Pepsi Olympic Items

OK fellow collectors – the Olympics are over, but the hunt for collectibles is just beginning. Although Pepsi Olympic items are not as common as Coke items, there are some out there, most of them from other countries. Here are a few that you might come across. The 1964 Tokyo Olympics seems to have generated quite a few foreign Pepsi Pieces. One is a paper restaurant placemat from Japan. It is from one of the refreshment pavilions that obviously served Pepsi. There is a colorful Pepsi crown, as well as the Olympic circles, and a map of the Olympic village. From Australia, also from 1964, is a board game sponsored by Pepsi. There is a graphic cardboard game board and plastic game pieces that represent ten of the Olympic sports. Each of these figures says “Drink Pepsi-Cola” on the base. The box clearly mentions the Olympics and Pepsi (Mirinda, is an orange drink Pepsi makes outside the US). This game must also have been produced in Mexico or South America. The figures from these games say “Pida Pepsi-Cola” on the bottom. Figures can be found in both off-white and silver-gray plastic, I also recently saw one on eBay in a gold-like color. Another great piece from Australia for the 1964 Games is a Souvenir Album for collecting the special Pepsi product crowns showing different Olympic events. The album folds open, provides some background on the Olympic games, and for each sport there is a hole to display the corresponding crown. Beneath each is an explanation of the sport. The piece also provides information about Australian gold medal successes at the 1960 Rome games. There are 33 crowns, 32 with sports figures and one with the Olympic torch. Several American Pepsi/Olympic items can also be found. One is from the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. It is a pin with Sam the Eagle over a Pepsi logo. Another great American piece is a brass paperweight shaped like the United States with the Olympic circles and the Pepsi bookend logo. The 1972 Munich Olympics produced a unique glass with the Pepsi bookend logo on one side and the Olympic rings on the other. An undated rectangular Pepsi Olympic pin with colorful Olympic circles is also a nice find. A Pepsi item from the 2008 Beijing Olympics is a Pepsi can from China. It is quite graphic with pictures of the Chinese people and sports competitors. Hopefully there are others out there – just keep searching! USA Paperweight Olympics

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110th Pepsi Birthday Bash Picnic

PCCC members and family members as well as a few local New Bern residents descended on Fort Totten Park in New Bern on Saturday, July 26, 2008 to celebrate Pepsi’s 110th birthday in style. Those dedicated club members who attended covered a lot of territory: Florida, Georgia, New York, Ohio, North Carolina and Missouri. The night before the picnic four of us met for dinner at the Chelsea. Saturday we began by visiting the Pepsi Store in downtown New Bern. Limited edition 110th Birthday Bash caps, and Beach Club Pepsi key rings were presented to all. After several Pepsi’s at the fountain and many purchases were made, the group took off for the antique store that used to be right in downtown. Sharp eyes came up with a few treasures to tote back home! By noon we were set up under the pavilion. A giant banner proclaiming Pepsi’s 110th Birthday was hung from the beams and we watched as our chef served up the hot dogs and hamburgers. Pepsi flowed like, well, Pepsi. We all brought some of our favorite Pepsi items or pictures to share at ‘Show and Tell.’ The most significant item was the giant Pepsi Yoda action figure that drove all the way from Georgia. Yoda brought more people to our picnic than anything else. Other items for Show and Tell included photos of a Pepsi guest room – there’s so much in there, there is no room for actual guests! The walls, bed and tables were cleverly filled with a variety of signs and other novelties. Other interesting items included old embossed Pepsi bottles, a pressed cardboard Canadian domino set from WWII era, ads from a variety of programs ranging from the 1930’s to today, tokens, labels, and a great old wooden bottle crate with the divider slats still in it. An ad in the local paper to encourage local collectors to join us was very successful (at least in bringing out people with Pepsi things to sell). It seems a lot of people in New Bern dig bottles and several of them stopped by to show them off and to see if we were interested in buying any of them. One man had a wonderful ’drape’ bottle and a small Bradham’s drugstore bottle that he dug up. He also had a great syrup can from 1960 that we quickly bought – it was in beautiful condition and a very reasonable price. Another ‘local’ stopped by with a truck full of items he had found in a house he was renovating. According to the description of the house he had from a realtor flyer, the house was owned at one time by Pepsi-Cola and was used to provide lodging for people who came into town on business with Pepsi. He had some super items including the 10 gallon red white and blue syrup drum with the double dot crown; 3 old printer’s pieces; a double dot syrup can cover; the John Smith-Pocahontas watch fob; a beautiful heavy plastic double dot faux leaded glass lamp shade; a couple of late 40’s bottles; and 2 cardboard trolley signs from the early 60’s. He too was enthralled with Yoda – and in the end, traded all his goodies for him! We had a great time and considered our 110th Birthday Bash a success. We all agreed that it was time to get something going on the East Coast again. So keep checking for more fun events for Pepsi collectors.