# harpers ferry wva bottle good one?



## Dragon0421 (Apr 19, 2011)

I know i havent seen but a very few maybe 2 bottles from this town. According to the wiki it has only 300 people there just wondering if it is a good bottle i dont know if it is a bob o links or ski hi bottles. But i liked it any info would be helpful.


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## Dragon0421 (Apr 19, 2011)

bottom of the bottle with the town


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## morbious_fod (Apr 19, 2011)

Bob-o-link.


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## Dragon0421 (Apr 20, 2011)

hey morb you have anything on this one or the rays from elkin wva cant find much on either one.


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## tftfan (Apr 20, 2011)

I like the look of that one... nice.


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 20, 2011)

Dragon ~

 I'm not familar with either "Ski-Hi" or "Bob-O-Link." But I was curious and found the following regarding the bottle design itself.

 SPBOB

 This illustration shows a design date of 1924 for a similar (same?) bottle.


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 20, 2011)

I found this picture on e-bay, and although it said nothing about either "Ski-Hi" or "Bob-O-Link," it did describe it as being embossed with a patent date of July 15, 1924 and being from New Orleans, La.


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 20, 2011)

I also found this picture of a 1940s "Ski-Hi" cardboard sign. 

 Are "Ski-Hi" and "Bob-O-Link" related in some way? What's the story?

 Thanks.

 SODABOB-O


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## morbious_fod (Apr 20, 2011)

The dating of that poster in the Soda Pop book is way wrong. I've found several that he dated that were way off. Ski-Hi was prevelent in the 1920's, and maybe the very early 1930's I don't think that the brand made it past that time period; however, I do have one of the short bob-o-links from the Orange Crush Bottling Company of Greensboro, NC dated 1947. Below are all three variants that I know of this bottle. There is the embossed circle 6oz, the debossed circle 6oz (this is the one pictured in your patent Soda), then the 8oz embossed circle, and finally the 9oz Ski-Hi. Bob-o-link and Ski-Hi (the larger size Bob-o-link) were brands owned by the Orange Crush Company and usually handled flavors that weren't officially Crush flavors like Ski-Hi Grape. This would be replaced by the O-C line in the 1930's which would be replaced by the Old Colony line later on.


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## morbious_fod (Apr 20, 2011)

Here's an ad for Bob-o-link that Charlie posted a while back. 






 A quote from the same Orange Crush bottler magazine, "The Bob-O-Link Bottle is the idea package for these beverages. Unique in design, attractive in appearance. It is a splendid companion to the Krinkly, Orange Crush bottlers are finding that the Bob-O-Link bottle lends distinction to their secondary flavors just as the Krinkly identifies the Crushes."


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## morbious_fod (Apr 20, 2011)

Trademark filed November 18, 1925 "Ski-Hi" particular description of goods. Filed by the Orange Crush Company Chicago.

 I have seen a photo of the Bob-o-link bottles being displayed with Good Grape in them.


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 20, 2011)

Morb ~

 It's interesting that the sign and the ad both have a picture of a mountain on them. Is there some definition to the word(s) "Bob-O-Link" that is in some way related to sking ... as in "Bob Sled?"

 Also, do your bottles actually have the different brand names embossed on them? 

 Thanks,

 SPBOB

 P.S.  Edit/Add  ... I just found a reference/definition for "Bobolink" as an American song bird.  ???


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## morbious_fod (Apr 20, 2011)

One more for ya.


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 20, 2011)

Please see my Edit/Ad on my last reply. I can also see the embossing now on the "Ski-Hi."  But what about the others?

 SPBOB


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 20, 2011)

Morb ~

 Here's one more for you as well. What do you make of the one that is currently on e-bay? It appears to be the taller variation but doesn't have "Ski-Hi" embossed on the top. Would you consider this as just a generic bottle that anyone may have used?  I know that stranger things have happened.

 Thanks again,

 SPBOB

 E-bay Link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230501540984&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT


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## Dragon0421 (Apr 20, 2011)

I think that the bottles were a generic bottle because i have a ski hi and an unembossed that are the same with dates and everything dont know for sure but that is what i come up with.


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 20, 2011)

Dragon ~

 Which brings me to another series of questions/observations that I have searched the internet for but have been unable to find definitive answers to. Which include ... (Regarding "generic" deco bottles). 

 1.  If those bottles did not have brand names embossed on them, then they must have been identifiable
     only by whatever was on the cap. (I am not referring to flavors, but rather to the bottlers
     themselves). So after the caps were removed, how would they know what bottles belonged to who?

 2.  Plus, most of the heavily embossed bottles could not have had paper labels, because there is no
      flat surface to adhere a label to. So I guess we are back to the caps again.

 If it's confusing now, it must have been really confusing back then. Imagine someone having an exact style of deco bottle from New Orleans, and then taking it on a road trip to New York where a grocer there sold the same type of bottle, but by a different bottler. Would a grocer in New York pay back a deposit on a generic bottle?  I wonder?

 No wonder there are so many of them boogers still around. Nobody knew what to do with a lot of them, so they just ended up being tossed into a dump.  []

 SPBOB


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## Dragon0421 (Apr 20, 2011)

There are alot of bottles like that like you said there is one from la, tn and no telling where else i would say you are right about the cap on the bottle it is kind of odd to think of it back in the day that 2 companys would have the same bottle but you see very similar bottles in that period of time alot. I would say the glass makers would sell it to anyone who wanted that style though.


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## wvhillbilly (Apr 20, 2011)

Probably a good bottle as far as finding it for your collection, but probably in the $10-$20 range value wise. I havent seen this one before, but it just seems that WVa art deco sodas just dont seem very valueable. Although there are exceptions.


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## bottleopop (Apr 20, 2011)

I have:  
 6oz Bob-O-Link (7.75" tall)
 6oz Orange Crush (7.75" tall), and the version without the little circles within the squares
 9oz Ski-Hi (9.25" tall)
 10oz no-label (9.5" tall)

 The 10oz is in rough shape, just slightly better than the 9oz pictured on the ebay link from SODAPOPBOB.  It has no brand label but does have the same patent date and has the same 6 columns of 4Â½ rows of squares with circles within the squares.  Got no 8oz []


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## morbious_fod (Apr 20, 2011)

> ORIGINAL:  SODAPOPBOB
> 
> Morb ~
> 
> ...


 
 Actually if you look at the Ski-Hi poster you posted from the Soda Pop book, there is no embossed Ski-Hi on the shoulder. Actually that one looks like the auction version.


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## morbious_fod (Apr 20, 2011)

> ORIGINAL:  Dragon0421
> 
> There are alot of bottles like that like you said there is one from la, tn and no telling where else i would say you are right about the cap on the bottle it is kind of odd to think of it back in the day that 2 companys would have the same bottle but you see very similar bottles in that period of time alot. I would say the glass makers would sell it to anyone who wanted that style though.


 
 I don't know. The way the blurb I quoted above talked it was an exclusive bottle to the Orange Crush Company and referenced to the Krinkly bottle. If this wasn't a distinctive bottle to the OC Company then why would they be pushing the bottle so hard to their franchises?


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 21, 2011)

Morb ~

 I re-read your Tazwell article on Orange Crush, and as a result I have a few more questions for you ...

 1.  Do any of the art deco bottles discussed here have Orange Crush Bottling Company embossed on them?

 2.  Do any of the Bob-O-Link bottles actually have the name Bob-O-Link embossed on them?

 3.  Are there any connections between Bob-O-Link and Orange Crush? Or is Ski-Hi the only one with an Orange Crush connection?

 Thanks,

 Bob


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## bottleopop (Apr 21, 2011)

SODAPOPBOB -

 While Morb sleeps, I have a couple of answers:

 1)  The orange crush one with the squares and lenses (as i call it) says "ORANGE CRUSH BOTTLING CO." underneath the bottle.

 2)  The Bob-O-Link bottle with the squares and lenses says "BOB-O-LINK BOTTLE" underneath the bottle.

 3)  There's a connection to the squares and lenses design via the patent D65187 that you showed - the text says it is assigned to the Orange Crush Company.  That's all I can see in any kind of connection.  I guess the most distant version of that would be that a Bob-O-Link company paid Orange Crush to be able to used that bottle design.


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 21, 2011)

bottleopop ~

 Thanks a lot. That really helps. Now I know what to look for in the future. By the way ... do you have the patent text you mentioned? 

 SPBOB


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## bottleopop (Apr 21, 2011)

SODAPOPBOB -

 Oops, sorry about that!
Here is that text, in the words of Clayton J. Howel himself, more or less.


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 21, 2011)

bottleo ~

 Muchas Gracias'

 The source I used didn't have the text. I saved it for future reference. You gotta wonder about some of those patents. Like the taller (Ski-Hi) version. It's almost identical, and yet probably has a different inventor, patent number and date. 

 You also gotta wonder, like Morb said, if it was exclusive to Orange Crush, then how/why would someone else be able to use the same bottle design?

 There are two more of them boogers on e-bay right now. But I can't remember the details. I think they are listed as "deco bottles" but not sure.  

 SPBOB


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## morbious_fod (Apr 22, 2011)

A bit of clarification.

 First up is the debossed circle South Boston, VA bottle (the one that actually exactly matches the patent design) says patent pending. It is beginning to look to me likey they were producing the debossed circle version first and decided to change that to the embossed version, because frankly this bottle feels very weird to the hand with it's sharp lines and debossed circles.

 Next we have the O-Crush Bottling Company of Greensboro, NC, which is the 6oz bob-o-link design bottle. This bottle is one of the few Bob-O-Links that I have found that has a town name on it. Most that we have dug in the Marion dump only have Bob-o-link bottle embossed on the bottom. This bottle has a patent date of July 15, 1924.

 Now we have the 8oz bottle which doesn't have Bob-O-Link or Orange Crush embossed on it; however, matches the ad for Ski-Hi posted by Soda. This bottle also has a patent date of July 15, 1924.

 Lastly we have the 9oz bottle with Ski-Hi embossed on the shoulder, this bottle also has nothing embossed on the bottom. but yet again has a patent date of July 15, 1924.

 We have a patent registered to Clayton J. Howel who is the owner of Orange Crush, we have the official Orange Crush Company magazine openingly trying to push this Bob-O-Link bottle design and brand to it's bottlers. As we know bottlers and their parent companies are very careful not to even allow their employees to be seen consuming another companies drink, so why would Orange Crush be promoting another company's brand in their official bottler magazine?

 My theory is thus, Bob-O-Link and it's distinctive bottle was Orange Crush's attempt at marketing other flavors without officially making them crushes which tended to stay in the citrus flavor area at the time. Yet they wanted to have their bottlers buying these flavors from them and them alone, as many were tending to pick up other non-Orange Crush brands like Good Grape. Given time and due to the introduction to the market of the Nehi brand from Chero-Cola they realized that Nehi being either a 7oz or 9oz bottle was going to be trumping Bob-O-Link at the market place. So they needed a taller bottle themselves, and they wanted to have a name that sounded similar to the competitor they were specifically gunning for, thus Ski-Hi was created. It is a good time to note that when Nehi first started showing up in ads the name was sometimes spelled Ne-Hi. Get it?

 These two brands would eventually cease to be as the O-C Beverages Krinkly bottles started surfacing near the end of the 1920's. Makes things easier to connect to the parent company Orange Crush, especially if they share the same bottle design. If you want further proof of Bob-O-Link's connection to Orange Crush, check out the letter written to the Orange Crush Bottling Company of Marion, VA regarding their order for Bob-O-Link Ginger Ale and Strawberry crowns.


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## morbious_fod (Apr 22, 2011)

> ORIGINAL:  SODAPOPBOB
> 
> Morb ~
> 
> ...


 
 I have a Tazewell-Orange article on Orange Crush? I have articles on three Orange Crush bottlers, but not the brand, and if you are reading the Was-Cott article, who bottled orange crush in the late 20's then they most likely never bottled Bob-O-Link, as it was most likely gone by that point. The only bottler in my area that was bottling Orange Crush and operating in my area at the time Bob-O-Link and Ski-Hi was around was Marion, Va.


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## morbious_fod (Apr 22, 2011)

The connection to Orange Crush isn't well known, heck if Charlie hadn't found the ads for Bob-O-Link in the company magazines we might still not know for sure.


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## morbious_fod (Apr 22, 2011)

For Soda Pop Bob-O-Link. This is one of the best of the Bob-O-Links recovered from the Marion dump. Note the embossing on the bottom.







 I saw so many of these busted in that dump that it would make you sick.


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## cobaltbot (Apr 22, 2011)

I have a nice big Harper's Ferry Bottling Works that Rhona gave me.


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## morbious_fod (Apr 23, 2011)

There was a large Jumbo Beverages from there on the bay about a month ago. Buy it now of $85 no bites. Would have given $50 for it just because it was Jumbo.


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## Eric (Apr 23, 2011)

In Breeze, IL the bottler there bottles SKI...
 A couple years ago there was a fair and they were selling flavored sodas in
 these bottles for a $1 each... pretty cool...


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## bottleopop (Apr 23, 2011)

The 10oz version.  No brand name, just the July 15, 1924 patent date around the base and Chattanooga Tenn. under the bottle.  
 This bottle needs a bit of cleaning.  [sm=lol.gif]


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 23, 2011)

Morb ~

 Thanks for summing things up for us. Very well done. I especially like the picture of the letterhead. The article I was referring to was the Marion, Virgina one. Now all I need is to find one or two of them boogers. But I have never, ever seen one here, "Out West."  []

 SPBOB


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## morbious_fod (Apr 23, 2011)

> ORIGINAL:  bottleopop
> 
> The 10oz version.  No brand name, just the July 15, 1924 patent date around the base and Chattanooga Tenn. under the bottle.
> This bottle needs a bit of cleaning.  [sm=lol.gif]


 
 It doesn't shock me at all that there is a 10oz version. I also wouldn't be surprised to hear about a 7oz. Like I said these usually don't have town names, good find, and good luck cleaning that one. LOL!


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## Volski (Jun 2, 2011)

That  bottle was used when Charles T. Smith owned the Harper's Ferry Bottling Works. He owned the bottling works from November 24, 1916 until it's destruction in 1942. I know he used that type of bottle from 1924 through 1927 but I'm unsure at this time if he used it after 1927 (I need to check my notes).


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## hemihampton (Aug 13, 2012)

I found a similar bottle but mine has BOOTH PHILA on bottom. I know Booth made soda from Philadelphia. Mine has Patent Pending & what looks like a date of 6-2-24.


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## hemihampton (Aug 13, 2012)

Anybody else have this one with booth on bottom ect. LEON.


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## Xaquin (Dec 14, 2012)

I just dug one of these that has "S. LEFAS" embossed on the bottom.


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