2011 will be the 125th Anniversary of the Coca-Cola Company. A few 125th items have shown up just in time for Christmas. There is a Coca-Cola 125th Anniversary Monopoly game, Coca-Cola 125th Anniversary Yahtzee and a 125th Anniversary 2011 Calendar. I’ve seen all of these items online and they should be in stores also.
This is only a few of the items for the 125th that will be released. Next year we will see a lot of COOL 125th Coca-Cola items………. More on that later.
Another great gift idea is a Gift Membership in the Coca-Cola Collectors Club. They will receive a monthly newsletter, be able to attend numerous Club events, access to the Want Ads and be able to connect with fellow collectors!
Check out the link for The Coca-Cola Collectors Club under Links on my blog, contact the club for details.
The next few days leading up to Thanksgiving I will be posting some gift ideas for that collector in your family.
What about a magazine on collecting Soda items. Two magazines that are excellent are: The Cola Conquest, covering all things Coca-Cola. Check out the website at www.colaconquest.com
OR the sister publication, Soda Spectrum, which picks up every other kind of Soda besides Coke. www.sodaspectrum.com
Check out the websites for these two and see some past articles, etc. A perfect gift for that collector. I have subscribed to both for several years now. I am always excited to see them in my mailbox!
I ran this post last year, but thought I would update the links, etc. in case you might be shopping for those bottle collectors in your family soon. I am also still offering my book with free shipping to the U.S. You can check out the link about my book here: http://www.yourbook.com/BookInfo/IP31179-09.asp
What do you buy an avid bottle collector for Christmas? Well-one thing they always need are cleaning supplies. Bottles can be a pain to clean, but these products make it a whole lot easier.
Bottle Brushes: It is probably the most needed and used item. A few places that have some great quality brushes would be either Lee Valley :
http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page.aspx?c=2&p=10209&cat=2,50560
And Crate and Barrel has some good brushes too:
http://www.crateandbarrel.com/family.aspx?c=690&f=27135
What about that gunk that sits on the bottom of those bottles in the hard to reach corners? This Decanter and Bottle Washing Kit from Brushtech is great for that. It consists of a funnel and ball bearings. Put in a mild detergent, some hot water and drop in the ball bearings and swirl around. Removes all the dried up mess in the corners. You can find it on Amazon, or do a search for it on the internet. Here is the Amazon link:
And a great cleaner for those ACL bottles is a product called Bar Keepers Friend. It can be found at your local grocery store or even some hardware stores. It is a mild abrasive similar to Comet, but specifically made to clean glass. It is a great product. Here is the company website:
http://www.barkeepersfriend.com/about-us
Also be sure and check out my ‘Bottle Books To Read’ section. Several titles are available from Amazon.
Hope this gives you a few ideas. You can even buy them for yourself for Christmas!
Today is Veterans Day, and my office has a breakfast to honor those of us who served our Country. (I am a third generation Navy man) I am not much of a breakfast eater, but I did enjoy my biscuit and Coke Zero. It is something they began doing several years ago.
The breakfast was a nice start for my Veterans Day and it will end with a Coca-Cola Collectors Club meeting, should be a great day.
On this day as you enjoy what you like doing, please find a veteran and thank them for their service.
Last week I was cruising around eBay checking out some bottles. I was checking out some error bottles and I came across this description:
“The all white ACL Applied Color Label is upside down including the neck section. This is similar to the one discussed in Collector’s Weekly interview with author and collector Doug McCoy in March of this year in which he says his similar bottle is one of his favorites. It is a very rare item and is in nearly pristine condition. This is a great gift for that “hard to buy for” person as almost no one will have the same item in their collection! “
I was very surprised to see my name in the description! The bottle was a 6 1/2 ounce Coca-Cola bottle with all the ACL applied upside down! A definite factory ‘Third Shift’ bottle, made by glass makers who were a little bored one night.
I was EVEN more surprised that the bottle sold for $400. A little high I thought but that is eBay, when you get two people in a bidding war.
I am still amazed at where my name has been turning up since I published my book.
After being around bottles for so long, I tend to develop ‘Bottle Blindness’. Bottle Blindness is when you see a bottle but tend to overlook it thinking you have already seen that style of bottle OR already have that particular bottle. I have learned you can’t assume that. Last year I went to one of my bottle buddies house to see what they had for sale. I also needed several of the Family Size (26 ounce) Coca-Cola bottles for a local antique dealer who wanted to fill a crate with them. So, I started pulling out some nice 26 oz bottles and came across a style I had not seen before, but I had seen this very bottle several times before while visiting my friend. I had seen it, but never looked at it closely because I thought it was a ‘common’ 26 oz bottle.
I have missed out on other bottles before at bottle shows and conventions because I only would glance at a bottle and assume it was an ordinary, common style of bottle, to find out later when someone else took the time to look and bought it, that it was a hard to find item.
I am trying to get over this case of bottle blindness, but still catch myself not looking closely or passing up a bottle. Just the other week, someone asked if I needed a Simba bottle (Simba was a Coca-Cola Product of the late 1960’s) and I was going to say, ‘No, I have all the Simba bottles’, but thought twice and looked at the bottle. Much to my surprise it was a different version of the 10 ounce bottle I had never seen before!
I just have to remember, it doesn’t cost anything to look and it might cost me if I don’t look. You never know, that rare bottle you have been looking for just may show up, or could have been right under your nose and never knew it.
Happy Hunting.
Coca-Cola Bottle Man's Blog 