From spoons to vending machines, check out this Gatineau's man Coca-Cola collection
Many enjoy the taste, while others collect everything with the famous Coca-Cola logo on it.
Claude of Gatineau, Que. says he’s one of thousands in Canada who collect Coca-Cola items.
“You know, it's a really iconic brand. You could collect Pepsi or 7Up, but there's a really big group of Coca-Cola collectors in the U.S. and Canada, and I'm in touch with a bunch of them."
Claude's collection has just about everything you could think of – signs, glasses, clocks, lamps, chairs, to bigger items like a functioning vending machine from 1956, which he purchased from someone in Ottawa.
- Sign up now for daily CTV News Ottawa newsletters
- The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App
His kitchen and dining area is filled with red, and the famous logos everywhere. He estimates there are about 180 items in the collection.
One of his prized items is a more than 125-year-old syrup dispenser, “that they gave to high volume Coke distributors, soda fountains and pharmacies."
"This is from 1896, and it was like a showpiece to put on their counter that they had to sell 100 gallons a year in order to be given this syrup dispenser,” he tells CTV News Ottawa.
Claude even showed an unopened bottle of Coca-Cola from 1905, as well as other original bottles. There is even a Coca-Cola cuckoo clock, which has a small bottle that pops out.
Claude says the collection all started a decade ago with a straw holder, while battling with his health.
“I was diagnosed with throat cancer, and it was stage four, so it was really serious. And I went through a year of battling it and it was tough. I mean, it was really hard. And after I came out of it slowly, like I said, I don't know, I just was killing time, going online, looking at things.”
He purchased the straw holder on E-Bay, and “I just started collecting little bits and pieces," he says.
While he says he’s not buying anymore items as of now, he’s always browsing. He does drink the occasional Coke, but says he prefers drinking Diet Coke. Just don’t offer him a Pepsi, “no, no, I’m Coke all the way.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than half of human trafficking incidents in Canada remain unsolved
More than half of human trafficking incidents remained unsolved in Canada by police as the number of incidents increased over the past decade, according to new data released Friday.
Human remains found in Markham, Ont. in 1980 belonged to prison escapee: police
More than 44 years after human remains were found in a rural area of Markham, Ont., police are revealing that the deceased was an inmate who had escaped prison just a month before his body was found.
WATCH 'It's mind-boggling': Drought reveals U.S. town submerged in the 1940s
Hundreds of people are flocking to see a rare site in Pennsylvania: remnants of a historic town that is usually underwater.
Manitoba RCMP identify infant human remains, asking public for help with investigation
Manitoba RCMP are looking for more information after the remains of an infant were identified.
Those typing monkeys will never produce Shakespeare's works, mathematicians say
Talented though they may be, monkeys will never type out the complete works of William Shakespeare, or even a short book, a new study suggests.
Auto theft probe leads to arrest of 59 suspects, recovery of more than 300 stolen vehicles: Toronto police
Toronto police say 59 suspects are facing a total of 300 charges in connection with an auto theft and re-vinning probe.
'I couldn't stay home': Canadian with no prior military training joins Ukrainian forces
In the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Adam Oake, a Canadian with no prior military training, sold all of his Toronto Maple Leafs memorabilia to buy a plane ticket.
Children's doctors reporting unusual increase in walking pneumonia cases in Canada
Children's hospitals across the country are seeing an unusual increase in the number of serious and more complicated cases of walking pneumonia affecting much younger patients, according to medical experts.
Video falsely depicting voter fraud in Georgia linked to 'Russian influence actors,' U.S. officials say
A video that purports to show election fraud in Georgia by a man who claims to be from Haiti is fake and the work of "Russian influence actors," U.S. intelligence officials said Friday.