Coca-Cola has had several “coin” series, and one major series of mostly ingots or bars. In addition to the Christmas issues there have been at least two “coin” releases over the years, with a few rounds. But the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Coca-Cola bottling plants was accompanied by a release, or more accurately, a series of releases that were of major proportions. Numerous bottling plants participated, and a different ingot or “coin” was minted for each, with some bottling plants having multiple designs. All Coca-Cola “coins” and ingots are collectible, but some more than others.
“Coins”
Why Use Quotation Marks?
The word coins is in quotation marks simply because most people refer to anything that looks like a coin as a coin. The technical term for the Coca-Cola issues is round, or perhaps medallion. A true coin must be issued by an authentic government, be recognized as currency of that government, and have a denomination. Coca-Cola does not have the authority to mint legal tender, so technically there are no Coca-Cola coins. However, most people will call the Coca-Cola rounds coins, so it may be clearer to allow this.
The rectangular Coca-Cola issues are properly referred to as ingots or as bars. And, just in case you might think the shape precludes rectangular bars from being coins there are rectangular coins out there.
An Unusual Collectible
These are collected both by coin collectors and Coca-Cola collectors.
The Seventy-Fifth Anniversary
“Coins” and Ingots (or Bars)
In i973, and running through 1988, the Coca-Cola Company had numerous silver ingots minted for its bottling plants, each bottling plant being represented in a given year. In many years several bottling plants were represented on these ingots. In a few cases, there were rounds issued.
These were probably spread out because the various bottling plants did not all start operating at the same time. It should be pointed out that the Coca-Cola Company started with fountain drinks, and did not operate bottling plants from the inception of the company.
While silver was the metal of choice for most of the ingots and rounds, in some cases bronze, gold plated bronze, silver plated with gold, silver filled, and brass were used. Honolulu used plastic in red rounds along with the bronze round and the gold plated round, and New Orleans included three different colors of anodized aluminum rounds, along with the silver round using the same design.
Most of these were minted by the World Wide Mint. The mintage figures vary, from many thousands to as low as one.
Distribution was not standardized. Some bottling plants sold these as collectibles. Some bottling plants gave these out as prizes to contests winners. Some bottling plant presented these to employees. Finally, some presented these only to plant executives.
As the process continued, the price of silver, the most widely used metal in the minting, varied, and in some years it became quite expensive.
A few silver ingots had minor changes made to the design, so there are varieties.
Occasionally, one sided ingots show up on eBay, which were probably test strikes. These go quite high.
The silver ingots are one Troy ounce of 0.999 fine silver each. They are stamped on the edge, along with the serial number. The New Orleans round is just nine tenths of an ounce of fine silver.
The only participating bottling plant that has neither a silver ingot, nor a silver round, is Honolulu.
The images on these are fantastic, and many portray the first bottling plant from the area, or another nostalgic scene of the area.
100th and 125th Anniversary Issues
Bronze Medallions
In 1988, while the 75th anniversary of the bottling plants was coming to a close, the Coca-Cola 100th anniversary bronze medallion was issued. Silver was probably not an alternative, due to the prices. The apparent discrepancy in the years is explained in that this medallion was issued in celebration of the company reaching the one hundred year milestone, while the 75th anniversary issues celebrated bottling plants reaching the seventy-fifth year milestone. Remember, Coca-Cola was a fountain drink before it was ever bottled.
I have just become aware of a 125th anniversary medallion.
Finding Information
I once looked in a Coca-Cola collectors guide, and could find nothing on the 75th anniversary set of ingots and rounds. It was clear these would appeal to both coin collectors and Coca-Cola collectors. Slowly, the pieces fell into place, and a list began to take shape, but there was always the concern that a rare one was not in the list. I saw people offer complete sets of the silver ingots for sale, and would check to see if the list had an omission. It was apparent the offering might be close to complete, but had an omission or two. Eventually, I found a book, nicely done, by Thomas A. Mock, and highly recommend it. He has much more than I am writing here, including a complete list, mintage details, date of issue, images of both sides, initial prices, and how the particular ingot or round was first released. It is obvious he did a lot of work in compiling this information. If you want to get past what is said here I recommend you find his book, if you can. It is in the second edition.
The authority on all silver bars is Archie Kidd, and apparently Archie Kidd and Thomas A. Mock worked together to number these ingots and rounds. Perhaps Archie Kidd’s book would contain information on these as well, I have not checked. But, it is known that Archie Kidd is aware of the Coca-Cola ingots.
When I search the internet, Black Spaniel Gallery articles pop up. Imagine looking for more information and finding your own articles. Not much has been written on this topic by others.
No comments:
Post a Comment