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A Short History Of The Coca-Cola Bottle

Coca-Cola was first bottled in 1894. In those days Coke bottles were different than they are today, and far less sanitary. In 1879, Charles G. Hutchinson invented what became known as the Hutchinson Bottle. These early curiosities were squat six-ounce bottles which sealed by means of a rubber gasket. This gasket, which looked like a rubber washer, was sandwiched between two iron plates, and a long metal hook was attached to the top plate. A seal could be formed because the gasket, which was slightly larger in diameter than the bottle's opening, remained inside and pushed up against the shoulders while the hook extended through the mouth. The carbonation was supposed to push the gasket up against the inner shoulders and seal the mouth of the bottle, but it didn't work very well. The bottles leaked and, according to reports at the time, the rubber washers made the drink taste bad. In order to open a bottle, one had to push the hook and gasket down into the drink, which couldn't have been very sanitary either. I've heard it said that releasing the seals on these bottles made a "popping" sound, which is, supposedly, how the word "pop" originally became synonymous with bottled soda.

I've pictured the remains of an original two-inch tall Hutchinson bottle stopper. The bottom of this stopper would have once held a rubber washer, and the top of the hook has since broken off. This iron and rubber device hasn't held up that well over the last one hundred years. Still though, it looks menacing, and the thought that this thing would have ended up at the bottom of one's Coke bottle is not at all comforting!

Hutchinson bottles were not used to bottle Coca-Cola for very long. In 1891, William Painter invented the crown cork, which is the familiar "bottle cap" still in use today. The crown cork took some time to catch on, but by 1905 or so, the Hutchinson bottles had been replaced by what are known as "straight sided" Coke bottles. These crown top bottles had straight sides, as opposed to the well-known "hobbleskirt" or "Mae West" bottles which would come later. The undersides of the caps were generally lined with cork, and this new system of bottle capping proved to be not only more simple than the clumsy Hutchinson system, but they provided a tight and sanitary seal as well. The Hutchinson bottle, fortunately, was gone for good.

Pictured is a typical straight sided Coca-Cola bottle which dates around 1910. Although this bottle looks very different than the classic hobbleskirt Coke bottle we know today, it still looks much more familiar than the Hutchinson bottles, and the crown capping system developed by William Painter over one hundred years ago is still being used.

Values Of Hutchinson Coca-Cola Bottles

The first Hutchinson bottles to contain Coca-Cola were made by the Biedenharn Candy Company of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Although Biedenharn was the first to bottle Coca-Cola, the company bottled many other beverages as well, and the Biedenharn Hutchinsons were not embossed with the Coca-Cola trademark. These bottles are still highly collectible, even though many Biedenharn bottles probably never contained Coca-Cola. Some later Hutchinson bottles, though, were marked Coca-Cola, and original examples are extremely rare! A Biedenharn Candy Company Hutchinson bottle, with no mention of Coca-Cola, is generally worth around $250 in excellent condition, while original Hutchinson bottles marked with the script Coca-Cola logo may be worth $2,000 or more! Beware of reproductions, though. Both Biedenharn and "Coca-Cola" Hutchinsons have been reproduced. The reproduction Biedenharn Hutchinson bottle shown in the illustration is clearly marked "1894-1979" on the back, indicating an anniversary bottle, but other reproductions may be less obvious.

*Note: I've "whited out" the wording on the Biedenharn Hutchinson bottle so that it shows in the photos better, but the original lettering was embossed - not white.

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