Couple New Pepsi Paper Labels

Welcome to our Antique Bottle community

Be a part of something great, join today!

jblaylock

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2011
Messages
630
Reaction score
4
Points
18
Location
Central Kentucky
I picked up these 4 paper label Pepsi Cola bottles. They are not in great shape. None of the labels are 100%, but I have a weak spot for Kentucky bottles, especially local ones. These are the earliest Pepsi bottles from Lexington KY. Here's the back story, if you haven't seen it.


THE G&J PEPSI-COLA BOTTLING COMPANY HISTORY

In 1925, two women named Nell and Esther worked in the office of the Grand Pop Bottling Company in Cincinnati. With the early stages of the depression taking place, the owner of Grand Pop decided to put the company on the market. Nell and Esther asked their boyfriends, Walter Gross and Isaac N. Jarson if they would be interested in becoming equal partners in purchasing the business. Walter and Isaac agreed and all four put in 25% and became equal partners in the company.

From Cincinnati they sent trucks as far as they could in all directions. The Pepsi-Cola Company stopped them only after they had gone so far that they could no longer handle the production necessary in Cincinnati. In 1939 they built a production facility in Hamilton, Ohio. In 1940 they built a production facility in Lexington, KY and bought the Portsmouth, Ohio franchise, which was already in operation.

The business prospered, but in 1955, the Pepsi-Cola Company told them that they needed to build a new production plant in Cincinnati. Rather than go into heavy debt, they decided to sell only the Cincinnati franchise portion of the business, which was roughly half of the sales of the whole company. They decided to build a production facility in Ripley, OH, which left them plants in Hamilton, Ripley, Portsmouth, OH and Lexington, KY.



Here's the label, each has the exact same label. Unfortunently, the neck label is missing on this one, it has the best main label.
Pepsi+Lex+1_001.jpg


Here's the bottles:
Pepsi+Lex+3_001.jpg


The 3 clear bottles are Grand Pop bottles:
Pepsi+Lex+4.jpg



Does anybody know how to date these Grand Pop bottles? Considering the "rarity" of the Pepsi Grand Pop ACL, I wonder if these are any rarer than the ACL. Okay, I realize the Grand Pop ACL isn't as rare as Ayer's made it out to be, but they are still more unique and rarer than other versions.
 

jblaylock

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2011
Messages
630
Reaction score
4
Points
18
Location
Central Kentucky
On the bottom there are two separate numbers, an 8 on one side and a 6 on the other. So I'm assuming either 48 or 46. Does anybody know which would be the date or what year they started using the Grand Pop embossed bottle?
 

splante

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 25, 2010
Messages
2,049
Reaction score
3
Points
0
Location
RI
I was thinking 1936 or 1938 might be the correct date for that style label but after reading your post maybe the 40's gotta get ready for work but Ill check on my Pepsi encylopedia tonight and try to pull some pictures
 

jblaylock

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2011
Messages
630
Reaction score
4
Points
18
Location
Central Kentucky
I checked in Ayer's guide 1 & 2. This bottle matches up with the bottle from the 30's, I think it's in ayers 2. However, the Lexington facility didn't open until 1940. I suppose the bottles could have been from 36 and just being reused over and over. The oldest ACL, that I have, from Lexington KY is 1947. It doesn't seem possible to put an exact year on these, just between 1940-47. I'm not sure what year they switched from the paper label to the ACL.
 

Latest posts

Members online

Latest threads

Forum statistics

Threads
83,979
Messages
747,249
Members
25,058
Latest member
MBC
Top