# Thorpe & Co. Ltd. Vancouver BC 1889-1935



## Canadacan (Jan 27, 2015)

I just added this really Cool 1910's..I think?...inside thread ( a first for me ) from Thorpe & Co. Bottle might clean up a bit more I hope....and I tell you that is one hunk of glass! [attachment=Thorpe & Co.3.jpg][attachment=Thorpe & Co.2.jpg] [attachment=Thorpe & Co.4.jpg]


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## Canadacan (Jan 27, 2015)

I still Don't know all the details of this company but I have a few. this is a list of the known addresses and approximate dates they when they when located at them. Now on the early location I'm not sure if it's one in the same as the next because there was no street # given....I'm just providing what is shown in the Vancouver city directories. 1889-1891                     6th Ave & Scotia St.1891-1898                     97 6th Ave E1899-1900                     241 6th Ave E1901-1927                    795 Beatty & corner of Robson1928-1935                    1460 Burrard St.


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## Canadacan (Jan 27, 2015)

This is the last know location 1928-1935...... 1460 Burrard St.[attachment=1460 Burrard st , Vancouver BC.jpg]


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## Canadacan (Jan 27, 2015)

And a picture of the front....this location went on to become Country Club Beverages around 1935 and latter 7up BC limited. [attachment=1460 Burrard st , Vancouver BC2.jpg]


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## Canadacan (Jan 27, 2015)

This is an advertisement from 1916 in the Vancouver directories showing the Red Hand Brand. [attachment=Thorpe & Co..jpg..1916 - Copy.jpeg]


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## Canadacan (Jan 27, 2015)

Thorpe's delivery fleet from 1933.[attachment=Thorpe's-Country Club trucks 1933.jpg]


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## Canadacan (Jan 27, 2015)

Thorpe's truck delivering to La Fonda restaurant in Vancouver late 1920's early 30's Would love to find a Cal-Ade bottle![attachment=Thorpe's truck del...est 4th Avenue.jpg]


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## Canadacan (Jan 27, 2015)

This is the Thorpe & Co. Ltd display at the 1930 Vancouver Pacific National Exhibition. Interesting to note they carried a line of Ginger Ale called 'Country Club'...also seen on the sides of the trucks in 1933. Is that a direct connection to Country Club Beverages that started in 1935? [attachment=Circa 1930 Thorpe ...nal Exibition..jpg]


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## Canadacan (Jan 27, 2015)

Here is a close up as best I can do of the Country Club Ginger Ale...I can't quite tell if there is any embossed in this display but I see lots of paper labels.....ahhh and to have one of those cardboard Bellhop bottle displays...killer man!!!! [attachment=Circa 1930 Thorpe ...bition. - Copy.jpg]


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## Canadacan (Jan 27, 2015)

This is now my humble little Thorpe's family of bottles, the Delaware Punch bottle just seems to really fit with the collection given the photographic images that showed it was one of the main lines they sold.[attachment=Thorpe & Co. family of bottles.jpg]


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## iggyworf (Jan 27, 2015)

Love the inside threads of your new one. Also love the embossed hand. Great info & pics on that company. I always thought about collecting Canadian bottles. Seeing as I am half French Canadian. My Dad's family was from the great white north.


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## Canadacan (Jan 27, 2015)

Thank you for the comment iggyworf.I was researching some bottles this morning and came across this bottle, same as my inside thread but with a lemonade paper label. [attachment=Thorpe's Lemonade.jpg]


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## Canadacan (Jan 27, 2015)

Also found this on the net.... an amazing Root Beer paper label! This was the only pic available, it's pretty tiny but gives us a good idea what some of the other labels may have looked like. I see it used a shield symbol and is marked Vancouver & Victoria.....no mention of Nelson BC?   [attachment=Thorpe root beer.jpg]


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## Robby Raccoon (Jan 27, 2015)

What stands out to me the most is actually that it says "PROTECTED" upon it-- I've not seen that before. I love the amount of embossing. Grand bottles.


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## CanadianBottles (Jan 27, 2015)

That internal thread is the same one I have.  Mine has a stopper from a different company I've never heard of, though I've never been able to decipher the name.  Could likely be a British one that made its way over here recently and was just stuck in the bottle because it needed a stopper.That Country Club relation is interesting, especially since it looks like they also had something called Thorpe's Pale Dry Ginger Ale at the same time.  I think it says "Blends with friends" under Ginger Ale on the sign, which means it's their slogan on the trucks, not Seven-Up's.  Seems like there's a pretty likely connection between the two companies, considering that Country Club took over Thorpe's Seven Up franchise.  Are you sure that they didn't just rebrand themselves as Country Club instead of being two separate businesses?


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## CanadianBottles (Jan 27, 2015)

iggyworf said:
			
		

> Love the inside threads of your new one. Also love the embossed hand. Great info & pics on that company. I always thought about collecting Canadian bottles. Seeing as I am half French Canadian. My Dad's family was from the great white north.


French Canadian bottles can make a good collection while still being relatively specialized enough to not go overboard.  I have a few bilingual bottles (from before bilingualism was made law in the seventies) but I don't think I have any that are French only.  Plenty of them exist though, including some very inexpensive patent medicine bottles.


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## Canadacan (Jan 27, 2015)

CanadianBottles said:
			
		

> That internal thread is the same one I have.  Mine has a stopper from a different company I've never heard of, though I've never been able to decipher the name.  Could likely be a British one that made its way over here recently and was just stuck in the bottle because it needed a stopper.That Country Club relation is interesting, especially since it looks like they also had something called Thorpe's Pale Dry Ginger Ale at the same time.  I think it says "Blends with friends" under Ginger Ale on the sign, which means it's their slogan on the trucks, not Seven-Up's.  Seems like there's a pretty likely connection between the two companies, considering that Country Club took over Thorpe's Seven Up franchise.  Are you sure that they didn't just rebrand themselves as Country Club instead of being two separate businesses?


Great bottle though hey!..does yours have the backwards S in sparkling? Wayne notes that they are FOR A VERY LIMITED FEW, that have them.Well the conclusion I'm drawing is that's what happened...a re branding of sorts, but usually that happens under new ownership?...but I suppose that's not always the case. Yes it is a bit of a mystery indeed! [attachment=Thorpe backwards S.jpg]


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## CanadianBottles (Jan 27, 2015)

I don't think mine has the reverse S but I don't have the bottle near me at the current time to check.


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## Canadacan (Jan 28, 2015)

Jumping back to the Thorpe & Co. Ltd display at the 1930 Vancouver Pacific National Exhibition I noticed a couple of syrup dispensers on the counter, at first just I assumed they were one of the Thorpe's flavors but upon a real good study of the picture I found out that It's another USA brand called Green River Syrup  http://www.greenriversoda.com/chicago/history/I think the label is similar but not exact to the one I pasted on the left....and so was this Thorpe's go to drink before 7up?......about all I can say now is wow! [attachment=Circa 1930 Thorpe ...on. - Copy (2).jpg]


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## Canadacan (Jan 29, 2015)

CanadianBottles said:
			
		

> Seems like there's a pretty likely connection between the two companies, considering that Country Club took over Thorpe's Seven Up franchise.  Are you sure that they didn't just rebrand themselves as Country Club instead of being two separate businesses?



Well as if we needed any more evidence about the connection, well I found some any ways!Just to make a note here, in 1931 Country Club Beverages appears in the directories for the first time and shares the same address as Thorpe's, until they disappear from the directories altogether in 1935, so for 4 solid year they were listed with the same address. The next 2 photos I'm posting are the money Shots!


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## Canadacan (Jan 29, 2015)

This is from the Vancouver city archives it's marked as Thorpe & co. 1935-sitting at desk, George Irwin. What's that in the window..Country? [attachment=Thorpe & co. 1935-... George Irwin..jpg]


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## Canadacan (Jan 29, 2015)

This is also from the Vancouver city archives it's marked as Thorpe & co. 1935-standing by safe, George Irwin.See the reflection? Country Club!!!...and the safe with Thorpe & Co. ltd on it.  [attachment=Thorpe.jpg]  <Edit: Inserted image in post>


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## cowseatmaize (Jan 30, 2015)

It looks more behind him through a window than a reflection, but yes.[8|]


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## 2find4me (Jan 30, 2015)

Looks like he walked behind the room with the calendar into the back room with the safe.


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## CanadianBottles (Jan 31, 2015)

I don't think the pictures really prove anything we didn't already know, although I still think they're one and the same company.  The reason they don't prove anything is that if you look at that window on the outside of the building, that's a pretty small sign on one of the second storey windows.  Thorpe's probably would have been painted at the top of the building and then at the top of each of the three windows would be "Delaware Punch", "Country Club", "Cal-Ade" or something like that.  Putting Country Club in the small window would be weird if it was their principal sign because it would be really small, and putting it in the window if they had a larger sign would also be kind of weird unless they just wanted to plaster their name on the building as much as possible.


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## Canadacan (Feb 1, 2015)

Pretty interesting to see the inside showing the lettering on the windows none the less. It does make one wonder what was on the other windows...and we may never know just a partial clues. They had an excellent location in 1935 being at the foot of the newly constructed Burrard st. bridge...it opened in July 1932. They may have been more visible to pedestrians then auto traffic though.Here is a rare glimpse of that building in March 1931 (before the bridge opened) showing at least at the time they had no signage attached to the facade.   [attachment=Thorpe-1931- Copy.jpg]


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## Canadacan (Feb 1, 2015)

Here is a cropped close up. [attachment=Thorpe-1931- Copy-2.jpg]


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## Canadacan (Feb 6, 2015)

I just about freaked today when I was going through a box bottles I saved from 1995-2001 ...there is a set of Hansen's soda's a set of Pirate's Keg...and several Stewart's, but in the box I discovered I have two ACL *Thorpe's bottles!* from 1995....one is a Grape Float and the other is Cherry Cola...been boxed away for 20 years, geesh where did that go? Well the interesting thing about them is for one , they are the only Thorpe's ACL's that I know of, two, the Cherry Cola bottle was made for export to the USA! It shows 12 floz & 355ml on the front and the back has the CASH REFUND -CT-DE-MA-VT-NY-ME-IA-OR-5¢ M 10¢I wonder how many states is really made it to?The product was put out by Silvan Beverages, Langley BC........I only wish I had the full flavor line [] but It's pretty cool that the brand name was resurrected ...all be it for a short time. Well at least they got the since 1889 part right...and they also made mention of being a medal winner at the 1893 World's Fair. [attachment=Thorpe1995.jpg][attachment=Thorpe-1995.jpg]


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## CanadianBottles (Feb 6, 2015)

Whoa, that's not something I ever expected to see!  I had no idea those existed.  Must not have been too successful.  Are you sure they're both from 1995?  The one on the left looks older.  Never heard of Silvan Beverages either, did they put out anything else?


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## Canadacan (Feb 6, 2015)

Thinking back I know they were very short lived, and they are both from 1995...I bought them at the same time, and I would have bought other flavors if they would have been in the store at the time. Not to sure what else Silvan Beverages put out on the market. I know this now...try and find these bottles anywhere!...but somewhere in a persons basement or crawl space they are waiting to be found I hope[]Why the left bottle has a crown and the other a screw cap?...there was a change over back to the crown...all my Cokes from about 91-97 have screw caps and they were switching back to crowns. Ivan


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## Canadacan (Feb 7, 2015)

Not much luck hunting down any bottles or pictures but I did stumble across this website http://www.ca-yd.com/html/bottles/soda_homepage.htmIn the list He has two other bottle shown(no picture), Lime float & Peach Float...so looks like 4 flavors for sure, but there had to be a Root Beer and maybe a Ginger Beer?....well at least I know some one saved a few bottles .  *# 20021702:*THORPE'S CHERRY COLA 12 OZ. RED AND WHITE -CLEAR SMOOTH - 08 1/8 NONE - SILVAN BEVERAGES - LANGLEY - B.C.PIC. 2 CHERRIES "CHERRY COLA THORPE'S SINCE 1889" 9.9 
*# 21021702:*THORPE'S GRAPE FLOAT 12 OZ. TAN AND WHITE -CLEAR SMOOTH - 08 1/8 NONE - SILVAN BEVERAGES - LANGLEY -B.CPICTURE OF LARGE MILKSHAKE W/STRAW 9.9 
*# 19021702:*THORPE'S LIME FLOAT 12 OZ. BLACK AND WHITE-CLEAR SMOOTH - 08 1/8 NONE - SILVAN BEVERAGES - LANGLEY -B.C.PICTURE OF LARGE MILKSHAKE W/STRAW 9.9 
*# 79092905:*THORPE'S PEACH FLOAT 12 OZ. TEAL AND WHITE-CLEAR SMOOTH- 08 1/8 NONE - SILVAN BEVERAGES - LANGLEY B.C.ICE CREAM FLOAT; 1893 WINNER WORLD'S FAIR MEDAL 9.9


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## Canadacan (Aug 10, 2015)

Well I finally found a another 1990's ACL!....but in a new flavor!....this one is Orange Float. This is the only other bottle in this series that I've come across since they were released, that now makes it 5 flavors...I wonder if there may have been up to 8 possible flavors.  [attachment=20150810_090538_resized_1.jpg]


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## BottleDragon (Sep 11, 2019)

Great thread... I found #6 just the other day:


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## Canadacan (Sep 11, 2019)

BottleDragon said:


> Great thread... I found #6 just the other day:



Oh hey!...that is so awesome!...are you keeping it? I knew another would show up, thanks for posting


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## danopoly (Jul 30, 2022)

Found another one for you guys. Was researching this bottle and came across your thread. This was from my dad's collection, I think he purchased it at Expo in Vancouver. From what I can tell, the group does not have this photo yet, glad I can add one!


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## danopoly (Jul 30, 2022)

Canadacan said:


> Not much luck hunting down any bottles or pictures but I did stumble across this website http://www.ca-yd.com/html/bottles/soda_homepage.htmIn the list He has two other bottle shown(no picture), Lime float & Peach Float...so looks like 4 flavors for sure, but there had to be a Root Beer and maybe a Ginger Beer?....well at least I know some one saved a few bottles .  *# 20021702:*THORPE'S CHERRY COLA 12 OZ. RED AND WHITE -CLEAR SMOOTH - 08 1/8 NONE - SILVAN BEVERAGES - LANGLEY - B.C.PIC. 2 CHERRIES "CHERRY COLA THORPE'S SINCE 1889" 9.9
> *# 21021702:*THORPE'S GRAPE FLOAT 12 OZ. TAN AND WHITE -CLEAR SMOOTH - 08 1/8 NONE - SILVAN BEVERAGES - LANGLEY -B.CPICTURE OF LARGE MILKSHAKE W/STRAW 9.9
> *# 19021702:*THORPE'S LIME FLOAT 12 OZ. BLACK AND WHITE-CLEAR SMOOTH - 08 1/8 NONE - SILVAN BEVERAGES - LANGLEY -B.C.PICTURE OF LARGE MILKSHAKE W/STRAW 9.9
> *# 79092905:*THORPE'S PEACH FLOAT 12 OZ. TEAL AND WHITE-CLEAR SMOOTH- 08 1/8 NONE - SILVAN BEVERAGES - LANGLEY B.C.ICE CREAM FLOAT; 1893 WINNER WORLD'S FAIR MEDAL 9.9


I added one more to your list, with photos!


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## Canadacan (Aug 2, 2022)

@danopoly Thanks so much for sharing....not really many of these show up. I can't confirm if these were around as early as expo 86 myself, But I do know by the mid 90's they were gone.


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## tsims (Sep 22, 2022)

Has anyone on here run across the Thorpe's syrup bottles and if so can you give an idea on value? Looking at a small Amethyst one that is available for purchase. Thank you in advance


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## Canadacan (Sep 25, 2022)

tsims said:


> Has anyone on here run across the Thorpe's syrup bottles and if so can you give an idea on value? Looking at a small Amethyst one that is available for purchase. Thank you in advance


I recall seeing some in the past, but I have no idea on value


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## tolmanbridge (Nov 24, 2022)

tsims said:


> Has anyone on here run across the Thorpe's syrup bottles and if so can you give an idea on value? Looking at a small Amethyst one that is available for purchase. Thank you in advance


If you find out the value of one of the syrup bottle, please let me know as I got one in the collection I bought.  I can't find out anything about it either.


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