{"product_id":"vintage-1960s-coach-four-black-raspberry-soda-label-philadelphia-pa","title":"Vintage 1960s Coach and Four Black Raspberry Soda Label 🐎 from Philadelphia, PA","description":"\u003ch2\u003eRemember Black Raspberry Soda? 🐎 Vintage 1960s Coach and Four Soda Label, Philadelphia, PA\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 3 1\/2\" x 2 1\/2\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SWczWGJPstU\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBlack raspberry is one of those flavors you just don't see on a soda label much anymore, which is part of why I like this one so much. Add that little stagecoach and the colors, and it's a great Philadelphia label with a real story behind it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🐎 What's on it\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCOACH AND FOUR\u003c\/strong\u003e over a black silhouette of a coachman and four horses, then \u003cstrong\u003eBlack Raspberry SODA\u003c\/strong\u003e, and the fine print, word for word: \u003cem\u003e\"Artificially colored, preserved with sodium benzoate, caramel color added.\"\u003c\/em\u003e Along the foot: \u003cem\u003e\"Bottled under authority of Coach and Four Products Co., Phila., Pa. 19140.\"\u003c\/em\u003e The back is plain paper.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e👬 The people behind the stagecoach\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe name COACH AND FOUR went on soft drinks for the first time on \u003cstrong\u003eJune 26, 1956\u003c\/strong\u003e. \u003cstrong\u003eSheffield Bottling Co.\u003c\/strong\u003e, a Philadelphia partnership doing business as \"Coach 'N Four Products Co.,\" registered it with the U.S. Patent Office on \u003cstrong\u003eJanuary 29, 1957\u003c\/strong\u003e, trademark No. 640,759, for \"maltless soft drinks and carbonated waters.\" \u003cstrong\u003eHarry Labovitz\u003c\/strong\u003e signed for it as a partner.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn \u003cstrong\u003eJuly 11, 1969\u003c\/strong\u003e Sheffield passed the name and its goodwill to \u003cstrong\u003eCoach and Four Products Company\u003c\/strong\u003e, a partnership of \u003cstrong\u003eHarry Labovitz and Arthur Labovitz\u003c\/strong\u003e on North 6th Street in North Philadelphia, ZIP 19140, the same ZIP printed on this label. The trademark was renewed in 1977 and lapsed in 1997. Along the way the line ran to ginger ale, ginger beer, tonic water, bitter lemon, club soda, sarsaparilla and this black raspberry.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Bottled under authority of\" means the company owned the brand and the flavors while the bottles were filled under its label.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e📅 How old is it?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe ZIP code dates it. Five-digit ZIPs began on \u003cstrong\u003eJuly 1, 1963\u003c\/strong\u003e, so this label can't be older than that, and the company name on it matches the Labovitz partnership of 1969. Late 1960s into the 1970s.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🫐 Black raspberries\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe black raspberry is an all-American berry. It grows wild across eastern North America, from New Brunswick out to Nebraska, and it goes by other names too: black caps, scotch caps, even bear's eye blackberry. It's the fruit in France's Chambord liqueur and Korea's bokbunja wine, and it's packed with the deep purple anthocyanins that make it a natural food dye. Today the center of black raspberry growing is Oregon's Willamette Valley, where the berries are tipped by hand in summer and machine-picked, which keeps yields low and prices high.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo a black raspberry soda that owns up to being \"artificially colored\" on the label is a little bit funny to me. The real berry is about the best natural coloring there is!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🥤 Philadelphia's dark fruit sodas\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePhiladelphia has its own soda legends, and one of the best known is a dark fruit soda: Frank's Black Cherry Wishniak, from the company Jacob Frank started in 1885 selling lemon soda on the city's streets. Coach and Four's black raspberry comes out of that same Philadelphia tradition of small local bottlers making their own flavors.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🎨 A coach and four\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA coach and four is a carriage pulled by four horses, all driven four-in-hand by one driver. Philadelphia's own famous one hangs in the Philadelphia Museum of Art: Thomas Eakins's \u003cem\u003eThe Fairman Rogers Four-in-Hand\u003c\/em\u003e (1879 to 1880), with the horses posed from Eadweard Muybridge's 1878 photographs of horses in motion.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🏡 Display\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrame it in a kitchen, a bar or a game room, or collect all the Coach and Four flavors and hang them as a set. Black raspberry is the odd one out in that lineup, which is exactly why I like it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1960s-1970s-coach-four-sarsaparilla-label-philadelphia-pa\"\u003eVintage 1960s-70s Philadelphia Coach and Four 🐎 Sarsaparilla Soda Label\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1960s-1970s-coach-and-four-soda-labels-set-of-7-philadelphia\"\u003eVintage Combo Coach and Four Soda Labels 🐎 from 1960s-70s\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-coach-four-bitter-lemon-soda-beverage-label-philadelphia-pa\"\u003eVintage 1960s Coach and Four Bitter Lemon 🍋 Soda Label — Stagecoach Silhouette, Philadelphia PA\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42053191074024,"sku":"VAG-7446893232360","price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.3466082070_s6pi.jpg?v=1785956403","url":"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1960s-coach-four-black-raspberry-soda-label-philadelphia-pa","provider":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","version":"1.0","type":"link"}