Last week I found an eBay auction for a small glass tray commemorating the 1963 San Diego Chargers. I had never seen it before, and at the end of the week, was fortunate to be the winning bidder.
I sent an email to the seller thanking him for the auction, and asking what information he might be able to give me about the tray. His response was quick, but did not have an in-depth history on the piece.
Hi Todd.
Thank for bidding. The tray went out priority mail yesterday afternoon.
I used to work in the advertising specialty business many, many years ago and I got that tray from one of my vendors. That’s really all I know. I don’t know how many they made but in the many years I have looked, I have yet to even find a picture of one online. Thank again
Bob
I received the tray in the mail yesterday. I took a couple of photos, and sent them off to a couple of Chargers & Coca-Cola collectors that I found online. One gave me info about the possible period that the tray was issued (Christmas, 1964 – which I had already figured), but not much else. I have yet to hear back from the other collector.
So I am reaching out to Tales from the AFL readers, hoping that someone will either have some info for me, or perhaps, have connections to Coke collectors. As I said, the tray is small (3.5″ x 8″), and shows absolutely no manufacturers markings. As I, nor the other collectors that I know, have never seen one before, they must be rare. Perhaps this could even be a salesman’s sample that was never actually distributed on a large scale? Anyway, whatever information you all might produce will get me further along this path than I already am. Thanks!!
Glad to see words “World Champions” was on Coca Cola tray.
(A Chicago Bears tray was probably made by Pepsi)
LOL, that’s a good one 🙂
I don’t know anything about the piece, Todd, but what a STEAL! As a Buffalo Bills collector, if that piece was a 1964 or 1965 Bills AFL Champions piece, it would have gone for much, much more. Congrats on a GREAT eBay win!
Buffalo Mike
Todd; I read your emails every day. I was always a big fan of the AFL. I’ve always wondered: Did the AFL consider putting a football team in Chicago before the merger?
I believe that Chicago was in a few discussions, but never really looked at seriously. George Halas was there with the Bears, and he was about as staunch an AFL detractor as there was. With his ties to local government, etc., it would have been very hard to get an AFL team up and running there.
I dont have any info on that piece but as someone who has bought and sold much memorabila over the years it seems like you hit on something pretty rare. Well worth the price.
Hey Todd. I contacted the guy I know who oversees the collection at Coca-Cola. Here is his response: That tray is one that would have been locally produced by the San Diego bottler under an agreement with the Chargers. Those types of items are harder to give a value to because while fewer of them would have been produced than if done as part of a nationwide campaign, they are generally only collectible to a local audience.
I love it, great item.’
Hey Marty, thanks for the input! I’m starting to overcome my minor concern that it was a newer “throwback” type of piece. I still wish there were marking from the company that actually made it, but either way, I’m happy to have it!
Buffalo Bob said it well: “What a STEAL!”
In the early 60’s Coke had a Bottle caps with each Charger and coaches on them,collect all of them …glue them to the paper that coke supplied and get your choice of Bobble heads,pennants ,hats …As a Young Kid and huge fan I spent my free time riding around San Diego on my Sting ray bike trying to get the caps out of the coke machines( I used a magnet and bent hanger)…Then I rode to the Coke Factory that was located on El Cajon Blvd at the time…The Front windows showed workers and coke being filled into the bottles…Then I rode around back happened to check their trash cans…and I was shocked to see that it was filled with these papers with all the caps on them…I grabbed maybe 10-15 of them and rode home…dropped them off…then back to the dumpster for more…but this time I had a big Duffle bag to load them into…LOL..I spent the next few days gluing them on the paper…needless to say I got alot of free Charger Gear…I played pop warner football for Balboa Pop Warner, we practiced next to San Diego HS and Balboa Stadium …I gave alot of the Charger Caps to my Teammates ..BTW the 60’s Chargers had a Jr Chargers Club ,You joined for 1$ and they gave you a tee shirt,pennant and membership card…the membership card got you into the game for free…Another thing about Balboa Stadium…if you walked around under balboa stadium( the Freeway side), there were openings were dirt separated and you would find openings in the cement… slightly larger than man hole size openings… that you could crawl thru and be inside the stadium …My Pop Warner buddies and I used to crawl thru and watch the marines play football after our practice…I crawled thru for the 1963 Championship game and for the Beatles Concert
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