BIM C.C.B. CO. BOSTON hobble skirt - Coke bottle?

[ruccello]

Hi all. My girlfriend and I dug an old dump yesterday and found this bottle. It appears to be an old coke bottle - the hobble skirt shape, C.C.B. CO. (coca cola bottling?), but I've never seen this bottle before, and I can't find any info on it. It's about 7 3/4" tall, and the base is about 3 3/8" wide. On the front bottom it says in quotes "HANDY HOLD BOTTLE" on one side, and on the other it says MIN. CONT. 6 1/2 OZ. The bottom reads C.C.CO. over BOSTON. The seam is very light and appears to stop about half way up the neck. The top appears to be applied with nice striations in the neck - the neck is leaning to one side also. Great color with lots of bubbles, unfortunately the bottom is cracked all around - cracks appear to be on the inside only because you can't feel them from the outside. In the attached photos what looks to be a seam is only a reflection, the seam is very hard to see, but it's there. Any info. on this bottle would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Richard

 

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[jgas]

No idea but it is a cool find. jgas

 

[gleaner1]

It's gotta be a coke, they patented the shape. I cant think of this as being too rare. SodabottleBob, where are you?

 

[ruccello]

Hey gleaner, you're right about the shape, but it's smooth all around - unlike a coke hobbleskirt. And it's blown in mold with a tooled top - I'm guessing coke probably made the hobbleskirt design by machine. I think Coke made/patented the first hobbleskirt bottles in 1916 - they could have made some by hand I guess. I can't find any reference anywhere to C.C.B. CO. No coke site lists any coke bottle with that identifier. If it is a coke bottle, no one else anywhere seems to have one. If it's a coke wanna-be then I would think there would be more bottles out there also - but again, I can't find anything even close. Very odd and interesting bottle. I'm hoping there are some coke experts out there that can chime in.

Richard

 

[gleaner1]

ruccello, after some thought this could be rare one, I always lean toward the "common" side just to keep sane. I have never seen a coke like yours though....ever. We need Bob.

 

[ruccello]

OK, where are all the experts when you need them!

 

[SODABOTTLEBOB]

ruccello ~

I heard my name mentioned and thought I would stop by and throw my 2-cents into the hat. You seem to have found a most unique bottle. It has all the earmarks of being made by the Coca Cola Company, but my gut instinct tells me it was some kind of "knock-off/copy-cat." Coca Cola had to deal with this sort of thing on a fairly regular basis, the most notable of which being the introduction of "Taka-Cola" in the 1920s. It eventually went to court and was decided in Coca Cola's favor, resulting in fines and a cease production order against "Taka-Cola." Apparently the word "Taka" was too similar sounding to "Coca."

Although I have done a little research on your "Handy Hold" bottle, thus far all I have been able to find is that of the patent image below which shows a "similar" bottle which was patented in 1916 - with the famous Coca Cola "Hobbleskirt" patented just shortly before - and applied for in 1915. I realize the one shown here is different, but of the numerous designs I looked at from the 1910s and 1920s, it was the only one that even came close. I will continue to do more research and let you know what, if anything, I find.

SODABOTTLEBOB

P.S. If you are interested in selling the bottle, please post your response here or contact me through a personal message. Thanks.

 

[SODABOTTLEBOB]

rucello ~

I contacted Bill Porter, (who wrote the book "Coke Bottle Check List"), and this is his reply ...

~ * ~

"This is a great bottle. (I have one too.) It is both a Coca Cola "Flavor" bottle, and a patent infringement bottle (of the Root owned design patent). It seems to be quite rare too. A great non-Coke, Coke bottle. It must have been suppressed fairly quickly. New England was a real renegade during this early period. There are similar, taller bottles from Fall River, Massachusetts, for example. It also has a similar size one, but without the wonderful "Handy Hold" name.
So that's it! - Good Hunting!"

~ * ~

SPB

P.S. I'm still interested in purchasing it, but something tells me the price just went up! Too bad it's cracked.

 

[RPG]

Nice find ruccello. I did some research a while ago and found that each bottling plant in each little town could have it's own design bottle. If this is wrong, someone, please advise me. I found the bottle in the link and never found one like it anywhere.

Good Luck
Randy

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,298862.0.html

 

[SODABOTTLEBOB]

RPG ~

You are absoloutely right! - different bottlers did have different bottle designs. However, most, if not all of these variations held fruit flavors and not Coca Cola itself. The true Coke product bottles like the early straight-sided one's had Coca Cola spelled out in their famous script signature that is still being used today. The variation bottles were slowly weeded out with the introduction of the 6 OZ. "Hobbleskirt" design in 1915/16. But Coca Cola bottlers did continue various fruit flavors like "Big Chief" and other brands, although the bottlers were required to print "Bottled By The Coca Cola Co." on the labels. It gets kind of confusing, and that is one reason why many collectors of Coke bottles will focus on "just hobbleskirts," or "just straight-sided" examples. Otherwise you can go crazy trying to collect them all. Just the hobbleskirt's alone total over 2000 variations, with 300 from California that I personally am trying to amass.

Thanks,

SBB

 

[RPG]

RPG ~

You are absoloutely right! - different bottlers did have different bottle designs. However, most, if not all of these variations held fruit flavors and not Coca Cola itself. The true Coke product bottles like the early straight-sided one's had Coca Cola spelled out in their famous script signature that is still being used today. The variation bottles were slowly weeded out with the introduction of the 6 OZ. "Hobbleskirt" design in 1915/16. But Coca Cola bottlers did continue various fruit flavors like "Big Chief" and other brands, although the bottlers were reqired to print "Bottled By The Coca Cola Co." on the labels. It gets kind of confusing, and that is one reason why many collectors of Coke bottles will focus on "just hobbleskirts," or "just straight-sided" examples. Otherwise you can go crazy trying to collect them all. Just the hobbleskirt's alone total over 2000 variations, with 300 from California that I personally am trying to amass.

Thanks,

SPB

Thanks SPB. Didn't know about the fruit flavors. Seems there's more to being a Coca-Cola bottle than just being a Coca-Cola bottle. What is the best resourse available on Coca-Cola bottles, or is there a best?

 

[SODABOTTLEBOB]

RPG ~

Here's a direct link to another TreasureNet forum where myself and others have posted links and info to just about everything you ever wanted to know about Coca Cola but were afraid to ask. It'll keep you busy until summer. And as far as the "best" Coke bottle book is concerned, I guess it depends on how specific you want to be. But the various links will have references to a good variety of books. If you are primarily interested in the "Hobbleskirts" then I would say that Bill Porter's check list is the best. But if all you want is a history with color photos, then I'm sure you will find something of interest amongst the various Coke links I posted. Good luck, and "Enjoy a Coke and a Smile."

SODABOB

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,300628.new/topicseen.html#new

 

[RPG]

RPG ~

Here's a direct link to another TreasureNet forum where myself and others have posted links and info to just about everything you ever wanted to know about Coca Cola but were afraid to ask. It'll keep you busy until summer. And as far as the "best" Coke bottle book is concerned, I guess it depends on how specific you want to be. But the various links will have references to a good variety of books. If you are primarily interested in the "Hobbleskirts" then I would say that Bill Porter's check list is the best. But if all you want is a history with color photos, then I'm sure you will find something of interest amongst the various Coke links I posted. Good luck, and "Enjoy a Coke and a Smile."

SODABOB

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,300628.new/topicseen.html#new

Thanks for the link. I'll be spending some time there. I'm becoming more and more interested in the old coke bottles. As far as "Enjoy a Coke and a Smile", I kinda like the way they used to taste. You know, back in the 60's when you could get one out of the cooler box and it had ice in it.

 

[gleaner1]

ruccello, I'm glad to see you have a rare one there. Very interesting piece.

 

[ruccello]

Sodabottlebob, thanks for the great information, and please thank Bill Porter for me also. TN has such an impressive knowledge base, and so many people willing to share. Thanks to all who helped with this one, it had me stumped. Bob, unfortunately, my girlfriend found this one (although she didn't want to keep it because it was cracked, I put it in my backpack knowing it was unusual!) - but it's hers and now she doesn't want to part with it! We are going back to this dump, so there may be more - there are literally thousands of early crown tops broken on the surface. We've dug about 10 early crown top sodas at this site, plus a nice ginger beer pottery bottle, and some other interesting stuff. I'll try to post photos this week. Bob, if we do find more of this unusual bottle, I'd be happy to sell you one - we don't collect coke bottles, so one is enough for us. In case anyone wants to know, it was found in Mansfield Center, CT. Thanks again everyone.

Richard

 

[SODABOTTLEBOB]

Richard ~

You're welcome - I'm glad I could be of help, and will take you up on your offer if/when you find more. I'd also like to suggest that you keep every soda bottle you find. Including both the embossed ones as well as the painted label ones. You may have found a gold mine there, and many of the painted label sodas are worth big bucks. Please keep us informed on what you find. And I will be happy to assist with identifications if necessary. Good luck and good hunting.

Bob

 

[SODABOTTLEBOB]

Richard ~

I realize this thread is several weeks old, but I stumbled across this info today and it made me think of you and your unusual bottle. The one shown here is a true (fruit flavor) embossed Coca Cola bottle. But it's got to be related to yours somehow, even if yours is some kind of copy-cat. It's one of the bottles that Bill Porter referred to. It does not have "Handy Hold" embossed on it.

Take care,

Bob

Fall River, Mass. Coca-Cola Bottling Wks. Fall River, Mass. - Block letters - Funny early Hobbleskirt shape - 8oz. - clear - good - Value $100.00

 

[SODABOTTLEBOB]

Here's your "Handy Hold" bottle for comparison. (I hate scrolling any more than necessary).

 

[DixieHunter145]

Here's a related post to Taka-Kola posted on the Antique Bottles Forum.

http://www.antique-bottles.net/forum/taka-kola-bottle/m-30306/tm.htm