History and Mystery

Over the years, The Coca-Cola Company and its bottlers have produced thousands of items for promotional or advertising purposes. For many of these items, we have very detailed information in the form of advertising price lists, promotional flyers or pamphlets that document their use, distribution and cost. However, there are always items that appear at auctions, flea markets and in private collections that do not have documentation, leaving lots of room for speculation as to the intended use of the material.

Such was the case more than 25 years ago when I received a letter from a collector inquiring about a series of paper mache figures that he had purchased from an antiques dealer. The figures were 1-2 foot tall and included baseball players, street vendors, children and fashionable ladies. The only specific link to Coca-Cola were the three figures holding contour bottles and a portion of what appeared to be a delivery wagon.

The only possible suggestion I could offer was that the figures were used to help promote a Company produced motion picture film called Refreshment Through the Years. In that film, there are sequences that show scenes from a baseball game and a delivery wagon similar to the one owned by the collector. It is certainly not an exact match, but it was the best I could do.

Fast forward to 2010 when this same collector wrote to me again, asking whether the Archives would be interested in assuming the curatorial responsibility for the figures, as he was downsizing. I still do not know why these materials were created or how they were used, but the figures are now in Atlanta, and I am glad to add them to our collection.

If anyone reading this column has any ideas as to how these figures were used, please let us know.

 

Whiskey And Coca-Cola Beef Stew

Readers of the blog will know that we frequently feature Coca-Cola as an ingredient in cooking.  As we are based in Atlanta and have access to a number of local chefs and restaurants, many of the videos and recipes we have used are focused on the cuisine of the American South. 

One of my colleagues set out to change that. June Kong-Dhanabalan, is the Public Affairs and Communications Manager for Coca-Cola in Singapore.  She worked with a noted cooking enthusiast in Singapore and sent me the video they made of the creation of a whiskey and Coca-Cola beef stew. 

As June noted:

During the holidays, my friend Hsien, an inventive foodie, wine enthusiast and instructor in culinary and catering management in Singapore concocted this yummy stew made with bourbon and Coke - a stick-to-your-ribs one dish meal that is simple enough for the fledgling chef to attempt!

Great with crusty bread or served over linguine or with a side of couscous!   Download Whiskey Coke Beef Stew Recipe

Raiders Of The Lost... Warehouse?

I just returned from a visit to one of the off site warehouses we use to store our traveling exhibits.  We needed to review the inventory and make sure everything made it back from Madison Square Garden intact.  As I rounded the corner to look at the mass of crates holding our exhibit materials, I began to wonder if this was where they filmed the scene of the Ark of the Covenant being stored in the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark.  I did not see any boxes with a burned off logo, but I didn't have time to review all the crates either.

Collectible Scale - Spotlight On The World Of Coca-Cola

For our Spotlight on the World of Coca-Cola, we are going back in time to highlight one of the premiums which would have been given to our customers as an incentive to sell more Coca-Cola. 

The image to the right is an apothecary scale which were given to druggists whose stores purchased 125 gallons of Coca-Cola syrup.

We can document the year this scale was distributed as 1896. In this case, we have the 1896 premium brochure which notes that the scale has 8-inch nickel pans in a cherry box with a marble top and glass dial.  Look in your attic because if you have a scale like this, it might be worth between $ 5,000 to 10,000 dollars.

Madison Square Garden Celebrates A Century with Coca-Cola

My team recently was involved with a project to create an exhibit for an event celebrating the 100 year relationship between Coca-Cola and Madison Square Garden.  It was an exciting project which culminated in a press event at MSG yesterday.  In conjunction with the announcement, Madison Square Garden and Coca-Cola are having a sweepstakes to celebrate.

The photograph above is a 1926 image of the Coca-Cola soda fountain at the third Garden.

While Madison Square Garden is indeed the most famous arena in the world, MSG, the Company, also encompasses the Rockettes, Radio City Music Hall, the Beacon Theater, the Knicks, and the Rangers so there was plenty of material to choose from.

One of the more unusual facts we found was that Asa Candler entered his famed "Briarcliff Birds" in a poultry show in 1913 winning 12 ribbons including four for first place.  The most interesting piece from our collection was a great Coca-Cola cardboard with Knicks great and first African American NBA player Sweetwater Clifton from 1952.  Madison Square Garden even had footage of the 1940 Ranger Stanley Cup team celebrating with bottles of Coca-Cola.  The famous image of the Rockettes introducing Diet Coke at Radio City Music Hall had to be displayed.  Countless boxing matches and other major events involving both brands have taken place at the Garden the last century.  Add in all the musical acts that have endorsed Coca-Cola and played at the Garden, and we ended up having to cut some of the item we really wanted to display.

While the photographs are only cellphone quality, I have included some images of the exhibit cases and the event at the Garden yesterday, and I hope to have a video in the near future.  Or you can check out the photo album on our facebook page

Nowruz Greetings!

This week, many around the world are celebrating the Iranian New Year, Nowruz. Nowruz has been celebrated for over 3000 years by Iranians and people in parts of Southwest Asia and Europe as well. If you were curious, we are now in the year 1389 according to the Persian calendar. The local bottling plant in Tehran, Iran opened in 1335, or October 11, 1956. In recognition of Nowruz, enjoy these 1956 print ads from Iran.

 

Coca-Cola Sign Manufacturing

Coke signs are among the most popular collectors items on the market. But did you ever take the time to think about how the signs were made? Depending on the type of sign, the process could involve the work of many artists, creative designers, lithographers and more to create a finalized sign for display. Tin signs are a collectors favorite, and I thought that you's appreciate seeing these photos from a shop that produced some of the well-known 1931 "Ice Cold Coca-Cola Sold Here" signs. These signs, if found in good condition today, would be worth around $1,000 on the market.

Cooking with Coke - The West Egg Cafe

A few weeks ago I posted the first of our videos with Jennifer and her team from the West Egg.  We have a new video I wanted to share with you today.  In this one, Jennifer discusses some of the sandwiches they make with Coca-Cola.  The best part of the interview was when our team got the eat the samples.  I can assure you they were delicious.  My favorite was the Cuban. Download West Egg BBQ Sauce Recipe

Friday Spotlight On The World of Coca-Cola - Golf!

As the weather has finally begun to warm in Atlanta this spring, my mind has turned to outdoor activities - including Golf.

When we were selecting artifacts for The World of Coca-Cola, we called one of the galleries "Lifestyle Advertising."  This gallery was supposed to represent the different area of ones daily activities where Coca-Cola would naturally be present.  One of those areas was sports and recreation.  All of the artifacts were selected to show our long association with the various activities.

The 1926 tray to the left used a wonderful illustration by noted artist Fred Mizen and was a wonderful addition to the gallery.  Look for it next time you visit the World of Coke.  Oh, and if you have one of these trays in mint condition, it might be worth as much as $ 1,000.

Coke's International Logos

If you go anywhere in the world, chances are that someone will recognize the name "Coca-Cola" if you speak it. In fact, Coca-Cola and Coke have long been the most widely recognized trademarks for any single product. Yet, the famous spencerian script logo is rendered in different ways in different locales. I told you a while back about the story of the translation of Coca-Cola into Chinese, and our Olympic cans with the logo in various languages. We received a few comments about the logos on the Coke and Fanta cans from Afghanistan, so I thought I'd share the image below of what the Coca-Cola logo looks like in some countries. Our other brands are often translated as well. I can assure you that regardless of the differences in appearance of the logo, they all translate the same - delicious refreshment.