Monday, March 20, 2017

Popping Open Another Mystery

A few years ago I picked up an item that has me still confused. This is it:



Now, what has me confused isn't what it is (it's a bottle opener) but what its back story could be.

Things we know...
1. It's from Denison Texas.
2. It seems to be advertising soda.
3. It's got some age to it.
4. It used to have a pen-knife attactched to it. (ok, you can't tell that by looking at it, but I'll explain later)
5. It has a patent date that I can't make out the year on.

That's about it. Let's look at what we know to discover what we don't.

Yes, it's from Denison, but from when? I don't think it's as old as it looks. By the style of shoe, it would seem to be from the early 1900's, but the "Ike's Soda Water" wouldn't make sense then. Denison's most famous son wouldn't be famous until a half century later.

And what about "Ike's Soda Water?" As far as I can find, there never was such a product. Or if there was, it was a tiny company. And by the time Ike was big, not many people would have called it "soda water." "Soda", "pop", or "cold drink" would haven all been in more common use then. And about that patent date...I'm not sure it matters. The opener could have been patented at an early date, and then made much later.

So, here is what I think...In 1973, Denison Texas had its centennial celebration. I think this could be an item produced to celebrate that event. I have seen one more, at Main Street Mall in Denison, which had a small pen knife attatched to it (I told you I would get back to that). It was in better shape and didn't seem quite so old. So, case closed!

Except that it isn't, of course. I could be completely wrong! If anybody out there can shed some light on the subject, please do.

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!


1 comment:

  1. Here's something very similar:

    http://i.ebayimg.com/images/i/401029985216-0-1/s-l1000.jpg

    ReplyDelete

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