Chapter 250: Coke Culture
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
After appraising their first vending machine, Hans and Li Du loaded the machine to the Iron Knight.
At the same time, Godzilla was moving the second vending machine over for their appraisal.
Chink! Chink! sounds were heard coming from the machine as Godzilla moved it. Hans immediately concluded that it was the sound of glass bottles inside the machine.
"There’s still Coke inside?" he asked, surprised. "A pity there’s no power point in the unit, or we could power it and drink them in an hour."
Godzilla moved the machine in a more cautious manner. Hans had wanted to remove the Coke bottles to prevent them from breaking, but they had no keys to the machine.
Godzilla rubbed his hands and said, "I can break it open."
Hans shook his head rapidly. "F*ck, this machine is an original—if broken, the value will drop sharply!"
"How about dismantling it?" Li Du handed Hans the wrench.
Hans took out some coins from his pocket. "We’re so silly—we can just use some coins, right?"
They switched on the machine using the power supply from the Iron Knight. The two green lights on the vending machine lit up.
Hans gave a cheer of joy. "Alright! It can still be used!"
He inserted the coin into the machine. Clink! Clink! They heard sounds like a metal chain turning; a few seconds after, another light shined, and a green glass bottle rolled out.
Li Du picked up the glass bottle and laughed, "There’s no more Coke, just empty bottles. Hmm, this bottle doesn’t look the usual Coca-Cola bottles."
The glass bottle in Li’s hand looked cylinder-like, with a short neck. There were no curves on the body, which was very different from the classic Coca-Cola bottles.
But if one looked closely, it was embossed with the word "Coca-Cola," which meant it was a product of the Coca-Cola Company.
Li Du asked, "This is a Coca-Cola bottle, right? Is it some limited edition?"
Hans paused for a while when he saw the bottle. He took it from Li’s hands and looked closely at it and said, "No, after the year 1916, Coca-Cola changed to their classic glass bottles—the symbol of their brand."
Li Du knew this fact about the Coca-Cola bottles and started telling Hans what else he knew:
The change to using glass bottles was a milestone event in the history of Coca-Cola. They were beautifully shaped, recyclable, and the bottle caps were collectibles.
The shape of their glass bottle took the world by storm, and other beverage makers started imitating their bottle design.
Hans shook his head after hearing that and said, "Well, all that was after they had made several revisions to their primary design in 1915. Of course, the revisions made were all minor ones."
Li Du said, "Yes—I heard the designer of the bottle was inspired by his girlfriend’s curves when he saw her wearing a pair of tight-fitting pants?"
The Coca-Cola bottle was also called the "contour bottle" as it was similar to a woman’s upper body shape: the neck of the bottle was like a woman’s neck, the raised area was like a woman’s chest, followed by a curve to represent a woman’s slender waist, and lastly a woman’s hips, which looked like the bottom of the bottle as it was raised again.
Hans shook his head and disagreed. "Nope, that’s not true. In reality, there was a historical reason behind it."
He raised the glass bottle and said, "The original old bottle of Coca-Cola—which was around more than a century ago—looked the same as the one I’m holding right now.
"At that time, hawkers could only distinguish between different drinks by their labels. Coca-Cola was often sold together with other drinks, in barrels of ice-cold water that would often cause the labels to peel off.
"Imagine this: all the bottles looked and felt the same, and if you made several attempts grabbing from the ice water, trying to find the drink you wanted, it could be a pretty bad experience."
Li Du thought for a while and laughed, "Yeah I agree. Their labels got peeled off in the water, so it was hard to distinguish one from another unless you take the bottle out to look at the bottle cap."
Hans said, "Therefore, Coca-Cola wanted a bottle that was so distinct you could recognize it even when you felt it in the dark or lying broken on the ground.
"And so they organized a competition. The winner was Root Glass Company. They started their design by browsing a lot of images, and finally they saw in the library a picture of a cocoa bean, which had an elongated shape and distinct ribs, as an inspiration to design their bottle.
"So, now you see, their signature design had nothing to do with women. And, at the same time, the new Coke bottle was easier to grip too.
"Glass bottles are already smooth to begin with, and when placed in water, they get slippery. But the Coke bottle did not have this problem due to its design."
Li Du said, "I see. You really know a lot, buddy."
Hans shrugged. "Many Americans know about this. Coca-Cola has become a part of our culture. The word ‘Okay’ is the most commonly known English word used around the world, and the second is ‘Coca-Cola.’"
Li Du disagreed. "Impossible! I don’t want to doubt you, but Coca-Cola isn’t so widely known."
Hans challenged, "Okay, why don’t you tell me which English words are more popular than Coca-Cola in the world?"
Mr. Li started to give a list of words. "Too many: there’s ‘Hi,’‘Bye,’‘Hello,’‘Yes,’‘No…’"
Hans interrupted, "Okay okay, you’re right, but that’s not the point. Anyway, this Coke bottle should be valuable."
Li Du asked, "From what you’ve said, these bottles should have been made before 1915. Do you think there will be collectors for them?"
"Hmm, they could have been made even before 1915," Hans replied. "Let’s search on the internet. I’m not familiar with the history of such bottles."
The duo started researching using their mobile phones. The 2G network was slow, but the signal was good, and the search managed to return some results.
Hans looked at his mobile phone and said, "I love smartphones—technology has changed our way of life, ha!"
Li nodded, "Yeah, it will be a world of smartphones."
From the results, the earliest Coke bottle was the Hutchinson blob-top bottle, which appeared on March 12th, 1894. In 1900, Coca-Cola adopted the straight-sided crown bottle, which had a longer neck and a slightly taller, slimmer body.
The bottle was called the Georgia Green Bottle because it originated in Atlanta, Georgia.
Hans went on to search for its value, but the results were still slowly loading. "Keep inserting coins to see how many bottles are in there."
Clink! Clink! Li Du inserted a coin and another bottle rolled out. However, this time a different bottle rolled out. They saw a picture of Santa Claus embossed on it!