For Sale:  From Richard Mix: Lots of auctions ending this SUNDAY - GOING WAY TOO CHEAP!!!!!!!!!!!!   Take 2 minutes and look at my auctions so you don't miss out on a real steal!!! >> Click here to see. <<  Also, we will be giving away $250 worth of bottles again this year at the Springtime in Atlanta convention.  For every bottle that you buy on ebay between now and the convention your name will go into a hat (one time for each bottle - the more you buy the more chances that you have).   The name will be drawn at the party and the winner will receive a $250 credit on ebay for any ebay purchases after the convention.   You do not need to be present to win - everyone who buys a bottle on ebay between now and end of March will be entered and eligible. >> Click here << to see the current bottle offers (includes a full listing of 2004 presentation hobbleskirt Coca-Cola bottles).

From Tammy Vass, Mountain Antiques: The Bottle Booth at Snoopers Antique Mall in Wytheville, Va. (off of I-77 and I-81) will be having a 20% off sale from now until the end of February.   We have bottles of all types, cans, tins, etc. There are also some shelves and a display that were built just for bottles that will also be for sale.

For Sale, from Neils Lundgard: 7-Up promotional United States map - all 50 cans. Anyone interested, E-mail me.

For Sale: From Diane Shaw: I buy, sell and trade cork-lined and plastic-lined soda bottle caps and plastic-lined beer caps. I also have soda bottles, soda cans, and beer cans for sale and many other soda and beer related items to sell. Email me for lists of caps. E-mail: catmom123@msn.com.

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

From Michelle C., Des Moines, Iowa: I would like a track down a Nesbitt's soft drink machine like the one shown on your website (click here to see).  It is the solid orange one with Nesbitt written on the front with a stainless steel cover. Any information of where and how to purchase one - or something similar, can be E-mailed to: always_miche@hotmail.com. 

From rhoadsmusi: I am looking for a full or empty Almond Smash bottle, or even a can, from the 60s - 70s. 

From marlett: I am looking for Royal Crown, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper or any unique bottles. Also looking for mini-bottles and cases and the RC Santa bottles. Please email me with list and prices.

From Richard Mix: I am looking for a number of the 1-Liter wrap bottles that are around the country - PLEASE HELP - I still need the following for MY PERSONAL COLLECTION: FOOTBALL = Clemson Tigers, Green Bay Packers, Houston Texans, Kansas City Chiefs, LSU Tigers, North Carolina State Tarheels, Texas A&M Aggies, University of Texas Longhorn ---- BASEBALL = Philadelphia Phillies. There are a number of others searching for some of these, and others - please let me know if you can help.  I can make some good trades. Thanks!

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 me: I am looking for ANY soda-related book for The Soda Fizz reference library. Specifically, old National Carbonator and such magazines. 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

The Coca-Cola Company is giving away complimentary calendars. If you live in the U.S., call 1-800-438-2653 (Get-Coke) to request yours free of charge. I did!

Encouraged by the success of its tea and coffee business in India, Coca-Cola has decided to export the business model to several other countries. The Indian team is slated to help launch Georgia Gold in Bahrain and is also supporting the test market and launch plans in Egypt and South Africa. Besides, store trials for tea and coffee under the same model are being conducted in Australia, the US, South Pacific Islands and Hong Kong among other countries.

The Coca-Cola Company has a number of new products for US in 2005. Citing reports, three new products include: Coke Zero, a new diet cola; Sprite Remix Aruba Jam, an orange-flavored Sprite for 2005, also the third annual flavor in the Remix series; and Vault, a replacement beverage for Surge against Mountain Dew. The Coca-Cola Company has declined to comment on this report.

Coca-Cola has been tinkering with a coffee-flavored cola, using the possible brand name Blak. Coke spokesman Kelly Brooks had little to say about the prospects for Blak. ``We're always developing and testing a wide range of beverage innovations,'' he said. Coffee-flavored colas haven't had a good track record, however. Pepsi test-marketed one in 1996 under the name Pepsi Kona that failed and these days resurfaces only as a collectors' item. Perhaps Coke thinks they can do it differently.

Thirsty fans at next month's National Basketball Association All Star game will see ads for Coke products, but they will have to drink its competitor's soda — they will be sitting in the Pepsi Center, which is absolutely off limits to Coke's drinks. The somewhat embarrassing marketing circumstance results from the Coca-Cola Co. being an official sponsor of the NBA. That gives Coke rights to advertise its products at the NBA event, even though Pepsi has exclusive naming and pouring rights at the arena. The All Star game will be played Feb. 20 at Denver's Pepsi Center, home of the Denver Nuggets.

Around the world: 
What is this floating in Elias Radebe's Coca-Cola? That's what he and his colleagues would like to know. Radebe, South Africa, said one of his colleagues thought the object floating at the top of the bottle was a condom, while the other believed the white object was a piece of plaster. Radebe claimed when he called and spoke to a public relations officer at Coca-Cola he was told that the company often found "things" inside bottles.

Coke goes Naked in Australia! Coca-Cola Australia has decided to give its A$40 million media planning account to Naked Communications Ltd. The incumbent agency Universal McCann will be retained to supply Coca-Cola's media buying services. Singleton Ogilvy & Mather will continue to work on Coke, Sprite and Fanta, while Publicis Mojo will handle Lift and Fruitopia brands. Sponge and Fame Advertising will handle Mount Franklin and Deep Spring water brands. Lowe Hunt will continue on Diet Coke and Powerade, while VCD keeps Pump.

Facey Commodities, the sole distributor for Coca-Cola products in Jamaica has terminated its franchise with the Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Company. Facey Commodities had purchased the Spanish Town Road Bottling plant from Caribbean Bottlers as part of a deal with the Coca-Cola Company in 2002. However, the plant was shutdown at the end of June with 55 workers laid off. Facey has been importing Coca-Cola products for Jamaica from Trinidad & Tobago. A new franchise owner for Coca-Cola in Jamaica is likely to be announced soon.

Tokyo-based Coca-Cola National Beverages Co. announced its plans to close seven bottling plants in Japan by 2007 in order to reduce annual costs by more than 25 billion yen (US$241 million). CCNBC is a joint venture created by 13 Japanese Coca-Cola bottlers last year to integrate production of Coca-Cola products. The bottlers currently operate 34 plants nationwide in Japan.

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

FEBRUARY 6  -  SOUTH RIVER, NEW JERSEY
The New Jersey Antique Bottle Club's (NJABC) 9th Annual Show and Sale (9 AM to 2 PM) at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 88 Jackson St., South River, New Jersey. INFO. NJABC, 24 Charles Street, South River, NJ. 08882-1603 PH: JOE BUTEWICZ (732)-238-3238, E-mail: botlman@msn.com.

The Lone Star Chapter of the Coca-Cola Collectors Club will be holding its 14th annual Tex-Fest on February 10-12, 2005. The activities will include welcome banquet, bingo, auction, swap meet and room hopping. The convention will be held at the Crowne Plaza Dallas Hotel in Addison, Texas. Hotel number is 1-800-377-9778 or 1-972-980-8877. For more information on Tex Fest 2005, please contact Rebecca Reynolds at 1-214-749-2472.

FEBRUARY 11-12  -  CHEHALIS, WASHINGTON
The Oregon Bottle Collectors Association's Winter Show & Sale  (Sat. 8 AM - 3 PM, $1 Adm; early buyers & set-up, $5 Adm., Fri. 1 PM - 7 PM; Sat. 7 AM - 8 AM) at the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds, I-5, Exit 79, Chehalis, Washington.  INFO: JIM OR JULIE DENNIS, PH: (541) 467-2760; E-mail: jmdennis@hotmail.com. 

FEBRUARY 12  -  LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
The Las Vegas Bottle Club's 40th Annual Show & Sale (9 AM to 4 PM, early buyers Fri. noon to 5 PM) at the Plaza Hotel/Casino, Number One Main Street, Las Vegas, Nevada. INFO: MIKE PRESLEY, PH: (702) 364-9336, E-mail: mpres65@aol.com.

FEBRUARY 12  -  SARASOTA, FLORIDA
Sarasota-Manatee Antique Bottle Collector’s 19^th Annual Indoor Show & Sale (Sun. 9 AM – 3 PM) at the Florida National Guard Armory, 2980 Fruitville Rd. (at the Sarasota County Fairgrounds),  Sarasota, FL. INFO: ED HERROLD, P. O. Box 18928, Sarasota, FL  34276, PH: (941) 923-6550, E-mail: drbitters@mindspring.com.  

The largest gathering of Coca-Cola collectors on the west coast will be held at the Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada on February 17-20, 2005. The Great Get Together convention will include an event at the Everything Coca-Cola Store, regular and silent auctions, banquet, breakfast, swap meet and room hopping. You must be a mbmer of the Coca-Cola Collectors Club to register. For more information, please contact SALLY VANDIVORT at 1-562-867-2085 or sallycoke@comcast.net . The phone number for the Plaza Hotel is 1-800-634-6575.

FEBRUARY 18-19  -  COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA
The South Carolina Antique Bottle Club's 32nd Annual Show & Sale (Fri. 12 - 6 PM; Sat. 9 AM - 1 PM) at the Meadowlake Park Center, 600 Beckman Rd. (off I-20, exit 71 for North Main St., north to first light after intersection, right on Beckman Rd., center on right), Columbia, South Carolina. INFO: MARTY VOLLMER, 1091 Daralynn Dr., Lexington, SC 29073; PH: (803) 755-9410; E-mail: MartyVollmer@aol.com or ERIC WARREN, 238 Farmdale Dr., Lexington, SC 29073, E-mail: scbottles@aol.com; Website: www.antiquebottles.com/scbc/ 

FEBRUARY 20  -  COLUMBUS, OHIO
Columbus Ohio Antique Bottle Show & Sale (Sun. 9 AM – 3 PM, early admission 7 AM) at the Ohio State Fairgrounds, 17^th Ave. at I-71, Columbus, OH. INFO: ADAM KOCH, 763 Jolson Ave., Akron, OH  44319, PH: (330) 644-0274.

The Ohio Valley Chapter of the Coca-Cola Collectors Club will be holding its 22nd annual Ohio Winterfest at the Holiday Inn in Zanesville, Ohio on February 23-26, 2005. Activities will include a Longaberger tour, hospitality room, silent and regular auctions, breakfast, banquet, scavenger hunt and room hopping. For more information, please contact JUANITA MERRITT at 1-937-324-8586 or jmosm5@aol.com

FEBRUARY 26  -  GRANDVILLE, MICHIGAN
West Michigan Antique Bottle & Glass Club’s 16th Annual Show & Sale, (Sat. 10 AM - 3 PM) at the Fonger American Legion, 2327 Wilson S. W., Grandville, MI. INFO: ELMER OGG, 1591 Hendrick Rd., Muskegon, MI  49441, PH (231) 798-7335, E-mail: eogg@nortonshores.org or STEVE DeBOODE, 1166 Corvette Dr., Jenison, MI  49428. PH: (616) 667-0214, E-mail: grbottleguy@aol.com.

FEBRUARY 27  -  ENFIELD, CONNECTICUT
Somers Antique Bottle Club’s 35^th Annual Show & Sale (Sun. 9 AM – 2 PM; Early buyers, 8-9 AM) at the St. Bernard School West Campus, Pearl St. (I-91 exit 47 west), Enfield, CT. INFO: ROSE SOKOL, PH: (860) 745-7688.

From Doyle Bailey, Baytown, Texas: The Dr. Pepper Club Convention will be in Waco, Texas from March 9th to March 12th.

Springtime in Atlanta 2005 will be held at the Crowne Plaza Ravinia March 23-26, 2005. Activities will include opening party, silent and regular auctions, lunch, banquet, children's party, swap meet and room hopping. For more information, please contact KARLEEN and JOHN BUCHHOLZ at 1-770-458-5670 or fax 1-770-454-1039. The phone number for the hotel is 1-800-554-0055 or 1-770-395-7700.

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

Happy New Year!

The Jan./Feb. Soda Fizz magazine just went out in the last couple of weeks.  My printer did a huge overrun of them (why, I dunno, but I am not complaining), so if anyone wants to see a sample issue, I'd be happy to send one along to you.  E-mail me your postal address to receive that. 

Also, if you'd like to have an amount of them to give out at your next bottle club meeting - let me know how many to send, when you'd need them by and where/who to send them to.

This issue contains the information I'd requested about which shows are good for soda bottles.  Also, as a rule-of-thumb, each show listing includes at least one contact person for that show - and before traveling, make a call - send an email, etc., to that person and ask if there will be a good offering of what you are looking for. Also - especially with regards to weather conditions and other things that come up from time-to-time, it is good to call ahead before traveling long distances.  Two shows have canceled after being listed - one due to weather (Muncie, Indiana) and another because another show scheduled itself on the same date in the same area (Raleigh, N.C.)  Two other Clubs have had to schedule their shows on different dates than usual due to conflicts with other events or availability of locations - Mansfield, Ohio and Brick, New Jersey. So, always check the calendar and always call ahead before traveling.

Also, many of you probably watched The Apprentice when their weekly project was to design a bottle for Pepsi Edge. The bottle the winning team designed was definitely unique and I read afterwards that Pepsi did indeed like it so much that they planned to make a limited run of them - and had offered a replica of the Apex team's bottle as part of a product promotion tied to the finale of the show. Two "fired" apprentices were also used in an Edge commercial (Andy and Raj).  Imagine what those bottles will be worth in collector's hands in the future!  Your opinion?

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!

As a diabetic, I love diet sodas, but are they really good for me? I found this information, looking for something else, as usual:

SWEETENERS

Of the two standard sweeteners added to diet drinks, aspartame - which is 200 times sweeter than sugar but contains just 0.2 calories per tablet - has sparked the most health fears. In the body, aspartame releases aspartic acid and phenylalanine - substances that stimulate nerves. Some research is said to link it to anxiety and fatigue.

Even without sugar, people may crave diet drinks for their stimulant effect (the caffeine content in cola is a stimulant). Aspartame and acesulfame K, which is 130 times sweeter than sugar with almost no calories, may make people more alert and active.

"Aspartame can be over-stimulating to the brain," says nutritionist Patrick Holford, founder of the Institute for Optimum Nutrition. "We have seen people in our clinics who thought they were going crazy with anxiety, insomnia and disordered thinking magically recover when they stopped having diet drinks."

The makers of aspartame say their product is a safe sweetening ingredient, as confirmed by the European Commission's Scientific Committee on Food, and is not linked with any adverse effect or conditions.

PHOSPHORIC ACID

FIZZY drinks, even diet varieties, may put your bones at risk, according to several studies. The culprit is thought to be the high levels of phosphoric acid - diet colas contain 27-39mg of phosphoric acid per 100ml.

One study found that girls who consumed carbonated beverages had a threefold increase in risk of fracture. Another study at Tufts University in the U.S. found that women drinking cola regularly had significantly lower bone density than those who didn't.

"We think the problem is that these drinks contain phosphoric acid without any calcium," says Katherine Tucker, associate professor of nutritional epidemiology, who conducted the study. "In the body, these two substances need to be balanced. If you take in phosphoric acid alone, the extra phosphorus binds with calcium and prevents it from being absorbed."

OTHER ACIDS

FIZZY drinks contain other acids such as citric acid, malic acid and tartaric acid. The acidity may aggravate stomach ulcers and leach minerals from teeth. "People think that just because they're drinking a sugar-free drink, it's safe for teeth," says Dr Mervyn Druian, a north London dentist and member of the British Dental Association. "That's not true. Sugar causes caries but acid leaches minerals from teeth. Once the erosion wears away all the enamel, it exposes the soft tissue underneath. This can be prone to bacterial infection."

Research at Birmingham University has found that fizzy drinks are the biggest factor in causing dental erosion.

COLORS

Diet cola drinks all contain E150d, a caramel coloring. Drinks such as Diet Irn Bru contain Sunset Yellow (E110) and Ponceau 4R (E124). These colorings, particularly the last two, have been associated with hyperactive behavior and attention deficit in children.

One study by the UK's Asthma and Allergy Research Center found that 25 per cent of toddlers developed temper tantrums and disruptive behavior when given a mix of commonly used colorings within the recommended safety levels.

PRESERVATIVES

ALMOST all diet fizzy drinks contain the preservative sodium benzoate (E211). Several studies have linked this to allergic reactions and hyperactive behavior in children.

THE TOOTH DECAY CHALLENGE

MOST people know the trick - leave a tooth in a glass of cola overnight and see what happens. In the morning the hard white tooth has turned brown and spongy. But what happens to a tooth when put in diet cola?

I dropped a tooth into a Diet Coke-filled glass on Saturday night, the next morning, it had turned from an ivory color to a mottled brown, felt softer and when I scratched the surface, the brown layer and some paler looking enamel came off.

So, I suppose it is "safer" just to collect the bottles and other soda-related memorabilia  instead?

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