Straight-Sided Coke Bottle

Q: I found an old glass bottle about the size of a regular Coke bottle but with straight sides. The bottom of the bottle is embossed “Coca-Cola Bottling Co., Terre Haute, Ind.” The side of the bottle is embossed “Coffey and Souders, Terre Haute, Ind.” How old is the bottle and is it worth anything?

A: Your Coke bottle is about 100 years old. Edgar Coffey and Elmer Souders of Terre Haute purchased franchise rights to bottle Coke in 1904 and incorporated the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Terre Haute in 1908. The company, still in business, bottled Coke for local consumers until the late 1980s. Straight-sided glass bottles were used by Coke bottlers from about 1903 to 1916-17, when the now-standard Coca-Cola bottle was introduced. That bottle design was the brainchild of another Terre Haute man, Chapman J. Root. Your bottle would probably sell for about $30.