By Jay Carroll
Staff Writer
On a warm summer day, in Fayetteville, Ark., John Crook started a collection of bottles that he would hang on to for a very long time.
Crook, now a Coppell High School counselor, has a large collection of bottles that he collected in Arkansas.
“I was about 18 years old, when my friend, Steve Friend, and I cleaned out an old Coca-Cola bottling warehouse and it was filled with old pop bottles,” Crook said.
Friend was Crook’s best man at his wedding, but they have not talked in about 15 years.
He has four cases of 24 bottles which adds up to a total of 96 bottles that are stored up in his house, all from which he collected at the Coca-Cola bottling. His collection is very impressive, and he even has one of the first Coca-Cola bottles ever made, along with many other sodas, which include Dr Pepper, Nu Grape, Coca-Cola and more.
Crook has stored his collection in the same wooden case since he discovered the bottles in the warehouse.
Nu Grape is a old grape soda similar to a Fanta drink today. However, Nu Grape is no longer being bottled.
“Nu Grape was my favorite drink growing up,” Crook said “It was the best grape taste around, and that is why my Nu Grape bottles are my favorite bottles.”
Crook has never collected or bought any other old bottles since that summer day in Arkansas.
“It was a one-time summer thing, my friend got a job to clean out a warehouse and got me to help him out,” Crook said. “When we would come across a cool pop bottle we would put it to the side and kept them all at the end.”
Crook has moved the bottles to about four to five different houses, and each time the bottles have been either in the basement or below the floorboards because his wife will not allow him to have the bottles inside.
“They have remained in the basements below the house because I don’t think it would go very well with the décor,” John’s wife, Terri Crook, said. “They are kind of dusty and dirty.”
These bottles are not very close to his CHS office; they are still in Little Rock, Ark. Almost every weekend, he and his wife travel to their home in Little Rock.
Crook is saving the bottles soone day he can maybe sell them and get some money off of them. There are currently many bottles of Nu Grape (which Crook has 7) that are being sold on eBay ranging from $8-$25. If he were to sell all seven of those bottles at that price, his profit could range from $56-$175.
Old Dr Pepper bottles are being sold from $5-$15, and old Coca-Cola bottles are being sold from $4-$24, according to eBay.
Even though the bottles are going for a decent amount of money, John’s wife will not help sell or even touch the bottles until they are worth more.
“I won’t touch them until they are worth $1,500, then I will help him sell the bottles,” Terri said.
While the bottles are selling for a good amount of money, they are not selling for enough money for John to accomplish his goal of retiring in a nice house somewhere.
“I am hoping to sell all the bottles to help with my retirement, so I can retire on a Riviera somewhere,” John said.
