A Guide to RI Coca-Cola Bottles

One of the most universally collectible bottles is the Coca-Cola bottle.  There are thousands of variants, which can be worth anywhere from 5cents to a couple hundred thousand dollars.  Luckily for this post, I will only go over Coca-Cola bottles marked from Rhode Island, which narrows down the field considerably.

Coca-Cola was first bottled in RI starting in the early 1900s.  In 1907 Peter Faerber was bottling Coca-Cola in Newport.  By 1913 a plant was opened in Providence on Friendship St.  A plant in Woonsocket, RI was opened in 1919.  These three plants were to be joined by one more in Peace Dale (in the 1940s).

First, I would like to go over a little history on the chronology of Coca-Cola bottles found in RI, and some of the “bottle lingo” used to describe them. 

The early Coca-Cola bottles from RI are straight-sided.  It was not until 1915, when the company had a competition for a bottle design, that the famous hobbleskirt bottle was conceived.  These straight-sided bottles were handmade (BIM, or blown in mold) and machine made (ABM, or automatic bottle machine).  The automatic bottle machine made its debut in 1903, but handmade bottles were still common in the 1910s, and had mostly died off by 1920.  There was more of a lag time for soda bottles due to difficulty manufacturing bottles with narrow necks using the automatic machines.  This issue was resolved in the early 1910s, but I have yet to see an ABM soda with a date code before 1915.
Straight-sided Coca-Cola bottles can have Coca-Cola embossed in the trademark script style or plain block letters.  Only bottles with the script lettering actually had Coca-Cola in them, the other bottles are "flavor bottles", which Coca-Cola used to bottle different flavors of soda.

1915 Hobbleskirt Coke

After the hobbleskirt design was chosen as the new style, production began in 1918.  It was used until 1928, when the patent expired.  The Dec. 25, 1923 renewal patent was almost identical to the old design (I’m not very keen on this area, so Coca-Cola experts please bear with me).  It was first used in 1928, and last used in 1938.  Because of the amusing date, collectors call these bottles “Christmas Cokes”.

In 1989 Coca-Cola made a large quantity of “retro” Christmas patent bottles, which are often found with the soda still in them.  While they can be easy to mistake as originals at first glance, there is a very easy way to tell if they are reproductions.  Simply look at the bottom of the bottle where the town is embossed.  On the reproductions, there will be a circular line connecting the town and state abbreviation.  These bottles also have a more modern look to them, and are generally devoid of wear or stain (don’t let all that dust fool you!). 
Note:  Only Coke bottles with the Christmas patent date and the circular lines are reproductions, newer embossed Coca-Colas have these lines as well, such as the example from Newport below.

A 1950s Coca-Cola, looks similar to a Christmas Repro

A D-Pat Newport Coke, with large old style base embossing

Next up in the timeline are the PAT. D-105529 bottles.  This new patent was used from 1938-1951.  These bottles can be found marked from every state and hundreds (if not thousands) of towns.  Collectors refer to these as D-Pat Cokes.

Newer still are the bottles marked US PATENT OFFICE / MIN CONTENTS 6 FL OZ.  These were used from 1951-1958, and the capacity changed to 6-1/2 oz. in 1958.  The last embossed Coca-Cola bottles were made in 1965 (with the exception of more modern retro-style bottles).  I will simply call these “USPO” bottles.

In 1965 Coca-Cola finally made the transition to ACL (applied color label) soda bottles.  First used in the mid-late 1930s, these ACL bottles were hugely popular in the 1940s-60s.  The label on these bottles was applied in a factory and fused onto the glass with heat.  This allowed the bottle to be re-used multiple times without washing off a paper label.  Probably due to the iconic status of the hobbleskirt Coke bottle, the company was nervous as to how the public would receive an ACL Coke bottle.  After postponing the transition for more than 25 years, they eventually began using ACL bottles, and offered them in at least 5 different sizes.

10oz. ACL Coca-Cola from Newport 

The Providence plant has a spotty early history.  A shoulder script handmade straight-sided bottle is the only bottle one can find before 1928.  Used from 1910-1919, this bottle is uncommon, but certainly around.  I strongly believe that when the 1915 patent hobbleskirt design was introduced, that the Providence plant simply used unmarked bottles.  UPDATE:  I was recently able to confirm the existence of a 1915 hobbleskirt Coke from Providence.  The Christmas patent bottles are semicommon, with about 5 per year surfacing on ebay.  One must be cautious, as some of these are the 1989 reproductions.  Once one reaches the D-Pat bottles, we have the most common RI Coca-Cola bottle.  While wading a river near the still active plant, I found over 100 Coca-Cola bottles.  Most of these were D-Pats, with some of the newer USPOs.  They can be found in just about every antique shop and bottle dump in RI.  I would value these bottles at $5 in mint condition on a good day, and $1-3 is normal.  The ACL bottles from the Providence plant are pretty diverse.  Unfortunately for me, by the time ACL Coca-Cola bottles were introduced, the bottles tended to travel, and most of the examples I see are from other states.  I have come across a few from RI, but the $10-15 asking prices on most of them have successfully scared me off.  I have so far recorded ACLs in the 6-1/2, 10, 16, and 32oz. versions. 

An ocean-worn straight sided Providence Coke, and a Christmas Pat Providence Coke

The Woonsocket plant had a short-lived, but interesting run.  Nearly all of the bottles one comes across from this plant are ABM straight-sided bottles.  They all heel embossed, some in script and some in block letters (flavor bottles).  One can also find quart size bottles with Wyanoke Brand embossed on the shoulder and Coca-Cola (in script or block letters) on the heel.  I haven’t yet researched what the Wyanoke Brand was, but they are quite hard to come by.  One of the toughest RI Coca-Cola bottles to come by is the 1915 patent hobbleskirt from Woonsocket.  The plant must have closed around 1928, as the 1915 patent bottles were only made from 1917-1928.

Heel embossed Woonsocket Coke

Wyanoke Coca-Cola from Woonsocket

The Newport plant has the most interesting history.  Peter Faerber, a prolific bottler in the city, made an agreement with Coca-Cola to bottle it at his plant in 1907.  Perhaps one of the most interesting products of this partnership is a seltzer bottle.  It is etched P. Faerber Newport, RI on the front (a fairly common RI seltzer bottle to come across), but the back has Coca-Cola written in red enamel letters.  It would certainly be a prize to come across one of these!

Another mysterious bottle is perhaps one of the rarest RI Coca-Cola bottles.  It is a clear straight-sided bottle with Coca-Cola embossed in script on the shoulder.  The front of the bottle reads:  Fall River / Taunton / C.H.H. / Newport / New Bedford.  I would guess a date of 1915-1920 for this bottle, which is before many of these towns were known to be bottling Coca-Cola (Taunton never had an embossed hobbleskirt bottle, just an ACL).  I have been unable to figure out what the C.C.H. stands for, but it is likely a town or district, or someone’s initials.

Newport Coca-Cola bottles include the Christmas patent (fairly scarce), the D-pat (uncommon), and the USPO (uncommon).  There is also a 10oz. ACL bottle, and very likely a 6-1/2oz. ACL is out there. 

For some reason I have come across a bunch of people who think that the Christmas Coca-Cola bottles from Newport are tremendously valuable.  I have seen them on Craigslist asking $500, and one Wickford resident thought his dug example was worth $10,000.  I must admit, there is a record of one selling for $93, which is very high for a Christmas bottle.  However, I just bought an example (January 2017) for $2, so who knows what they are really worth!

Aside from Coca-Cola, the plant also bottled Newport Club Beverages in the 1940s-50s.  It doesn’t appear that it was very successful.

The plant closed in 1977, and the building still stands.

The Peace Dale plant was located on Kersey Rd.  It operated from the early 1940s in to the late 1960s, possibly the early 1970s.  I have dug a number of the D-pat bottles from this plant, as well as the USPO bottles.  I would consider both of them to be semicommon.  I had a 10oz. ACL bottle that was accidentally thrown away, and 6-1/2oz. examples have been listed on ebay. 

The Peace Dale plant had its own claim to fame; the moderately popular South County Beverages brand orange soda.  It was introduced around the time the plant was opened.  While not common to find outside of South County (makes sense), I have dug close to a dozen of these bottles.

The plant is now an auto repair shop, but if you go in the shop, there is a Coca-Cola dispenser where a bottle of Coca-Cola can still be had for 5 cents.