Chapter 13g
The Single-Year Bottlers
Sunspot Bottling Co. and its  Bottles
© Bill Lockhart 2000

Sun Spot Bottling Co. (1948)
     In 1948, James P. Sexton and W. D. Remy opened Sun Spot Bottling Co. at 701 West Main St.  The following year, they, too, had joined the ranks of the failed entrepreneurs.  Remy was a newcomer to El Paso, possibly connected with the main Sun Spot franchiser.  He may have been unemployed the next year but he was the sales manager for Nehi-Royal Crown under Robert Ritter until 1951.  At that point he apparently left town.  James Paul Sexton, however, had been in El Paso since at least 1937 working as superintendent for Al Randle's Seven-Up Bottling Company.  Sexton had just become plant manager in 1947 prior to leaving the company to try his luck with Sun Spot.  He is no longer listed in city directories after 1948 (EPCD 1937-1951).  It is possible (see Bottles of the One Year Bottlers section) that Sun Spot was actually in business a year earlier--in 1947.  At some point, either before or after the instigation of the Sun Spot Bottling Company, the Seven-Up Bottling Company distributed the product.  Specific dates, however, are unknown.
 Bottles

Sunspot
High Rock
     High Rock was apparently only bottled by Sun Spot during its one or two year tenure in El Paso.
S 03
Method of Manufacture:  Machine
Color:  Colorless
Size (in cm.):  24.5 (h); 6.4 (d)
Primary Labeling Style:  White and Red ACL
Finish:  Crown
Capacity: 10 oz.
Overall Bottle Design:  Cylindrical
Front Description 
Neck/Shoulder:  White ACL - Bottled Sunshine (script - horizontal)
Body:  A white-outlined red circle with, Sun/Spot, in white letters, T.M./REG. below the circle to the left, and, ©/1938, to the right
Heel:  Embossed - 571-1
Back Description 
Neck/Shoulder:  White ACL - Real/Enjoyment, in upwardly-slanted script
Body:  A white-outlined red circle with, High/Rock, and, SUN SPOT BOTTLING CO. OF EL PASO, TEX.  © 1928 below the circle
Heel:  Embossed - L-G  10 FL. OZS.
Base:  Embossed - 47
Manufacturer:  Liberty Glass Company (1946-1954)
Dating:  [1947-1948] Bottles of this type can only be assumed to have had a use-life between 1947 and 1948, the only known dates of the company's tenure in El Paso.
Collections(s):  Tom Leachman collection; author's collection.
 
     A base and body fragment of a single Sun Spot bottle were found in the trash dump at Oro Grande, New Mexico.  The fragments were badly weathered. but many details were legible.  Only some black enamel remained but a photograph of a similar bottle (Bates et al 1996a:S-34) and an out-of-state example showed orange and black ACL and overall body shape.
S 04
Method of Manufacture:  Machine (assumed)
Color:  Colorless
Size (in cm.):  19.3 (h); 6.9 (d)
Primary Labeling Style:  Orange and Black ACL
Finish:  Crown
Capacity:  12 oz.
Overall Bottle Design:  Cylindrical with sharply sloped shoulders and a short neck.  The body labeling area was bounded on top and bottom by embossed rings with vertical ribs extending from the rings to heel and shoulder.  Three more concentric rings formed the slope of the shoulder.  Non-labeling areas were stippled.
Front Description 
Neck/Shoulder:  No label
Body:  An orange disk contained the words, Sun/Spot/TRADE MARK/REG. (black ACL) surrounded by an elaborate, round-cornered, black square with stenciled designs of three leaves and a blossom in each corner.  Below the square appeared REGISTERED © 1938 SUN SPOT BEV. CO.
Back Description 
Neck/Shoulder:  Same as front
Body:  Black(?) ACL - CARBONATED BEVERAGE/FLAVOR DERIVED/ENTIRELY FROM/CITRUS FRUIT/__________/SUN SPOT/EL PASO, TEXAS/___________/ CONTENTS 12 FLU. OZS.
Base:  Embossed - G-in-a-square/1632
Manufacturer:  Glenshaw Glass Company (1932-present)
Dating:  [1947-1948] Bottles of this type can only be assumed to have had a use-life between 1947 and 1948, the only (probable) known dates of the company's tenure in El Paso.
Collections(s):  Author's collection.
Table of Contents
Chapter 13h - Lone Star Sparkling Beverages and its  Bottles