# Every bottle has a story



## wavey (May 21, 2015)

[attachment=IMG_5524_opt.jpg] I picked up this beautiful ACL bottle for my collection the other day. The name on the soda is "A Kick". It is in such excellent condition that to look at it you can hardly believe it is over 70 years old. On the reverse it indicates it was produced by Everett Bottling Company of Everett, Wa. I'm sure the logo would appeal to many people with the images of kicking football players and a large somewhat balloon shaped football.
This bottle is a perfect example of why I enjoy collecting ACL's so much. I can find almost nothing about this bottle online and yet  just 70 years or so ago there were employees who went to work everyday to produce this brand. There would have been advertisements, distribution channels and probably people who regularly bought "A Kick" soda pop. Now, probably almost everyone who worked for the company has passed. If Everett Bottling Company still exists it must have undergone a name change since I can't locate it online. Collector bottles like this remain as the only evidence that this entire enterprise ever happened. I look at each bottle in my collection the same way - you can imagine a story behind every one.


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## carling (May 21, 2015)

Nice pictorial bottle!Here's another version of your Kick that recently sold on ebay:http://www.ebay.com/itm/A..._trksid=p2047675.l2557


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## bottlingco (May 21, 2015)

wavey,Between the two versions, yours is the most difficult to find, although neither are all that easy.Nice find!  ~bottlingco


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## SODAPOPBOB (May 22, 2015)

Wavey Welcome to the forum. You can add this to your story - notice the President/Manager's name ... 
http://www.nw.epls.org/cdm/ref/collection/Juleen/id/90


Everett Bottling Works (A. E. Kick, President and Manager), 3231 Broadway

[ Picture 1924 ]


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## SODAPOPBOB (May 22, 2015)

The earliest date I can find for Everett Bottling Works is *1905* (But it might have been founded earlier). I have seen references where they produced Hutchinson bottles, which would have preceded their Crown bottles. A. E. Kick's first name was *Alexander *and he was born in Wisconsin in 1883 [ Attachments ] 1.  KICK'S deco style bottle  ~  Everett Bottling Works  ~  Owens-Illinois Glass Company  ~  1945        https://www.etsy.com/listing/170410253/1940s-kicks-soda-bottle-clear-glass 2.  This newspaper article ties in with what you said in your opening synopsis about hard working employees ...      From ...  The Labor Journal  ~  Everett, Washington  ~  June 9, 1911


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## SODAPOPBOB (May 22, 2015)

Clarification ... I'm not certain when Everett Bottling Works changed the name to "Company"  Nor am I certain if the *EB* on the base of the 1945 Kick's deco bottle refers to *E*verett *B*ottling  "Works" or "Company"


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## SODAPOPBOB (May 22, 2015)

Is that a C.O. for COMPANY I see on the base of the 1945 Kick's bottle?


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## wavey (May 22, 2015)

Thanks for everyone's replies and especially to SodaPopBob for your info. I get a kick (pun intended) out of the fact that the company president was able to use the football theme to give the soda a sporting image while at the same time kind of naming the brand after himself.


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## SODAPOPBOB (May 22, 2015)

wavey Your bottle should have a date code on it - check the base for two-digit numbers -  you mentioned "70 years" which would be around 1945 - but I'm guessing early 1950s  ???


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## wavey (May 22, 2015)

The bottom of the bottle shows an S,  then an angular G with and C intertwined (G over the C), then a 1.Further down are four numbers 5044, then below that a single 1. I was guessing that it was a mid forties bottle but it certainly could be from the 1950's.


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## SODAPOPBOB (May 22, 2015)

That's a Glass Containers Corporation mark and they are almost impossible to accurately date. Even the Bottle Research Group (BRG) haven't figured them out, yet. The last I heard, Carol Serrs was working on it, but I never did see what she came up with. On one hand the 50 might be for 1950 but on the other hand the 44 might be for 1944. Or the numbers might not be date related at all and are some type of style code. Here's a link to emphasize the confusion I'm referring to ...  http://www.glassbottlemarks.com/glass-containers-inc-1933-c-1984/


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## wavey (May 22, 2015)

Yes, SodaPopBob, it is a Glass Containers Corporation mark. If you look at the first reply to this post by Carling you will see he includes a link to an ebay listing for a different "a kick" bottle. In the photos of that listing there is one showing the bottom of that bottle and it shows an S then the Glass Containers mark, then a 3. My bottle is the same except the 3 is a 1.


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## SODAPOPBOB (May 22, 2015)

Here's my interpretation of the carling bottle base. I'm guessing the 53 is for 1953 and the 2 is a mold number. I'm guessing the other numbers are a style code. ???


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## wavey (May 22, 2015)

If you are right then my bottle would be from 1951.


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## SODAPOPBOB (May 22, 2015)

Are you saying what looks like an S might be a 5 like this ...                                                           *                   5  GC  1*


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## wavey (May 22, 2015)

Yes, possibly. It looks exactly like the example you have in post #13 which you show 5 in red under the number/letter in question. It looks more like an S to me because it appears to be just curves with no right angles, but you could be right that it is a stylized 5, which would make my bottle 1951 (if those numbers indicate the date). You certainly have more expertise with bottle info than I do. I am just a newbie to bottle collecting and have a lot to learn.


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## SODAPOPBOB (May 22, 2015)

Howz about a focused picture of the base on your bottle?


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## wavey (May 22, 2015)

[attachment=IMG_5531_opt.jpg]  This is the best photo I could take of the bottom. Looking at this I now think it is a 5 so you could be right. Any input I have would just be a guess.


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## SODAPOPBOB (May 22, 2015)

Thanks - I concur - It looks like a 5 and a 1 to me for 1951


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## SODAPOPBOB (May 22, 2015)

More ...                                   According to the information on Page 102 of this pdf document ...               Everett Bottling Works was founded in *1902* by Peter Edward Misgen and Alexander E. Kick                                        (But they do not know when they ceased operation)                                  On Page 103 there is a picture of a super early A K E bottle 
http://www.ci.mukilteo.wa.us/files/doc-cultural2.pdf

                                                                     ~ * ~


          Scroll to the very bottom of this *1935* newspaper and you will see an ad for Everett Bottling Works

       Notice it mentions "Kick's Carbonated Beverages" as one of their brands but it does not mention "A Kick"

Http://gfp.stparchive.com/Archive/GFP/GFP05231935P08.php


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## SODAPOPBOB (May 22, 2015)

Here's the A K E bottle from Page 103 of the pdf document, which I printed/scanned/cropped/saved ...                                                            A K E stands for Alexander E Kick


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## SODAPOPBOB (May 22, 2015)

And here's one of their Hutchinson bottles. The exact date is unknown but possibly circa 1902 when the company was founded. It was described as being embossed on the base with  *327 H*


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## SODAPOPBOB (May 23, 2015)

I don't know why the image of this siphon/seltzer bottle is reversed, but that's the way I found it. But aside from that, notice the use of ...                                                                             *A Kick* It's described as being from the late 1800s or early 1900s, which the seller was just guessing about because it could easily be from the 1920s or 1930s. But regardless of the exact date, it no doubt precedes the "A KICK" football soda bottles and is possibly the first use of Alexander Kick's name in such a fashion.                        http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/everett-lithiated-sparkling-water-28622708


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## SODAPOPBOB (May 23, 2015)

Observation / Correction Because the siphon bottle has a painted label/ACL, it's most likely from the 1930s or 1940s. The earliest ACL soda bottle I'm aware of is a Jumbo Cola from 1934.


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## Jim Craft (Jul 25, 2018)

I have the exact deco "kick's" bottle I just found at a garage sale. I originally thought it was from the Everett Brewing Co., assuming they started making soda after Prohibition. How do you know this kick's bottle is from 1945? I thought most bottles went away from embossed/raised glass lettering by then? thanks.


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## JKL (Aug 10, 2018)

Cool thread!
I wonder the same questions as you do.
When I look at a bottle in my collection I wonder who drank it, how many people had their hands on the bottle.  I wonder what they were feeling when drinking the beverage.
I was showing my collection to an uncle years ago and he recollected that when his house was built in 1954 that the day was scorching hot when the chimney guy was bricking the chimney in the attic.  Uncle told us he went to the local corner store and bought a bottle of Orange Kist and gave it to the worker.  The worker took the bottle and drank it all with out a break then set the bottle at the base of the chinmey in the attic.  He says he recalled that moment so clearly.  Three days after being told the story ther was a knock on my door and Uncle Shelly stood there dusty and messy hair.  At 75 yrs old he crawled into his attic to see if the bottle was still there.  He proudly gave it to me to put in my collection.  I put a sticker on the bottle so I would not forget the story and put it on display.  Uncle Shelly is 98 now and he asks about that bottle every time I see him.
This is an example of why I collect soda pop bottles.


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