It is hard to believe that a Coca-Cola Bottler still offered Returnable bottles in their area, uh…well used to offer until recently. Read this interesting article about it:
http://www.winonadailynews.com/business/local/article_72b4af88-f2bb-11e1-b4ce-001a4bcf887a.html Here is a video of a tour of some of the plant:
http://archive.org/details/TourOfTheCoca-colaBottlingCo.OfWinonaMn
I get a list of upcoming bottle shows in an email from a fellow bottle collector. There are many upcoming shows. Here is a list: (For complete details go here: http://www.antiquebottles.com/shows.html )
Fellow Bottle Collectors,
Please make plans to attend an upcoming bottle show in your area :
Sep 23 Greensboro, NC (moved from Nov to Sep)
Sep 23 Depew, NY
Sep 29 Santa Ana, CA
Sep 29 Memphis, TN
Sep 29 Albuquerque, NM
Sep 30 Lowell, MA
Sep 30 Batsto, NJ
Oct 5-6 Canyonville, OR
Oct 6 Woodstock, CT
Oct 6 Point Pleasant, WV
Oct 6 Chesterfield, VA
Oct 6-7 Savannah, GA
Oct 7 Dryden, NY
Oct 7 Chelsea, MI
Oct 7 Keene, NH
Oct 12-13 Santa Rosa, CA
Oct 21 Findlay, OH
Oct 21 Scriba, NY
Oct 28 Glendale Heights, IL
Nov 2-3 Tulare, CA
Nov 4 Elkton, MD
Nov 9-10 Jacksonville, FL
Nov 10 Royal Oak, MI
Nov 10 Belleville, IL
Nov 11 Albany, NY
Nov 11 Pittsburgh, PA
Nov 16-17 Terre Haute, IN
Nov 17 Mildford, OH
Nov 17 Florence, AL
Nov 18 Oakland, NJ
Nov 25 Bethlehem, PA
Dec 1 Auburn, CA
Jan 4-5 Palmetto, FL
Jan 13 South Attleboro, MA
Jan 19 Jackson, MS
Remember that bottle shows are an important part of our hobby that
need your support to insure the success of this hobby we love.
With football season starting and everything else that comes with Fall, I hadn’t had much time to do any Coca-Cola related things.
I did go to a Church yardsale last weekend. Bought 14 Coca-Cola bottles for $10, got the bottles home and promptly threw the bottle away, but kept the screw on caps. Crazy! But the bottles had heavy casewear. The caps were from the 1980’s, from the Marietta, Georgia plant and looked brand new.
Finding good screw on caps is not easy. Although I did find 40 on our trip to the National Convention, bought 50 on ebay and now with the ones I got at the yardsale, I should be set for caps…for a little while. Most bottle collectors want the bottle and caps to be in pristine condition. I’ve upgraded my caps with the finds from this year and still have some left for future bottles.
In fact, I found a Caffeine Free Coca-Cola cap for a 32 ounce bottle, now all I need to do is find that bottle. It is a difficult one to get.
So, enough of my rambling…..hit those yardsales and see what you can find!
Coca-Cola Bottle Man's Blog 