely one of them!

Because this bottle was distributed for such a short period of time, the Export Bottle is truly a rare item. We have three of these bottles in the Coke Archives, and there are a few in private collections, but this bottle is very hard to find. Most of the bottles one sees today have damage to the foil or the label.

Because the bottles are so rare, if an original Export Bottle went up on auction, it would bring in thousands of dollars.

Now, there have been reproductions of the Export Bottle, so watch out! Don’t pay thousands for a “late-model” bottle!

Write your own caption - Yippee for Coke!

For this week’s Friday Fun contest, give me your best caption for this 1950s Coca-Cola store display piece.

I don’t really know where to start with this one: the cowboy riding a Coke bottle or the giant hot dog overhead. (And who lassos a hot dog??)

The game: Submit a comment using the online form below. Send a funny, clever or cute caption for this cowboy and hot dog image. I’ll pick my favorite and announce the winner next Thursday (October 23).

The prize: I’ll send the winner a Coca-Cola item from my “goodie closet.”

Good luck to everyone, and yippee for Coke!

See the winning caption.

Our newest Olympic Torch

Yesterday I had the honor of introducing Olympian Sergey Bubka at the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta.

Mr. Bubka is the 1988 Olympic gold medalist and the current world record-holder in pole vaulting with 6.15 meters. (That’s more than 20 feet!) His record has stood for almost 15 years.

He’s also a member of the International Olympic Committee and President of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine.

We were thrilled that Mr. Bubka could help us install our latest piece into the World of Coca-Cola – an Olympic Torch from the 2008 Games in Beijing.

Since World of Coca-Cola opened in May 2007, we’ve had a display of Olympic Torches used in the Olympic Torch Relay, an event sponsored by Coca-Cola since 1992. The Torch from Beijing is a great addition to our exhibit.

We have a winner - Coke at home

For last week’s Friday Fun caption contest, I asked for your best captions for this 1930s photo of a woman delivering a six-pack of Coca-Cola to a mom at home.

As always, you sent me some great captions, and it was hard to pick just one winner:

• Edna's friends had no idea she was the neighborhood Coke dealer.
• Have a Coke and a smile ... uh, oh well, I'm out of smiles today.
• I'm glad my shadow showed up to help me deliver all this Coca-Cola.
• Hello Mrs. Smith, I am June Cleaver from the Coca-Cola Company Marketing Department. I hope you enjoy this delicious six pack of Coca-Cola. Please serve at 40 degrees in a chilled glass for Supper or with Snacks.
• I'd like to Teach the World to Sing, but I don't have the voice for it, so please accept this 6-pack of delicious Coca-Cola instead.
• Easter loved her job delivering Coca-Cola to her neighbors. She sold the extra six packs online for $299.00 to earn more $$$
• That's not what the milkman brought last week!
• During the war sugar rationing created a shortage of Coca-Cola. Here we find two housewives fighting over the last six-pack of Coke. "OK Marge - You take three and I'll take three"
• Thanks for the Coca-Cola, but white shoes after Labor Day, I don't think so.
• Ding, Dong ... Coca-Cola Calling!
• I'm here to install your new bottle opener although most of I what I do is off the wall.
• Let go, Myrtle, or I'm gonna give you a Delaware Punch!!

We have a winner. It’s "That's not what the milkman brought last week!" sent in by Legally Brunette. Congratulations! I’ll send you a Coca-Cola prize from my “goodie closet.”

Thanks to everyone who submitted a caption. It’s great to have you all involved and see your creativity.

I hope you’ll check back tomorrow for the next Friday Fun contest!

The call for diet Vanilla Coke

On this day in 2002, we introduced diet Vanilla Coke -- a direct result of requests from the public.

When Vanilla Coke came out earlier that year, it reminded a lot of people of the 1950s soda fountain days, when you could ask for a “shot” of flavors like vanilla (or lime or chocolate) in your Coke.

Vanilla Coke had its May 8, 2002, debut at the Vanilla Bean Café in Pomfret, Connecticut. A member of our media relations group found the Café on the Internet, and thought it would make the perfect launch spot for the new brand.

Vanilla Coke also had its debut with a live taste test on NBC's “The Today Show,” and the brand soon appeared around the world.

Thousands of people contacted Coke and asked for a diet version of the new drink. Coca-Cola listened, and on August 8, 2002, announced that we would make diet Vanilla Coke. Just a few months later, on October 15, diet Vanilla Coke (now called Vanilla Coke Zero) was introduced across the U.S. and Canada.

Vanilla Coke had briefly been replaced for a bit with Black Cherry Vanilla Coke, but returned in 2007. In fact, we celebrated its comeback by making a record-breaking Vanilla Coke float at the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta.

Did you drink Coke with vanilla at soda fountains, or did you prefer another flavor? Tell me about it!

Lessons Learned: How much is this bottle worth?

Last month I introduced a new series called “Lessons Learned,” where I’ll try and answer some of the most common questions I get on my blog.

Though it’s a fairly broad topic, I’m often asked how much Coca-Cola bottles are worth. There are, of course, many kinds of Coke bottles, so I’ll start by talking about the basic Coke bottle -- one that looks like the picture here.

Question: I’ve found an old Coke bottle. How much is it worth?

Answer: The Coca-Cola contour bottle was introduced in 1916. Even if you have a bottle that is decades old, the bottle will only be worth a few dollars.

Most people are really surprised by this, since usually age helps determine value. In the case of Coke bottles, though, they are so durable, and there were so many made, that there are still a lot of bottles around and they simply don’t sell for “big bucks.”

Another surprise with the contour bottles: This is one case in which condition doesn’t make a big difference in the value of the piece. If the bottle is in bad shape, or is broken, then of course you may not have any buyers. But if you have a bottle in beautiful shape, you’re still looking at a sales price of just a few dollars!

Please note: The bottles I’ve described look like this one. If you have an old bottle that doesn’t have the curvy shape, you might be holding more than a few dollars!

As I mentioned, the subject of bottles is enormous. I hope you’ll check back for future “Lessons Learned” to read about other kinds of Coke bottles and collectibles.

Lessons Learned: How to sell a Coke piece
Lessons Learned: Coca-Cola pub mirrors
Lessons Learned: Newer Coca-Cola collectibles

Happy Thanksgiving from Coke!

Today is Thanksgiving Day in Canada, and I thought you might enjoy this October 1956 Coca-Cola calendar page (of course, from Canada). Happy day to all of my readers from “the North!”

If you’re not familiar with Thanksgiving in Canada, it celebrates a bountiful harvest and is a day to come together to give thanks.

For those in the U.S., I’ll be wishing you a happy day at the end of November. I’ve learned the difference in timing (the second Monday in October for Canada vs. the fourth Thursday in November for the U.S.) is due to geography: Autumn starts earlier in Canada than in America!

Coke says Happy Columbus Day!

Today is quite a day around the world!

If you’re in Honduras, Mexico, Uruguay or Venezuela, Happy Columbus Day!

If you’re in the Bahamas, Happy Discovery Day!

If you’re in Argentina, Happy Discovery of America Day!

If you’re in Colombia, Happy Columbus Day!

And if you’re in Guam, Puerto Rico or the U.S., I’ll wish you an early Happy Columbus Day for tomorrow!

This 1943 image is indeed a Coca-Cola piece. It was created in 1943 for a Coke series called “Our America,” which featured various aspects of U.S. industry and transportation. The ships in the artwork are the three ships of Christopher Columbus heading for the New World.

Write your own caption - Coke at home

During Women’s History Month in March, I’d mentioned that in the 1930s, Coca-Cola bottlers hired women to install bottle openers in neighborhood homes.

This helped encourage people to drink Coke at home and serve it when they were entertaining.

I’ve found this photo of a woman delivering a six-pack of Coca-Cola to a mom in the 1930s. (You’ll see the carton is a closed box with a handle on top, quite different from today’s six-pack carriers.)

For this week’s Friday Fun contest, I want the best caption for this photo.

The game: I’m looking for creative, funny, clever (even “punny”) captions for this photo. Send me yours using the comments area below this post.

The prize: I’ll pick my favorite caption and announce it on Thursday, October 16. The winner will get a Coca-Cola piece from my “goodie closet” -- along with the honor of winning this week’s contest.

I can’t wait to see your ideas!

See the winning caption.

The winning caption - Raccoon Appreciation Day

In last week's Friday Fun contest, I asked you to write a caption for this picture.

I received some funny captions for this 1973 Coca-Cola magazine ad showing a raccoon "getting away with" a Coke:

• Sneak away some time for a Coca-Cola moment.
• While Mr. Mooney was finding a Friday Fun picture, I got away with his ice cold bottle of Coke.
• And away we go!
• And we thought that movie with the talking animals...Over the Hedge! was the first to think of animals drinking yummy cola beverages!
• I can has Coke!
• Soooo thirsty!
  Almost. Off. Of. Page.
• I'm gonna wash my food; um, I mean, wash my food down with this ice cold Coke!
• Coca-Cola: Easier to open than the locking-lid garbage cans!
• As soon as he was able, Rocky Raccoon forgot about the girl of his fancy and stole her man Dan's bottle of Coke and swiftly ran away from the black mining hills of Dakota.
• I can steal this Coke quicker than Daniel Boone can make a hat out of me.
• You can mask a raccoon, but you can't mask the taste of an ice cold Coke!

The winner is "Coca-Cola: Easier to open than the locking-lid garbage cans!" sent in by gregfitz1902. Congratulations! I'll send you a Coca-Cola prize from our "goodie closet."

And thanks to everyone who submitted a caption.

Please come back tomorrow for the next Friday Fun caption contest! I'm breaking away from the animal theme for at least a week!