An Interview With Coca-Cola Historian and Archivist Phil Mooney
On Coca-Cola collectibles:
Coca-Cola 1943
In late 1960s, early 1970s, we started to see a boom in collectibles. Maybe it was because during the 1960s there had been a lot of social upheaval in the United States, so perhaps these images of a simpler time appealed to people in a special way. That was also the period when we started to see the emergence of clubs that were formed just to collect Coca-Cola memorabilia.
There are two categories: vintage Coca-Cola collectibles and more recent items. The vintage pieces are difficult for young collectors and new collectors on a budget because they tend to be pricey. It’s a lot easier to get into collecting bottles or cans or pins because they tend not to be expensive. You can develop a pretty nice collection without spending a lot of money.
The vintage stuff is out there, but it’s not cheap. We see pieces every time we go to one of these collectibles meetings. There’s always an auction, and it’s almost always vintage stuff that’s being sold.
People are comfortable with Coca-Cola memorabilia. It brings back memories. It may remind them of a simpler time in our history. There are all-American girls on the trays and calendars, suggesting a more innocent age, if you will. That’s kind of the appeal of the product: Coke is a brand that people associate with happy times—a birthday, a football game, the prom, graduation. It’s a product that people have around when they are with friends and family.
I think that that’s what makes Coke so comfortable for people. It’s like an old friend. So if you collect this stuff and you put it in your rec room or you put it in your living room, every time you walk into that room, you probably smile a little bit because it seems like you’re rekindling something that you once had as a part of your life.
On the scope of Coke memorabilia:The thing I’ve learned is nobody can collect it all. There’s just way too much of it. The company produced these things in such quantity for such a long period of time… it really is staggering. I am totally convinced that there will never be anybody who’ll have the definitive collection of Coca-Cola memorabilia. I don’t think it can be done. And I think that that’s one of the things that impresses me the most.
We’re a company that sells our products in 200 countries around the world. Wherever you go, if you’re on vacation or on a business trip, Coca-Cola is there. That adds a whole other collectible element. It might be a bottle, can, pin, or cool sign rendered in a Cyrillic alphabet or an Arabic script—maybe you can’t read the words but you know it says Coca-Cola because of the way it appears on the object.
This Coca-Cola tin sign makes a great gift.
Tags: authenic reproduction sign, coca cola tin sign, reproduction cocoa cola sign, Soda Pop Tin Signs