Photo of the Week
November 14, 1999


Here is a Paraiso Coca Cola Bottle that I have in my collection.  George Chevalier made mention of the Paraiso Coca Cola Bottling in an e-mail last week and thought this would be an interesting image for this week.

A little history lesson : The Coca Cola Bottling Company , Paraiso, Canal Zone.  

In January 1912 five young me from the U.S. pooled all their savings to buy the Paraiso Springs Carbonating Works from W. N. Seitz.  The plant consisted of a small had power plant located at Paraiso Springs in a two story wooden building.  The paid $6,000 for their new business and then acquired the right to Coca Cola and Hires Root Beer and started operations.  In January of 1914 they were notified by the Panama Canal that they that they would have to move from the Canal Zone, which they did in March of 1914.  The Coca Cola Company still exists in Panama today. "World Wide Bottles" by Grace Lawrence and Gretchen Teal.

Below is a close-up view of the bottle's bottom edge.  It is embossed "The Panama Coca-Cola Bottle Co. Paraiso, C.Z.  The standard Coca Cola signature and registered trade mark are embossed on and just below the shoulder of the bottle.  The bottle is made of thick aqua colored glass and is 7 3/4" tall x 2 1/4" in diameter.  The Coca Cola signature is embossed on the under side of the base. I don't know where the bottle was made, but it was very early machine made.  Note the bubbles in the glass.  This is truly a very desirable bottle for a Canal Zone Bottle collector and Coca Cola collector.  I have another early Panama Coca Cola that was probably used after the company moved to Panama City.  This bottle will be showed in the future CZ Images Bottle Collection section.


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