A Lot of the Real Thing
The Coca-Cola memorabilia Stephen
Allan Rich ’ 64 has been collecting since
the 1960s has turned his Franklin Street
house into a mini-museum of sorts. Now
the collection is headed for exhibition at
a real cultural institution.
Coca-Cola Memorabilia Exhibit
UNC Center for the Study
of the American South
410 E. Franklin St., Chapel Hill
Sept. 1 – Dec. 31
Opening reception Sept. 22,
5:30–7: 30 p.m.
See for Yourself
PHOTOS BY SUSAN SIMONE
business,” Rich says, “I would go and check on the marketing
floor to see what they were throwing away.” One day, Rich
drove home with a life-size cutout of Michael Jordan ’ 86
holding a Coke hanging off the back of his convertible.
Rich also worked at the San Francisco bottling plant,
where he picked up bottles with the embossed writing used
before the painted white logo. He held onto commemora-
tives, including prototype bottles for the 1980 Olympics,
never sold because the U.S. boycotted the games. He has
bottles with and without the real Coke inside; Tab, Coke
and Fanta cans; bottle caps with cork inside; and Coca-
Cola coolers, ink blotters, puzzles, pins and trays. He owns
a Coca-Cola red rug from China, the product of a barter
arrangement before the opening of trade relations. And
graphics. “Hadden Sundblom created the look in the
The latest addition is a bottle Rich
found at the Raleigh Flea Market. It is
marked with U.S. Patent Dec. 25,
1923, the only patent ever issued on
Christmas. “The guy wanted $4,”
Rich says with a laugh, “but I gave
him $3.”
— Susan Simone
Stephen Allan Rich ’ 64 already was
collecting Coca-Cola memorabilia,
but after he got a job with the company, he was able to really stock
up, including a cardboard cutout of
Michael Jordan ’ 86 holding a Coke.
