Found on the Folly - Very old soda bottle

Found this bottle on the folly on 2 September 2020.

It is 18.5 cm tall and has embossed lettering "THIS BOTTLE IS THE PROPERTY OF GOLDBERG & ZEFFERTT  LTD".  It has G & Z, the number 4 and a maker's mark embossed on the base. 

Goldberg & Zeffertt glass bottle

It also has a logo, a beautifully embossed leaping lion.

Embossed lion logo

It has G & Z, the number 4 and a maker's mark embossed on the base. 

Have you ever heard of  the name "Goldberg & Zeffert?

No not the heavy metal band of the late 1960's...you're thinking of Led Zeppelin!

I did some research ........

GOLDBERG & ZEFFERTT LTD.

the original company was known as Horwitz & Co Niagra Steam Water Works and they had the logo om a leaping lion.  In 1899 there was a name change to Goldberg & Zeffertt Ltd.

http://www.antiqueaddiction.co.za/product/hybrid-codd-hamilton/

According to the article above on the Antique Addiction website, during the early 1930's Golberg and Zeffertt was the first consessioner bottler of Coca-Cola in the Country until 1934 when Coke decided to manage their own affairs.  They can't confirm if the G & Z bottles were the first known bottles with paper labels that were used to bottle Coke ...... but they might just be!

                                            The very first Coca-Cola bottles used in the USA

cola.co.za/know-us-better/coca-cola-globally/history

I think I've found one of the very first bottles in which Coca Cola was bottled in South Africa in the 1930's, right here in the heart of Johannesburg

When I did further research I also found that there were 2 learners in the school magazine in 1942 with the surnames Goldberg and Zeffertt.

                                    

             

The Key Master

I made this for Mr Ledwaba as a retirement gift.  I tried to depict him using only 3 shards.  Some of the keys are from his private collection.  Over the span of his 50 years at Jeppe Boys he has collected a vast array of keys left behind after Jeppe functions.  He might just have a key to open any house or start every car in Johannesburg! (the persons who attempted to burgle my house last month, please ignore this post)

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1302547510137235&id=911460412579282

"The Key Master", my gift to Mr Martin Ledwaba when he retired 2021

    Mr Martin Ledwaba

 

"Find a Penny pick it up, all the day you'll have good luck", not really, but very interesting!

1942 South Africa 1 Penny George VI

This is the very fist coin that I have found on the Folly.  It's dated 1942.  It will be displayed in the museum.

I wonder who lost this penny? It's quite large.  Mr. A.H. Childe was the Headmaster in 1942.  

Click on the link below to learn more about this penny

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces3202.html

My first Jeppe History Blog

I wanted to share my love for Jeppe history by documenting my "Collard's Folly" finds.

COLLARD'S FOLLY

A paragraph from the Jeppe High School for Boys website reads,

"the rugby field bears testimony to the drive of men like Jack Collard and Vic Robson. Many Old Boys of that era proudly recall the “hard labour” and “Collard specials” of P.T. periods. The Municipal refuse was dumped on the sloping east of the “B” rugby field, and by 1950 this was covered by grass. It was, however, too small for games purposes and it became known as “Collard’s Folly’'. Below, on the present “C” field, six matting wickets and two concrete pitches were made for nets." 

https://www.jeppeboys.co.za/about-us/history/mr-a-j-grant-1943-1962/

Mr Collard might not have created a pitch but instead the "Folly" became a time-capsule that preserved Jeppe life for over 130 years and shows how the school was at the heart of an emerging Johannesburg and how the learners and parents link back to the school in interesting ways.  

This is where I find my "treasures".  I do not dig for them, according to me, they reveal themselves only when they want to be found - after a rainstorm or on a particularly windy day. I collect antique and vintage glass bottles, porcelain shards and other interesting objects.  Judy le Grange the curator of the Jeppe High School for Boys museum has kindly made some space in the museum to house some of the found objects.  

I rescue them, because ultimately, they are raked up, disposed of, and are then lost forever! I can walk the same route every day and not see anything but find something the following day.

 Some might call what I do a form of "mud larking", but I am actually "folly larking"!

 I hope that you find this as interesting as I do!