From John : I have several cases of local commemorative Coca-Cola bottles FREE for the taking. I am trying to make some room in the garage and these must go. I don't want to throw them away if I can help it. Anyone in the Dallas area want them? E-mail me.

From "On-the-Go" : I have come across a seemingly endless supply of empty WHISTLE soda bottles. Bottles are 6 1/2 oz. "Pinch" or "Hour Glass" shaped, etched glass. PAT. NO. 70843,1926. Most are in good shape with a few scratches. Would like to TRADE for anything I don't have. If interested or would like me to e-mail a picture, let me know.

From Matt Dempsey: I am looking for a LEMMY ACL bottle with a blue and white label (not the blue and yellow one). Please email me with info.

From Zac Warren: I am searching for a Dad's "Papa-size" Root beer bottle. E-mail me with info..

From Bill Baab : I am looking for a sun-colored amethyst crowntop embossed Star (image of a star) Bottling Works, Graniteville, S.C., and another crowntop embossed Artesian Bottling Works, Bamberg, S.C. E-mail me, or write to me at: 2352 Devere St., Augusta, GA 30904.

Do you have a particular item, or items, that you have been looking for a long time to complete part of your collection, or something you want - but have not as yet been able to find? Send it so all of us can help you look. You never know where it may turn up! E-mail it to My Missing Item

New bottles or cans, or anything soda, in your area ?
Please send the info so all of us can know @ Whats New

I would like to thank everyone for contacting me regarding a request for my extra copies of the last Soda Fizz Magazine. I hope those who received them enjoyed seeing what is in the print publication.

My first magazine as Editor for the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors' Bottles and Extras will be mailed early next week. I have already begun to work on the next issue (Spring Issue) now, which is looking like it will be possibly even better. There will be extra issues of this Magazine also, and I will be listing its Contents soon, with information of how to obtain a sample issue, or full subscription. Interested in knowing more now? Send an E-mail to: B&E and the FOHBC

I didn't get a chance to upload the show pictures from Muncie, but hope to be able to do so in the next week. I also have some pictures from readers that need to be added to their links (JerryW and Col. John). So, be looking for that in upcoming weeks. 

The Lone Star Chapter of the Coca-Cola Collectors Club will be hosting the 12th annual Tex-Fest from February 7-9 (Friday - Sunday), 2003 at the Radisson Hotel in Richardson, Texas. Events will include welcome banquet, silent auction, bingo, swap meet and room hopping. For more information, please call +1-214-749-2474. Hotel room rates are $69 per night and reservations may be made by calling +1-972-644-4000. Radisson Hotel is located on Central Expressway (I-75) at Campbell Road. 

The largest gathering of Coca-Cola collectors on the west coast will be held February 13-16 (Thursday - Sunday), 2003 at Jackie Gaughan's Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Great Get-Together events will include silent and regular auctions, raffle, swap meet, banquet and room hopping. For more information, please contact Janeen Davis, 25607 Firebrand Place, Hayward, CA 94541-5711. For hotel reservations, please call 1-800-634-6575. Room rates are $65 per night for Friday and Saturday and $45 for Sunday through Thursday. The Plaza Hotel is located at One Main Street, Las Vegas, NV 89101.

Any new events  in your area? Mail so all of us can know, to: Upcoming Events

Regarding last week's question regarding a preference for "full or empty": 

From David "PepsiDad" Gerger : I agree...a bottle is only worth what someone will pay for it. If you prefer full or empty, that is your collecting choice. I bid on ebay for 8 FULL Richard Petty Pepsi Bottles...final bid: $9.99, shipping: $38.00 - due to the weight. I know some of the old syrup bottles are cool if they are full, but the regular bottles, I prefer empty, because the old script writing does not look as good if the bottle is full of BROWN color. So I prefer empty. Ultimately, the choice is up to the collector, and I do not really think the value is influenced too much by them being full or empty. 

From Ron Thornton : Years ago, I used to collect Avon bottles. The same question was always asked then. It was soon realized that the weight of full bottles caused a lot of glass shelves to collapse. The weight of several full bottles will break a glass shelf really quick.

From Ken Cottrell : I do not have any customers that want commemorative bottles that are empty because of one of the reasons you stated for the pictures: The graphics just do not show up when displayed if empty. Empty bottles don't seem to bring as much at flea markets or auctions either. I do not mind bottles being shipped empty as long as the undamaged cap is included.

From Billy "ColaMan" Bearden : I would say that whatever it is that suits your tastes for your own collection. But in the interest of accuracy and collectibility, I would say keep it like it came - KEEP IT ORIGINAL! True, there were a surprising amount of empty commemorative bottles - some amber 75ths, at least one clear one (Carolina), then others like the 
Invitation to Houston Open House. But some commemorative bottles could only be identified by its special or unique cap (Montross Centennial Celebration bottle) and still others sported a unique cap (Casey Jones gold script on burgundy). The only exception to keeping it original is any can - DRAIN them.

From Bill Baab, Augusta, Georgia

During the course of digging for antique bottles, I started digging stoneware jugs, both the stenciled variety and the stamped (where names or initials are stamped into the still-wet clay before glazing and firing). I started out with about a dozen and now my collection has grown to more than 200.

Most of my collection comes from Crawford County, Georgia, where there were a dozen or so potters operating from just after the Civil War until the end of the first quarter of the 20th century. They supplied jugs to the whiskey trade in nearby Macon, Georgia.

I also have six miniature jugs with names of Augusta merchants either stenciled or "scratched" under their glazes, plus five larger jugs with stenciled names.

Early in my digging, I excavated some English (Denby) inks as well as some French ones (N. Antoine et Fils, Paris) and a couple of American examples. I have still got these on display, as well as some Chinese tiger whiskey and soy sauce pots, which also were dug in Augusta.

Contemporary face jugs (1970s-2000) glare at visitors from a dining room case, while sculpted pigs (some thrown, others molded) look like they want to say "oink" from another.

Augusta ephemera (letterheads, billheads, envelopes, post cards, photos et al) dating from the 1850s are mounted in acid-free albums.

My wife and I also enjoy collecting early mysteries written by Erle Stanley Gardner, Nero Wolfe, Agatha Christie and others.

All this keeps me busy, but I still find time to edit The Augusta Chronicle's fishing page one day a week, write a few articles dealing with bottles and pottery and go fishing at nearby Clarks Hill Lake.

If you have a soda-related subject that you would like to see here as an "FYI" article, or have information you yourself would like to contribute, don't be shy, send it to: FYI Idea

Until next week, Happy Collecting! CokeGirl