EXTREMELY RARE AND BEAUTIFUL DR. PEPPER CHEERIO MEMPHIS TENN. SELTZER BOTTLE

Description

We live in a disposable world. Virtually the same moment a new device is introduced to the marketplace, manufacturers promote a new and better version coming out in the near future. Built in obsolescence has become the norm – but it wasn't always this way.
Back in depression era America, most people were happy to have almost any creature comfort available, and they used and reused most everything, and valued what they had. That was true of everything from diapers to soda pop. During that time period, and before, right up to the post-WWII era boom that ushered in a new and burgeoning more fickle middle class looking for new and better things, most were relatively content to own functional items that were meant to endure.
Before the advent of disposable plastic bottles and disposable aluminum cans, that clutter the landfill in the interest of convenience, decades ago, soda and seltzer bottles were made of thick glass that were meant to be used and reused to satisfy the needs of consumers, not just for the moment, but for generations to follow.
They were created in the time when people had to return thick and heavy glass bottles of soda to the stores. For convenience, since about 1860, in America, there were men and occasionally women who dispensed seltzer and soda from either places of business, sometimes known as package stores, or delivered to homes and businesses is these very heavy, but enjoyable products.
In the larger metropolitan areas seltzer bottles were generally delivered in cases of 10, in a wooden box which weighed on average 70 pounds filled. Up until the 1950s , a few diehard older seltzer man still use horses and wagons, but generally deliveryman employed special trucks set up to contain 72 cases in the bay on the bottom, and 60 cases in returnable soda on top. Major soda companies like Coke, Pepsi, 7-Up, Dr Pepper, etc., all use heavy returnable glass delivered in a wooden box. And these major soda companies ,on rare occasion , used seltzer bottles as a vessel to contain their proprietary ingredients. Seltzer bottles were used in every state in the union, and remarkable examples still survive – a testament to their enduring nature. Most seltzer bottles were the more common round ones, but fancy and more ornate examples survive. They were larger in size and more heavy, and were generally sold in wooden sixpacks.
OFFERED TODAY IS A REMARKABLE EXAMPLE OF A VERY BEAUTIFUL RARE DR. PEPPER SELTZER BOTTLE FROM MEMPHIS TENN. 11 YEARS AGO ON ONE OF THOSE UNFORGETTABLE TRIPS WE TOOKS WHEN OUR BOYS WERE A LOT YOUNGER, AND MORE ENJOYABLE, WE WOUND UP IN MEMPHIS AFTER SPENDING A FEW DAYS IN NASHVILLE. THE TRIP THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS WITH TACTOR TRAILERS WIZZING BY WAS SCAREY BUT IT WAS AN EXPERIENCE.
WE ONLY HAD A FEW HOURS TO SPEND IN MEMPHIS AND I DO REGRET NEVER SEEING GRACELAND. IT IS INTERESTING TO NOTE THAT IF YOU LEAVE THE CITY ONE WAY YOU'RE IN MISSISSIPI,AND THE OTHER WAY IN ARKANSAS, TWO STATES WE'VE NEVER BEEN TO, AND THE THOUGHT OF DISCOVERING NEW LOCATIONS AND NEW PEOPLE WAS VERY APPEALING. WE DID ARRIVE IN LITTLE ROCK ARKANSAS THAT NIGHT. I'VE HAD AN OLD BOTTLE FROM THAT CITY THAT I KEEP TO GIVE TO BILL CLINTON ONE DAY. I DO DELIVER TO CHAPPAQUA IN WESTCHESTER COUNTY WHERE HE LIVES AND HAVE HEARD FROM THE FOLKS AT THE LOCAL STARBUCKS THERE, THAT HE IS A REAL SOUTHERN GENTLEMAN.
WHILE IN A MOTEL IN LITTLE ROCK I RAN IN TO A TRUCK DRIVER FROM GEORGIA WHO HAD JUST MADE A RUN WITH FURNITURE STRAIGHT THROUGH TO LITTLE ROCK. HE WAS 65 AND STILL WORKING AND FULL OF LIFE. I HAD PROMISED HIM A SELTZER BOTTLE WHEN WE GOT HOME.UNFORTUNATELY I LOST HIS ADDRESS,  SO MARSHALL DILL IF YOU READ THIS, THE OFFER STILL HOLDS AND I HOPE YOU ARE STILL WORKING.
IT'S FUNNY HOW MANY RANDOM PEOPLE WE MEET IN OUR LIVES FROM EVERWHERE WHO SOMEHOW WE NEVER FORGET.
A FEW MONTHS AGO IN BROOKLYN WHILE LOADING UP MY VAN I DISCOVERED THIS UNUSUAL YELLOW ORANGE PAINTED BOTTLE FROM MEMPHIS THAT I WAS ABOUT TO LOAD UP TO DELIVER, AND I PUT IT ASIDE. I WAS THE LAST PERSON TO DRINK THIS 70 OR 80 YEAR OLD BOTTLE AND I THINK IT IS WONDERFUL IT COULD STILL BE ACTIVE AND ALIVE AND USEFUL. AT 68 I WAKE UP EVERY DAY AND HOPE I CAN BE LIKE MARSHALL DILL AND THIS BOTTLE.
IT IS IRONIC THAT IN 1885, IN WACO TEXAS, WHICH STATE WAS ON OUR ITINERARY NEXT 11YEARS AGO, A YOUNG BROOKLYN-BORN PHARMACIST NAMED CHARLES ALDERTON INVENTED THIS SOFT DRINK KNOWN AS "DR PEPPER". AND HERE I WAS WITH ONE OF THAT COMPANIES FINEST EXAMPLES, IN THE FORM  OF A WONDERFUL SELTZER BOTTLE.
IN A FIELD OF VIBRANT BUBBLES ARE THE WORDS CHEERIO SPARKLING WATER. {WILL DO THE WORK OF A THOUSAND SPOONS}
I HAVE ANOTHER BOTTLE WITH THAT SLOGAN FROM 7-UP. I WOULD ASSUME THEY REFER TO THE CURATIVE EFFECTS OF SELTZER WHICH I CAN PERSONALLY STATE I'VE SUPPLIED  TO HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE FROM THE EARLY 1960'S ON AS  A PRETEEN WITH MY FATHER.
IT THEN GOES ON TO SAY DR. PEPPER BOTTLING CO. MEMPHIS, TENN.
I HAVE  PROVIDED TWO PHOTOS OF THIS LOVELY BOTTLE. IT HAS SOME SCRAPE MARKS ON THE SIDE. THIS DOES NOT IN ANY WAY DETRACT FROM THE BEAUTY, THE PROVENANCE OR THE OVERALL APPEAL OF THIS BOTTLE. I'M PROBABLY SLIGHTLY YOUNGER THAN THIS BOTTLE AND I HAVE SCAPES AND SIGNS OF LIVING LIFE ALL OVER THE PLACE, WHICH MEANS I LIVE LIFE.
PICTURE TWO IS A PHOTO OF ONE OF MY DISPLAYS OF BOTTLES THAT ARE ALL DR.PEPPER BOTTLES. WHEN I DID TV SHOWS AND DOCUMENTARIES THEY WERE FILMED. BUT WHEN I PROVIDED PROPS FOR TV SHOWS AND MOVIES THEY COULDN'T BE USED UNLESS THEY WERE PAID FOR THEIR USE AS ADVERTISING, BECAUSE THEY WERE CURRENT BRAND NAMES. I'D HAVE  DEAL WHEN MY RESTAURANTS WERE BUYING,  FOR THE PORTERS TO PUT EMPTY LIQUOR BOTTLES ASIDE, WHICH I SOLD TO SOAP OPERAS FOR THE SETS. WE'D HAVE TO REMOVE THE LABEL AND COMPUTER GENERATE ANOTHER LABEL THAT WAS NONACTIVE. I EVEN HAD A COMPANY WITH MY NAME OR CHILDREN OF WIFE.
THESE ARE IN FABULOUS CONDITION CONSIDERING THEIR AGE AND THAT THEY'VE BEEN USED FOR GENERATIONS. WHEN YOU DELIVER THESE BOTTLES IN WOODEN CASES OF TEN WEIGHING 70 POUNDS THEY DO GET HANDLED ROUGHLY.
AND THEY DO SHOW THEIR SIGNS OF AGE BUT THAT ONLY ADDS TO THEIR AUTHENTICITY AND DESIRABILITY..
THESE BOTTLES HAVE BEEN CLEANED THOUGHLY BY MY WIFE AND THESE ARE HER AUCTIONS.
THEY ARE MEANT FOR DISPLAY AND DECORATION..
THESE ARE VINTAGE COLLECTIBLES AND WERE IN USE TILL RECENTLY..THEY ALL HAVE A LONG AND MAGNIFIENT HISTORY OF PLEASING MANY FOR GENERATIONS. THEY ARE TIME-WORN WHICH ONLY ADDS TO THEIR AUTHENTICITY AND SENSE OF CONTINUITY WITH THE PAST FOR THOSE WHO LOOK FOR THINGS THAT ARE MEANT TO BE USED FOR A MOMENT THEN DISPOSED OF JUST AS QUICKLY.
THANK YOU.
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