# 1942 7up value



## Ellie (Dec 2, 2019)

Hi! This is my first post here, I'm Ellie! 

I was in Georgia over the past week and i happened to find a old 1942 7up bottle in a creek near Cleveland. I'm cleaning it up and stuff but the ACL seems to be all intact with just some minor scratches. The date code is all there and easily readable and there's no cracks or large dings in the glass. I'll gladly add pictures to the post once I'm done cleaning it up but I was just wondering if that would be enough to get a rough estimate on the value of the bottle. I don't plan on selling it any time soon but I like to keep track of the value of items in my collections hehe


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## Canadacan (Dec 3, 2019)

The biggest determining factor is condition, secondly weather it's and 8 bubble or 7 bubble. In general they can go from 10.00 to over a 100.
You can also view current selling prices on ebay by searching ended listings, but remember the selling price on there can be higher than the value and in some cases lower.
Also some city variations that are hard to find can bring a little more.

BTW welcome to AB!!!

Ivan


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## iggyworf (Dec 3, 2019)

Hello! Yes please post some pics of the bottle.


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## RCO (Dec 3, 2019)

being that it was found in a creek I'd wonder about the condition , although its still possible to find acl's in good condition outdoors but becoming less common as time goes on and they've been outdoors longer 

it should also have a city name on the back , certain towns and cities are harder to find


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## Ellie (Dec 3, 2019)

1 





RCO said:


> being that it was found in a creek I'd wonder about the condition , although its still possible to find acl's in good condition outdoors but becoming less common as time goes on and they've been outdoors longer
> 
> it should also have a city name on the back , certain towns and cities are harder to find



 I'm not sure what condition this ACL would be considered, but I must say that I was very surprised to see that it was all there! The back of the bottle says Athens, Georgia, which isn't *too* far from where I found it. I cleaned it up a bit to get the layer of clay dust and stuff off of it but it can def do with a bit more cleaning at some point hehe.

Heres a couple pictures, let me know if you need any more!


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## Ellie (Dec 3, 2019)

Canadacan said:


> The biggest determining factor is condition, secondly weather it's and 8 bubble or 7 bubble. In general they can go from 10.00 to over a 100.
> You can also view current selling prices on ebay by searching ended listings, but remember the selling price on there can be higher than the value and in some cases lower.
> Also some city variations that are hard to find can bring a little more.
> 
> ...



Thanks Ivan! The bottle is (as far as I can tell) in pretty fair condition, and it's a 7 bubble. I posted pictures in another reply, and it's an Athens, Georgia variation.


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## iggyworf (Dec 3, 2019)

Hey Ellie! That looks in good condition for finding it in a creek. I looks like a fairly common 7up, missing the red pigment on the ACL. I would guess on value anywhere from just 5$ to 15$. The numbers on the bottom will usually tell you the plant and the year also.


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## Ellie (Dec 3, 2019)

It’s a 1942! From my understanding; from 1942-1945 there was no red anywhere on the ACL since red pigments were needed for war efforts. There’s a scripted word embossed over the date code on the base of the bottle, is that the plant? Or is the “Athens, GA” the plant? I did find it not too far from Athens.


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## iggyworf (Dec 3, 2019)

That #9 should be the Streator Ill plant of Owens Illinois bottle co. That embossed word is "Duraglass"And here is a link to a big discussion on the 'red' pigment debate.

https://www.antique-bottles.net/sho...RATIONING-FACT-or-FICTION&p=696361#post696361

and a brief thing about Duraglass.

https://www.antique-bottles.net/showthread.php?259808-duraglass

owens illinois plant codes

file:///E:/bottle%20info/O-IPlantList.pdf


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## RCO (Dec 3, 2019)

Ellie said:


> It’s a 1942! From my understanding; from 1942-1945 there was no red anywhere on the ACL since red pigments were needed for war efforts. There’s a scripted word embossed over the date code on the base of the bottle, is that the plant? Or is the “Athens, GA” the plant? I did find it not too far from Athens.




they used the swimsuit design into the 50's so might not be from the 40's , your bottle would of had " orange " paint around the 7 up wording on the front but faded off from being outdoors so long . I recall finding a very similar looking 7 up bottle a couple years ago , that's what happens to the paint when left outdoors for decades as it was likely left there in the 40's or 50's era

but still a neat find , I enjoy finding the old 7 up bottles , someone in my area must of had a thing for 7 up back in the days as I often find them here and seemed to find a lot along one specific road for some reason

here is a picture of the bottle I found in 2017 in a small dump , the front is all white like yours , the orange paint faded off , the colour seems to faded away earlier on this bottle and white remains longer


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## Ellie (Dec 3, 2019)

RCO said:


> they used the swimsuit design into the 50's so might not be from the 40's ,



Ah, that would make sense! I read somewhere that Owens Illinois used a dot next to the number to the right of the logo on the base to indicate it was a 40s bottle, before changing their date code format again later down the road. Would you, or anyone here, know if this is true?


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## Ellie (Dec 3, 2019)

Now THAT'S very interesting. So, is it likely that it _did_​ have red pigment but that just faded already?


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## iggyworf (Dec 3, 2019)

Ellie, your bottle is from 1942. Yes Owens used a 'dot' after the number to signify what '1940's' yr it was then  they switched to using 2 numbers from then on. Like 56 for 1956 ect. I also have some 7ups missing the red on them. But I never found any in the wild.


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## Ellie (Dec 3, 2019)

Awesome! Thanks for confirming that hehe.

This is the first bottle I've found and I think it would look pretty weird to me if I find a 7up with red after this lmao


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## RCO (Dec 3, 2019)

Ellie said:


> Now THAT'S very interesting. So, is it likely that it _did_​ have red pigment but that just faded already?



I'm pretty sure it would of had orange paint on the front label 

found a picture online of a similar bottle from Athens GA , only difference from yours is wording on back slightly different , yours seems to have an extra line where it mentions bottle is not to be used for any other drink , perhaps that was only on the earlier ones and removed later on


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## RCO (Dec 3, 2019)

iggyworf said:


> Ellie, your bottle is from 1942. Yes Owens used a 'dot' after the number to signify what '1940's' yr it was then  they switched to using 2 numbers from then on. Like 56 for 1956 ect. I also have some 7ups missing the red on them. But I never found any in the wild.



I have a box in the garage full of damaged 7 up bottles that I mostly found when swimming , lots didn't have the label on them or all white . I'm pretty sure these bottles did have orange paint on them originally and it faded away from being outdoors 


but her bottle is older than I realised as I found a picture online of a similar lady bottle from that area and the wording is slightly different , so it does seem to be an earlier version used in the 40's not the 50's


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## Ellie (Dec 3, 2019)

wow! that one looks really nice ngl lmao. I thought the red would look kinda weird but that actually looks really cool imo.


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## RCO (Dec 3, 2019)

( I did some deeper research , appears there was a brief period in ww2 when they didn't use colour on the front label on US bottles , ( not sure if they also did in Canada as can't recall seeing such bottles )   , so your bottle might not of had colour if its definitely from 42 , but  pretty much all 7 up bottles used orange on the front label except those ones )



The exception occurred during
World War II, but the exact dates have not
been published that I know of. The swim
suit bottle lost its red-orange shield –
probably, sometime between 1942 and
1945 (
*Figure 10*). The red pigment was
saved for war use. With peace, the redorange
shield returned.


http://www.angelfire.com/zine2/thesodafizz/SevenUp_BLockhart.pdf


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## iggyworf (Dec 4, 2019)

RCO, forgot about that article. I have it in my 7up file. I have 3 bottles with no red/orange shield on them. one of them clearly has the 'ghost' ACL of the red/orange paint. But the others it's almost impossible to tell if the had the red/orange paint.


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## Burkenhill (Dec 4, 2019)

Hi Ellie,

Your bottle is certainly in reasonable condition notwithstanding that it has been out in the weather and the red/orange shield colouring has disappeared.  The back label is back label #3 which is typical in bottles from 1940-1948 according to the most extensive research done by professor Bill Lockhart in his detailed article, "Bottles on the Border: The History and Bottles of the Soft Drink Industry in El Paso, Texas, 1881-2000" wherein he goes into a lot of detail of the numerous back labels on 7up ACL bottles. Your picture doesn't show the swim lady very well but it appears that she may have only 1 foot, which makes the bottle a little more interesting but probably doesn't change the value much.  By 1942 the swim lady usually has 2 feet.  As stated elsewhere in this thread, I concur that its value is +/- $10, though with the red/orange missing on the shield many would be buyers have a lot of comparable bottles available in more complete original condition for equal or lower prices.


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## Ellie (Dec 4, 2019)

Thank you so much for all the info! I will def have to check out Mr.Lockharts article! That seems like a wealth of information!

The swimsuit girl _does _have both her feet but I think I may have been kinda hiding it with my hand on accident hehe. 

$10 is pretty good for something I found by chance for free! I dont plan on selling it but if I do I'll probably price it a bit lower than that just so it has more of a chance of selling lol


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## hemihampton (Dec 4, 2019)

Some of mine. I'm guessing the red or orange faded off. LEON.


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## Ellie (Dec 5, 2019)

Woah! That's quite the collection lmao. they all look so good too :0


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## Canadacan (Dec 5, 2019)

Something I was thinking about was my 1942 Canadian 7up seen in this photo has no red, but alas it has ghosting...so it simply wore away. I'm pretty sure it was a dug bottle, and oddly I have seen two other 1942's with the red worn off, not sure if its just a coincidence or maybe the red paint batches were not good at that time?


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## RCO (Dec 5, 2019)

Canadacan said:


> Something I was thinking about was my 1942 Canadian 7up seen in this photo has no red, but alas it has ghosting...so it simply wore away. I'm pretty sure it was a dug bottle, and oddly I have seen two other 1942's with the red worn off, not sure if its just a coincidence or maybe the red paint batches were not good at that time?



I'd imagine there is lots of 7 up bottles out there without the red paint , most that were found outdoors only have the white as the red seems to come off sooner, I've found several like this , the one I posted has ghosting like you mentioned so it also had red paint at some point and it came off . 

have to try and search around and see if I can find any examples which are for sure from ww2 era and never had the red paint


looking thru my pictures I found this bottle swimming in 2014 , not sure of its exact year of use , only has white but after being under water so long , its all that remained of the label 

it has a slightly odd back , says " sip it slowly , taste each sip ,enjoy the finer flavour " which doesn't seem to be mentioned in the article so unsure of year of use 
but looking thru some other 7 up's , the others with that wording had red paint on the front so it likely just came off and makes it appear like it didn't have red


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## Canadacan (Dec 5, 2019)

RCO as I mentioned on one of my posts the 'Sip it slowly' slogan  was standard on 7oz Canadian 7up ACL's from at least 1942-1947, some Quebec bottles may have varied. The article you are referencing was specifically on USA 7up's and thus why the slogan is not mentioned. Still waiting to see a 1941 example to see if it was an 8 bubble in Canada.
Is your bottle a consumers or Dominion?...if Dominion any legible numbers on the base? They seems to have a problem with many of them being offset.


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## RCO (Dec 5, 2019)

Canadacan said:


> RCO as I mentioned on one of my posts the 'Sip it slowly' slogan  was standard on 7oz Canadian 7up ACL's from at least 1942-1947, some Quebec bottles may have varied. The article you are referencing was specifically on USA 7up's and thus why the slogan is not mentioned. Still waiting to see a 1941 example to see if it was an 8 bubble in Canada.
> Is your bottle a consumers or Dominion?...if Dominion any legible numbers on the base? They seems to have a problem with many of them being offset.




I looked at the bottle earlier today , found it in the garage , definitely had paint on it originally , could see where it had faded off , didn't notice the dominion mark


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