The cream of the crop: collecting painted label bottles can be a refreshing journey.

For the past thirty-seven years I have collected Mississippi painted label soft drunk bottles. I have found them at bottle shows, flea markets, antique malls, garage sales and even some in an old shed at my grandmother's house. (The Mississippi Bottle Collectors Show is held on the third Saturday in January at the State Fair Grounds in Jackson.) For the most part I have found them one at a time. Just a few weeks ago I bought a "Try-me" bottle from the Canton Beverage Company at the Canton Flea Market. The bottle dates from 1940 and is in nice condition with a brightly painted orange and black label. Finds like this one keep me excited about this hobby.

Painted label bottles date from 1934 and are known within the bottling business as Applied Color Labels or ACL. The Pepsi-Cola Company was the first to introduce the ACL bottle on a then unheard of 12-ounce bottle (twice the size of Coke), which they sold for a nickel. To help market the new colored label bottle, the company came up with a dandy new slogan with famous lyrics that are still remembered by many today:

   Pepsi-Cola hits the spot
   Twelve full ounces, that's a lot
   Twice as much for a nickel, too
   Pepsi-Cola is the drink for you.
   The new ACL's made it possible for

small town bottlers to produce their own drinks, and businessmen were quick to develop their own brand of beverages which were sold under sometimes quirky, localized or unique names.

One of my favorites is a beauty of a bottle that is believed to be a very rare Mississippi soft drink bottle called a "Moon-Glo." It was made in 1939 by the Laurens Glass Works of Laurens, South Carolina for the Barq's Beverage Company of Biloxi. It is a clear glass 12-ounce bottle, which held an Orange-Crush type of soda. Like the original Orange-Crush Moon-Glo, it contained bits and pieces of the actual orange pulp. Across the base of the neck on the back side of the bottle, in raised script, is the single word "Barq's', and below that painted in bright orange lettering is the phrase: The Mellow Orange Drink. There also is a sister bottle which dates from a few years later that is almost identical in appearance, size, etc., but is orange and white. This bottle is also extremely rare.

Noel's Cola, bottled by the Noel Bottling Works of Corinth, may very well be Mississippi's most rare picture painted label soft drink bottle. I bought this 1949 bottle from a friend about three years ago who told me that he had admired it for fifteen years before he was finally allowed to purchase it from a service station owner in Bruce. He never washed it and neither have I; consequently, it still has some dried cola residue in the bottom. This little seven fluid ounce bottle is made of light aqua green glass and is the same bottle in which the Noel Bottling Works used to bottle their nationally franchised drink Virginia Dare.

Noel's Cola was one of the few companies, out of the hundreds nationwide, to promote their bottle by picturing their product bottle on the bottle itself. In what appears to be a large bright yellow sun, a pretty young lady dressed in a collared blouse is holding the bottle for all to see. Printed above in neat block lettering, is the phrase "A REAL TREAT." The pretty lady intimated to everyone who might see or buy the product that it too was indeed a wholesome drink. The contents of this drink; listed on the back of the bottle are basically standard and somewhat vague with a twist. They are as follows: "carbonated water, sugar, citric acids, essential oils, pure flavors, tea extract and caramel." Of the many different Mississippi painted label soft drink bottles in my collection this is the only one, that lists "tea extract" as an ingredient. Only in the last few years have some soft drink companies started to add tea extract to their colas in an effort to boost sales.

The Country-Music Beverages bottle, picturing three western musicians playing stringed instruments, is a real mystery bottle that comes with a high price. The last one I saw for sale was being offered for $1,200.00. Certainly these bottles, which date from 1966, are extremely rare.

It is thought that perhaps only a dozen or so of these bottles are in existence. The bottle was made in Flowood by the Knox Glass Company. It holds ten fluid ounces and of the four or five that I have seen, all were marked on the bottom mold with number one. Apparently by the ingredients listed on the back the drinks were various fruit flavored varieties. Other information given on the back states: "Bottled under the authority of [the] Country Music Beverage Company [of] Jackson, Miss. by Hanley Bottling Works Church Point, LA. Louisiana collectors tell the story that a half a dozen of these bottles were found in a backyard shed of a home in Church Point about twelve years ago. Since then only a few more have been located, and interestingly enough, all are in very good condition--as if they were never used.

The Big League Beverages bottle is known in the collecting word as a crossover collectible in that not only are bottle collectors interested in them, but so are baseball memorabilia collectors. This unique bottle design was produced for the Centreville Bottling Works at Centreville, located near the southeast edge of Wilkinson County, and it is truly a Mississippi collectible. It is unique because different fruit-flavored drinks were mixed on location, and the bottle was made in Mississippi. The one I have dates from 1953 and was manufactured by the Knox Glass Company (1932-1968) of Flowood in Rankin County. This company employed more than 700 workers at its peak during and just after WWII, making it one of the largest manufacturers of glass containers in the South.

The green and white Magnolia Beverages bottle is what I call a sleeper. I have seen only one other, and I heard that a third one recently sold on eBay for $350. The drink was probably assorted fruit flavors such as grape, orange, and strawberry, which were bottled in Jackson by the Magnolia Bottling Company. The 10-ounce clear glass bottle is another Mississippi-made product of the Knox Glass Company. The graphics on this bottle dated 1954 features the eagle-topped dome of our state's New Capitol building as a backdrop for a magnolia in full bloom.

The last two bottles; Cotton Picker and King Cotton are in a class by themselves. They play on a theme of the Old South when cotton was the main cash crop. The King Cotton bottle dates from 1955 and was the property of the Seven-Up Bottling Company of Leland. The Cotton Picker Beverages bottle, a product of the Leland Bottling Company, is dated 1949 from mold #1 and is a 12-ounce bottle. The 11-ounce bottle, dating from 1950, is practically unheard of in the soft drink industry. In the hundreds of different Mississippi painted label soft drink bottles in my collection, this is the only one of this size. The third style of Cotton Picker bottle known is a slender 10-ounce bottle with the same field scene and data, but is painted in only one color, white--no green at all. This bottle, which is not quite as desirable to collectors as the two-color, is actually more scarce even though it is a more recent bottle. The one I have was made by Owens-Illinois at their Alton, Illinois plant in 1951. It was manufactured by mold #3 which indicates that a large number of these were made. Nevertheless, this bottle is much more difficult to find than are its green and white sister bottles.

Mississippi's early painted label soft drink bottles bring to mind a somewhat slower paced era of our state's history. Maybe some day these bottles and others like them will be placed in a museum for others to relive some pleasant memories of yesteryear.