# Newbie requiring help please Pepsi Bottle



## snetboy (Jun 21, 2019)

Hi all

First time using the forum and looking for help on ageing a Pepsi bottle I found whilst digging out an old hedge. 

The bottle has a letter "R" in the middle of its base.

Many thanks

Bob (Norfolk, UK)


----------



## Canadacan (Jun 21, 2019)

Welcome!...I'm pretty sure these ACL Pepsi's ran from the late 40's? up to about 1958. Not sure what plant the R would represent being the bottle is from the UK.


----------



## snetboy (Jun 22, 2019)

Thank you - hopefully one of the uk forums can help with that!


----------



## RCO (Jun 26, 2019)

was Pepsi common in the UK by then ? doesn't surprise me it was sold there by the 50's / 60's . 

is there any dates on the bottom ? most of our pepsi bottles have dates on them


----------



## Steve1976 (Sep 1, 2019)

Hi. Newbie here too and also found this under a hedge  Searched many PEPSI-COLA bottle images but couldn’t find one the same. Though it looks the same as the guys bottle who started the post.


----------



## snetboy (Sep 2, 2019)

Thats the one! Heres the response I had on the UK forum 
-​[FONT=&quot]PEPSI-COLA BOTTLES[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]Hi Snetboy (Bob?) and welcome to the forum.
-
As you might already be aware Pepsi-Cola has a history going back to the late 19th century which is well documented on many internet sites.
Wikipedia gives a good basic history and is linked at the end of this post.
-
Your bottle has what is generically known as 'Applied Ceramic Label' (ACL) which is not a particularly heavily 
collected field in the UK currently but they are very popular in the US, Canada and Australia.
It is on one of the 'basket weave' type bottles which were the subject of a long running thread
on another forum which I have again linked at the end of the post.
-
Yours appears to be one of the British varieties with the wording 'TRADE MARK REGD.' below the script logo.
I think the US varieties just have a normal copyright mark below the logo.
-
Acording to the Wikipedia site that particular script logo was in use from 1940 to 1950 and re-introduced in 2014.
The brand became known as just 'PEPSI' in 1963.
however, it is also worth checking other sources as Wikipedia cannot be relied on 100%.[/FONT]​
-​


-​
[FONT=&quot]So, although later than the majority of bottles currently collected in the UK you still may have one that could be between 60 to 80 years old
which appears to be in reasonably good condition and if I found it I would certainly keep it!!
-
As a matter of interest are there any marks embossed below the base?

-[/FONT]​
[FONT=&quot]Link to Pepsi on Wikipedia - scroll to the bottom for many more related links:[/FONT]​
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepsi


[FONT=&quot]Link to the 'Basket Weave' pattern bottles thread on the antique-bottles.net site:[/FONT]​
https://www.antique-bottles.net/show...design-pattern

-​


----------



## hemihampton (Sep 2, 2019)

Looks like he gave you a link back to this site.Ironic. LEON.


----------



## Steve1976 (Sep 3, 2019)

Thanks for that snetboy. I've taken a pic of the underside but there's not too much to see tbh. It was almost buried and clogged with soil and moss. I'm not sure how long this takes to occur naturally? ..but it looks to be old enough to be one of the early ones to me. That being said, I've nothing to compare it to. The faint marks on the underside might however prove this to be not the case?!


----------



## M.C.Glass (Sep 10, 2019)

This bottle has the single dot main label, used from like 1950, and the neck label used on the swirl bottles of the 1960s. Id wager it's from the early 1960s.


----------



## Canadacan (Sep 10, 2019)

I'm sharing this from one of my other posts, yes thses are Canadain bottles but I'm pretty sure the UK would have introduced the new bottle prior to 1960.

This is the 1958, 1959 with the funny bell shaped heel, and the following year 1960 they no longer have the bell bottom. Ironically all three of these have the July/August month code!
And in experience from other bottles quite often each bottle came in both styles for the transition year.​


----------



## SODABOB (Sep 17, 2019)

snetboy

Is the R on the base inside a circle?  If so, it might have been made by Rockware Glass Ltd in England whose mark was an (R) in a circle.

Are there any numbers or other marks on the base? 

The so called "Wave" bottle like yours was patented in 1940 and used extensively until the so called "Swirl" bottle was patented and first introduced around 1955. There was a transition period between the two bottles that lasted for a few years, but its fairly safe to say that the "Wave" bottle was fully replaced by the "Swirl" bottle by 1960. Hence, your bottle likely dates to no later than about 1960. However, I'm not sure if these time-frames apply to foreign Pepsi Cola bottles. Their transition period could have been sooner or later than those of U.S. bottles.


----------



## Canadacan (Sep 18, 2019)

Another odd ball thing is the fact it has the regular 'swirl' of the 40's bottles, In Canada by 1951 we went to 10oz reverse 'swirl'. And the upper neck ACL is that of the 60's style.


----------



## SODABOB (Sep 18, 2019)

Cc

I'm a little confused about your use of the term "Swirl" -- Especially where you said Canada went to the swirl design in 1951.  The swirl bottle wasn't patented until 1955-56.  I'm attaching images of the "Wave" and "Swirl" patents to confirm the dates -- Maybe what you call a swirl is what I call a wave ???


----------



## SODABOB (Sep 18, 2019)

P.S. 

Over the years I have tried to find the origin of the term "Wave" for the patent 1940 Pepsi Cola bottle, but was never able to determine exactly when or where the nickname originated. As far as I know its just a collector's term that someone came up with along the way.  Or, maybe someone misread the word "Weave" and thought it was "Wave"  -- In my opinion, the design is more like a "Weave" than a "Wave" -- But regardless of that, the term "Wave" is locked in with collectors and will no doubt continue to be used from now on.  As far as the term "Swirl" goes, that came from the Pepsi Cola Company itself, as you will see in the attached Ads and Article ...


----------



## Canadacan (Sep 19, 2019)

I just call em all swirls!..lol, swirl, reverse swirl, full swirl


----------



## iggyworf (Sep 19, 2019)

Reverse swirl Pepsi bottles are rare, I have some of them.


----------



## Canadacan (Sep 20, 2019)

Bob, I forgot to say thanks for that enlightment!..great info and cool ads. I'll definetly try to adopt these terms when refering to the differnt styles of Pepsi bottles!


----------



## GLASSHOPPER55 (Sep 26, 2019)

iggyworf said:


> Reverse swirl Pepsi bottles are rare,



You ain't a-kiddin!


----------

