# Old English Beverages Co. Ltd. Victoria BC



## Canadacan (Sep 18, 2016)

After many years of having a few bottles from this company I had the chance to recently acquire what is probably their earliest bottle, at this time I don't know if it is generic...however I have not seen any other brands with this exact design... the base has the inverted triangle with a C for Consumers Glass co.

After researching the directories it looks as though the company started in 1926 and ran until 1954, and listed most of the time I L Erb as either the president or manager, except the last year 1954  E Godwell? was listed as pres. and Erb as the manager; the other name mentioned in the listings early on (1928) is W F Howell and is mentioned again in 1952 and listed as the Secretary-Treasurer

The company was located for the first year (1926) on 2280 Caboro Bay rd, and then from 1927 to 1935 at 625 David street. The last location from 1936-1954 was at 558-562 Johnson Street.
This is as accurate as I could be for this information as I am solely dependant upon the phone directories at this writing.


Left to right....the early 6.5 oz embossed 1920's-30's?... then the 30oz green glass ACL dated 1945....and then the two 6.5oz ACL's 1942 and the last 1947 is a variation on the 'Old English Beverages'... lettering moved closer together and overall bolder boarder and print. Sorry for the glare on the photos, taking pics at night is a real bugger!


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## RCO (Sep 18, 2016)

the embossed bottle is neat , too bad it doesn't say Victoria BC on the bottle , that would add to it as most people wouldn't know where its from .

the bottle is generic , there is a number of bottlers from Ontario that used that same bottle during that time period maybe 20's-40's era . I can post some pictures of the ones I have


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## Canadacan (Sep 19, 2016)

Yes I too wish it had Victoria on it....but just the same glad to have the bottle, over the years I have found next to nothing for items from this company, I do however have a Coca-Cola crown with their name on it.... it's a pre 1948 as it has the 'Coca-Cola CO. of Canada Limited' on it vs just 'Coca-Cola Ltd.'


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## CanadianBottles (Sep 19, 2016)

Nice!  I never knew there was an embossed Old English bottle.  The design is in fact generic, Nanaimo Bottling Works had a bottle like that which is very rare.  For a while I had only heard rumours about it, but here it is: https://www.google.ca/search?q="Nan...RleAKwQ_AUICCgD&dpr=1.5#imgrc=edJPdTI7IAAlnM:  I'm guessing this is one of the earliest generic art deco designs from Canada.


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## Canadacan (Sep 19, 2016)

Yea neither did I!..lol.... That Nanaimo Bottling works is fantastic!...been on that site many times but somehow missed that one. He notes it has Reg'd 1926 on the base so my assumption was correct on age.
Yes this could be the earliest generic with the design Reg'd 1926...mine just has 'Design Reg'd', I cant think of any older than this off the top of my head. I'll have to send a photo of this bottle to Wayne to see if he has seen it before.


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## Canadacan (Nov 19, 2016)

CanadianBottles said:


> Nice!  I never knew there was an embossed Old English bottle.  The design is in fact generic, Nanaimo Bottling Works had a bottle like that which is very rare.  For a while I had only heard rumours about it, but here it is: https://www.google.ca/search?q="Nan...RleAKwQ_AUICCgD&dpr=1.5#imgrc=edJPdTI7IAAlnM:  I'm guessing this is one of the earliest generic art deco designs from Canada.


So I spoke with Wayne a while back.....and he confirmed that the Old English I posted is Scarce!...my gut instinct payed off as I pondered weather to pick it up or not. He is going to post my bottle on his site.


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## CanadianBottles (Nov 19, 2016)

Yeah I had a feeling that one was a good one!  I'd have picked it up for sure as well.  Speaking of which, it's been ages since I've been able to pick up anything from BC other than postcards.  I've got to head out west one of these days!


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## Canadacan (Apr 7, 2018)

I recently did a trade with a fellow collector for some bottles and crowns and amongst them was this Cal-Ade crown from Old English Beverages, seem there were quite a few bottlers that carried this product back in the day.


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## CanadianBottles (Apr 12, 2018)

Great find!  I'd be interested to see any other BC soda caps you have, that's one thing I never ended up getting any examples of.


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## Canadacan (Apr 12, 2018)

CanadianBottles said:


> Great find!  I'd be interested to see any other BC soda caps you have, that's one thing I never ended up getting any examples of.



I don't really have that many BC ones, I missed several a few yeasr back that came up...one of them was a Pacific Dry root beer.
But anyways here is what I do have, the Wynola and Whistle were great!...both from a recent auction....the Coke was also in there, this would have been from Vancouver as well but not marked.





All these 7up's are marked Vancouver.


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## CanadianBottles (Apr 12, 2018)

Very cool!  I wish I'd paid more attention to caps when I lived out in BC.  I have a few BC beer caps but none for soda.  I didn't realize so many of the national brands had local markings on the caps.


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## tsims (Feb 6, 2021)

Canadacan said:


> So I spoke with Wayne a while back.....and he confirmed that the Old English I posted is Scarce!...my gut instinct payed off as I pondered weather to pick it up or not. He is going to post my bottle on his site.


I have the vertical nanaimo bottling works as well but mine is clear all the way up the neck and has a JP on the bottom. Any idea what the JP represents or there again are they sharing bottles?


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## CanadianBottles (Feb 6, 2021)

tsims said:


> I have the vertical nanaimo bottling works as well but mine is clear all the way up the neck and has a JP on the bottom. Any idea what the JP represents or there again are they sharing bottles?


JP stands for J.E. Parrott (I'm guessing his first name was James), the proprietor of the Nanaimo Bottling Works.  Those early embossed bottles from them are quite rare, that's a good one you've got!


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## tsims (Feb 6, 2021)

CanadianBottles said:


> JP stands for J.E. Parrott (I'm guessing his first name was James), the proprietor of the Nanaimo Bottling Works.  Those early embossed bottles from them are quite rare, that's a good one you've got!


Oh great, glad to have that information. I owe you a big thank you again my knowledgeable friend !


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## tsims (Feb 6, 2021)

tsims said:


> Oh great, glad to have that information. I owe you a big thank you again my knowledgeable friend !


I have a chance to buy a Meikle Bros hutchinson bottle in nice shape with the star, good bottle to have?


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## CanadianBottles (Feb 7, 2021)

tsims said:


> I have a chance to buy a Meikle Bros hutchinson bottle in nice shape with the star, good bottle to have?


Depends on the price, but any BC hutch is a good bottle.


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