The Toyman's Wife: Coca-Cola Popularity

The Coca-Cola phenomenon has been ongoing for a very long time. People started saving up old bottles, and cases, flyers, advertisements, pins, buttons and toys that have the Coca-Cola logo on them for as long as I can remember.

Sometimes you wonder what causes such a flurry of collecting in people. It's partly because that soda has been a popular drink for eons, and has a pretty long history behind it, but it has to be more than that. Let's face it, Dr. Pepper came into existence a year before Coca-Cola, and while it's still a popular drink in the US, it hasn't created the same interest in collectors that Coca Cola has (for soda histories see "The Origins of Soda"). There are many other soda brands with historical collectibles (see The Value of Vintage Soda Collectibles) , but the sheer volume of availability of the Coca-Cola collectibles seems to outweigh most other brands (also of interest to collectors will be Coca-Cola's History & Collectibles).

My personal opinion is the recognizable logo and the red colour makes it an appealing collectible to almost anyone - I've seen many kitchens and family rooms bearing a Coca-Cola theme.

Like other collectors, The Toyman has his share of Coca-Cola related items. Some are the vehicles he loves to collect, but there are others too ... a small stuffed polar bear toting a bottle of soda; a metal Santa bank with Santa drinking a Coca-Cola, several other non-truck or car items as well - a pen holder for the desk, for example.

Most of the Coca-Cola vehicles will (I think) be sold once they are gathered together out of the multitude of basement boxes. The first few I ran across I have taken pictures of (included below), but there is a lot more to photograph in the coming weeks (maybe months since at least one of the items is stored in my Christmas bin), although I think he might already have sold a few pieces that I won't get photos for.

It's just ... I hate to move the stuff from one place to another because I'm afraid I'll mess up his sorting. Even though it looks like a disorganized pile of junk to me, he seems to know what the piles mean, even if I don't.

The first little truck is a tractor trailer in a small size (like a Hot Wheels or Matchbox size) with a plastic trailer, and a metal cab. I suspect he might actually keep this one for himself. He seems to like the smaller tractor trailers, regardless of what's on them, and this one I had to pinch off a shelf in his office to sneak a fast photo of it (sorry, it's also just a cell phone photo).