For Sale:  I am going to sell my bottle collection.  I have been collecting for over 40 years and have 3,200 soda bottles in my collection, one of the largest. They range from the 1800s to the 1980s.  Also, soda can and beer can collection.  Part of them are shown at: www.usfirehouse.com under the "Tour" section.  I also have many metal signs and cardboard advertising from the 40s and 50s.  Contact John by E-mail.

For Sale: Just in time for Christmas! New Poker Set in a collectible tin for $19 + shipping. Set includes a deck of cards available only in the set and 6 packs (2 each of red, white, blue) of poker chips with the Coca-Cola script logo. Also have Coca-Cola Tic-Tac-Toe for $7 + shipping. Contact: Ken Cottrell, 7407 S 284th E Ave, Broken Arrow, OK 74014; Phone: (918) 357-3067 or E-mail .

Also if anyone else has bottles or other soda-related items to offer, E-mail and let us all know.

From SP Cafe : Wanted: ACL bottles and soda advertising from Oklahoma bottlers.  E-mail me with what you have to offer.

From Doug McCoy.: WANTED: I need an 8-ounce returnable Coca-Cola bottle used in the 1960s from North Carolina Coca-Cola Bottling Plant in Lexington. Contact: Doug McCoy, 2851 Milford View, Marietta, GA 30008; Phone: (770) 435-9138; or E-mail.

From Marc Melton, Uncle Earl's Elixirs: I am trying to locate an antique 16-ounce soda pop bottle mold from the 30s or 40s to bottle my organic elixirs.  Any ideas on how I might acquire one? Ph: (760) 815-9500 or E-mail.

From me: I am looking for ANY soda-related book for The Soda Fizz reference library. Specifically, old National Carbonator and such magazines - and  - More Pop! by Alan Schmeiser, Michalan Press, Dixon, California, 1970. Please E-mail me with any titles you have that you think I may be interested in obtaining, or call (423) 737-6710. 

From me - WANTED: Regional listings of bottles.  If you collect bottles from your region only, such as your state or county - I want your list.  The purpose: create an online database listing of bottles by region/area for new collectors to use as a reference to beginning collecting or a check-off list for experienced collectors. Photos of rare or good examples also welcome. Please contact me with what you have - in all bottle categories (all sodas, milks, apothecary, beer, whiskey, etc.). Kathy Hopson, 1966 King Springs Rd., Johnson City, TN 37601; Ph: (423) 737-6710, or by E-mail.

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

Coca-Cola plans to introduce an energy drink named Full Throttle in January 2005. Full Throttle will be available in 16-oz cans primarily in convenient stores nationwide. It was unveiled in Las Vegas at the National Association of Convenience Stores convention. Coca-Cola will continue to market its existing energy drink brand KMX.

Coca-Cola Amatil has gained a foothold in the Australian fruit juice market by snapping up Crusta Fruit Juices for an undisclosed sum.  The acquisition of Australia's third biggest juice player was part of the company's strategy of expanding its beverage base.  Last year, the Coke bottling and beverages company bought Neverfail Springwater Ltd.

Coca-Cola aired a high definition version of the 1971 Hilltop television commercial on NBC during the Notre Dame-Washington football game last month. The commercial featured children from 30 countries singing "I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke" on a hilltop in Italy. The commercial aired as a tribute to Bill Davis, the songwriter who co-wrote the theme to Coke's popular commercial. Davis died September 2, 2004 at age 72. The commercial will be donated to the Library of Congress.

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

NOVEMBER 4-6  -  BRANSON, MISSOURI
The Arkansas & Oklahoma Green Country Chapters of the Coca-Cola Collectors Club present the "Fall Fever in the Ozarks" Coca-Cola show at the Settle Inn & Resort, 3050 Green Mountain Dr, Branson, MO. The swap meet will be open to the public on Sat., Nov. 6th, from 10 AM -2:30 PM. For more information, contact KEN COTTRELL, E-mail: beartul@earthlink.net or Ph: (918) 357-3067.

NOVEMBER 5-6  -  TULARE, CALIFORNIA
The Sequoia Antique Bottle & Collectable Society's 37th Annual Show & Sale (Fri. 11 AM - 6 PM; Sat.  9 AM - 4 PM) at the Tulare Veteran's Memorial Building, 1771 East Tulare Avenue, Tulare, California, 93277. INFO: RICHARD SIMON, 2244 South Church, Visalia, California, 93277; PH: (559) 734-3179. [The show host, Richard Simon, is looking for new participants and you can get a table at this show. All new dealers and new collectors in or around California's San Joaquin Valley and central coast are strongly encouraged to get involved in this very down-home-style, highly popular show! Buy a table for $27.50 -- It's easy and fun!]

NOVEMBER 6  - CLAWSON, MICHIGAN
Metropolitan Detroit Antique Bottle Club 28th Annual Show & Sale, (Sat. 9:30 AM to 3 PM), at the Clawson Knights of Columbus Hall in Clawson, MI (870 North Main Street (Livernois). Info: BRUCE HECKMAN, PH: (248) 641-1701, E-mail: hisser@comcast.net or PAUL BERTALAN, PH: (248) 689-9086, E-mail popsew@aol.com. 

NOVEMBER 6 - 7  -  SPRINGFIELD, OHIO
Springfield Insulator Show (Sat. 8 AM - 4 PM, Sun. 9 AM - 3 PM) at the Clark County Exposition Center, I-70 exit 59, Springfield, Ohio. INFO: STEVE BLAIR, 105 State Rt. 56 SW, London, OH  43140, PH: (740) 852-3148, E-mail: csob50@aol.com or GLENN DRUMMOND, 600 Co. Rd. 87, Notasulga, AL  36866, PH: (334) 257-3100, E-mail: pat.eighteenseventyone@verizon.net.
**Listing Courtesy of Crown Jewels of the Wire**

NOVEMBER 6-7  -  EAST GEELONG, AUSTRALIA
The Geelong Bottle & Collectables Club 28th Annual Show & Sale (Sat. 10 AM to 5 PM & Sun. 9 AM to 4 PM) at the Geelong Showgrounds, Agricultural Hall, 79 Breakwater Rd., East Geelong, Australia. INFO: CHRIS LEWIS, PH: 03 5244 2041.

NOVEMBER 7  -  PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA   ~ See November 14th ~ 
(Please note: This show had originally been listed for November 7th and due to uncontrollable circumstances, has been rescheduled to Sunday, November 14th.)

NOVEMBER 7  -  COLLINSVILLE, ILLINOIS
Metro-East Bottle & Jar Association's' 33rd Annual Antique Bottle & Relic Show & Sale (Sun. 9 AM - 2:30 PM, Adm. $2 Adults, Children Free) at the Gateway Center, Route 157 & I-55/70 (15 minutes from downtown St. Louis, Missouri), Collinsville, Illinois. INFO: TERRY MUELLER, 222 Derrick Dr., O'Fallon, IL 62269; PH: (618) 624-8736 or DALE ZURLIENE, PH: (618) 224-7353.

NOVEMBER 7  -  ELKTON, MARYLAND
Tri-State Bottle Collectors & Diggers Club’s 32^nd Annual Show & Sale (Sun. 9 AM – 3 PM) at the Singerly Fire Hall, Routes 279 & 213 (I-95 exit 109A), Elkton, Maryland. INFO: DAVE BROWN, PH: (302) 738-9960.

NOVEMBER 13  -  OAKLAND, NEW JERSEY
The North Jersey Antique Bottle Collectors Assn. 35th Annual Show & Sale (9 AM to 2 PM, early buyers 8 AM) at the Valley Middle School, Route 202, Oakland, New Jersey. INFO: PAUL BOREY, PH: (201) 934-7486 or (973) 835-1275.

NOVEMBER 13  -  TERRE HAUTE, INDIANA 
The Wabash Valley Antique Bottle & Pottery Club 7th Annual Show & Sale (9 AM to 2 PM, early buyers 7 AM) at the Terre Haute South High School Cafeteria, off I-70 at Davis Ave & 7th St., Terre Haute, Indiana. INFO: NED PENNINGTON, 367 So. 22nd. St., Terre Haute, IN 47868, PH: (812) 234-2214.

NOVEMBER 13  -  CHEHALIS, WASHINGTON 
The Washington Bottle Collectors Association Show (Sat. 9 AM - 3 PM) at the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds, 2555 North National Ave., Chehalis, Washington. INFO: PETE HENDRICKS, PH: (253) 874-5855 or WARREN LHOTKA, PH: (206) 329-8412, E-mail: wlbottleguy@yahoo.com. 

NOVEMBER 14  -  PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA   ~NEW~
Pittsburgh Antique Bottle Club’s Annual Show & Sale (Sun. 9 AM – 2 PM, early admission 7 AM) at the Washington Twp. Firehall, Route 201 (1.8 miles south of I-70), Fayette City, Pennsylvania. INFO: BOB DeCROO, 584 Fayette City Rd., Fayette City, PA  15438, PH: (724) 326-8741 or JAY HAWKINS, 1280 Mt. Pleasant Rd., West Newton, PA  15089, PH: (724) 872-6013.

NOVEMBER 21  -  GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA
Southeast Bottle Club's 3rd Annual Greensboro Show & Sale (Sun. 9 AM – 3 PM, early admission 7:30 AM) at the Farmer's Curb Market, 501 Yanceyville St., Greensboro, North Carolina. INFO: REGGIE LYNCH, PO Box 13736, Durham, NC  27709, PH: (919) 789-4545, E-mail: rlynch@antiquebottles.com or DAVID JACKSON, PH: (336) 288-2677.

NOVEMBER 21  -  SPRINGFIELD, OHIO
Antique Bottle & Fruit Jar Show & Sale (Sun. 9:30 AM – 3 PM) at the Heart of Ohio Antique Mall, U. S. 40 at I-70 exit 62, Springfield, Ohio. INFO: JOHN BARTLEY, P. O. Box 53, North Hampton, OH  45349, PH: (937) 964-8080, E-mail: jbartley@woh .rr.com.

NOVEMBER 28  -  BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA
Forks of the Delaware Bottle Collectors Assoc. 31st Annual Show & Sale (9 AM to 3 PM, early buyers 7:30 AM) at the Bethlehem Catholic High School, Madison & Dewberry Aves, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. INFO: BILL HEGEDUS, 20 Cambridge Place, Catasauqua, PA 18032, PH: (610) 264-5945.

I now maintain a full 'events calendar' that you can check out for future shows.
Any new events  in your area? E-mail it so all of us can know, to: Upcoming Events

I am currently working on the November/December  issue of The Soda Fizz Magazine - and hope to be finished with it in a few days and get it sent to the printer. There is still a little bit of time tho and if anyone has a story, or any photos of a new acquisition you'd like to share with my readers, send it along!

Things are now settling into a routine that I can manage.  Hopefully, no more moving any time soon.  I've had my quota over-done for this year, that's for sure.

I did not make it to the Tulsa Bottle Club's show in Broken Arrow, Okla., nor to the show in Morristown, Tennessee - which is near to my hometown of Johnson City.  I hate I missed two shows I had intended to attend, but it just did not work out.  I hope both clubs had wonderful shows, and will share a report, or at least some photos, with us - so we can see what we missed.

Speaking of shows, a member had made a suggestion - for the Clubs to let me know when they submit me the show information which shows are good for soda bottles.  Some shows, as he pointed out, may be mostly fruit jars (as the show in Muncie, although I was able to pick up a nice assortment of sodas there that I did not already have) or antique bottles - rather than sodas.  I know the Mansfield show is great for soda bottles, as well as the Broken Arrow show I just missed (from photos and show reports)....but it would help to know in advance if the show will have a nice assortment of soda-related collectibles, such as bottles, signs and other go-withs before one travels to it.  Club chairmen - please share this info with us!

LAST NOTE: If anyone has an upcoming show - or plans to attend one - and would like to place PSBCA (and/or FOHBC) brochures on your table - or at the information table of the show, DO let me know and I would be happy to send you a supply for that. Also, if you have a booth in an antique shop or mall, etc., I would be happy to send brochures for you to place there as well.  All help is greatly appreciated.  (It is my goal to increase the PSBCA membership significantly this year, 2004.)

Until next time, Happy Collecting!

Few products are as closely associated with the American lifestyle as Coca-Cola. Yet there appears to be growing demand among U.S. cola connoisseurs for foreign-made Coke, which has real sugar and costs more than the everyday variety made with high-fructose corn syrup.

Unauthorized distribution networks for Mexican-made Coke have sprung up to truck the brown, fizzy stuff across the Rio Grande and around the country and the Coca-Cola Co. in Atlanta says it wants the trafficking in Mexican Coke stopped. BUT it has not been able to close numerous leaks - known in the industry as "transshipments" - stemming from the franchised bottlers in Mexico, which are unable or unwilling to police distributors.

And lovers of Mexican Coke, ranging from immigrants to U.S.-born residents, are willing to pay a premium of 25% or more for the imported variety. A restaurant will typically charge $1.50 for a 12-ounce bottle, a grocery store from $1.09 to $1.30.

One enterprising retailer, Ifs Ands & Butts of Dallas, ships six-packs nationwide for $10.95 plus $11 freight. That works out to $3.66 for each 12-ounce bottle. In Mexico, the same Cokes retail for about 30-cents each.

Reasons vary for the fame that Mexican Coke has earned. Some Latinos are nostalgic for the thick glass, curvy bottles - some containing a half-liter - that they grew up with. Buyers insist that the Mexican bottler's use of sugar cane syrup delivers a fuller, sweeter flavor than U.S. Cokes, nearly all made with cheaper high-fructose corn syrup. 

Company spokesman Mart Martin in Atlanta says that Coke around the world varies only in choice of sweetener - high-fructose corn syrup, sugar beet sugar or cane sugar - and that there's no discernible difference. (BUT can the same be said for the difference between the taste of a Coke from a plastic bottle or can and the taste of one in an ice-cold glass bottle?)

The soft drink industry switched from sugar to a 50-50 blend with high-fructose corn syrup in the early 1980s, then shifted gradually to just the corn sweetener, said Richard Adamson, the American Beverage Institute's vice president of scientific and technical affairs. Adamson, who has a doctorate degree in pharmacology, said the syrup is preferred because it doesn't crystallize like sugar, blends easily with the acid in cola and costs one-half to one-third as much. BUT buyers of Mexican Coke are convinced that sugar has a superior taste.

Because Mexican Coke is not a counterfeit product, the Coca-Cola Co. cannot request that U.S. Customs stop it at the border. What it comes down to is a franchise territory matter, one tricky to enforce because third-party traders are not bound by contracts. The responsibility rests with Mexican bottlers to control distribution within their designated sales area. Mexico's dominant bottler, Coca Cola Femsa, is 39.6% owned by the Atlanta-based Coca Cola Co. BUT Atlanta won't say if it has determined the source, or sources, of the Mexican Coke.

Despite the murky legal ground, some very big companies are involved in the gray-market Mexican Coke trade. Kroger supermarkets in Houston, Central Market in Fort Worth and Safeway stores in Denver offer the imported cola, which they receive from a national wholesaler, Gourmet Award Foods. Gourmet is a unit of Koninklijke Wessanen, a large Dutch-based dairy and cereal maker with annual revenues of $3 billion.

"We've been selling Mexican Coke ever since I've been here - 10 years," said Linda Richardson, a Gourmet Award customer service representative in Dallas. "It's quite popular. In fact, it's hard to keep enough on hand."  Her company buys from an Arlington, Texas, importer, Sanco Marketing, which declined to comment for this article.

Unencumbered by licensing agreements, numerous distributors openly compete, said Raul Escobedo, sales manager of Houston-based Cyclone Enterprise, a Mexican Coke wholesaler for at least 12 years. Escobedo said there are at least two importers operating in Texas other than Sanco. Cyclone, which supplies the Fiesta Mart chain, deals with a Laredo, Texas-based company.

The Coca-Cola Co. declined to say what measures it has taken to curb the Mexican Coke underground, which, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, has spread to New England.

Ifs Ands & Butts owner Hamilton "Ham" Rousseau says he has heard that several California suppliers received cease-and-desist letters from Coke attorneys to close down their Mexican cola operations. He won't name his own wholesalers, but says he works with several. For soft drink aficionados like himself, there's no choice but Mexican Coke, the 59-year-old Rousseau said.

Asked to explain the Latin cola's merits, Rousseau gets analytical. "People say Mexican Coke is much sweeter. It just tastes that way. It's literally in the nose and mouth of the beholder. High-fructose corn syrup is actually sweeter but it leaves a film in the mouth," he contends. "That film automatically diminishes your palate, blocking the sweetness. Sugar cane sucrose is cleaner and crisper. So if you are used to Coke made with corn syrup, the difference is striking."

The adman-turned-soda pop retailer says the Coca Cola Co. is missing a big opportunity by not offering discerning shoppers what they want and what they are willing to pay more for. "If they were smart, they'd get into the value-added market," Rousseau said. "And it's a huge market."

And that is the "real thing."

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