Coca-Cola Collector Shares With Sebring Museum

SEBRING - Penny Phillippi, housing director for Highlands County, said the chorus to the Mel Tillis tune helped foster a collection of hundreds of products stamped with the familiar red and white Coca-Cola logo.

Phillippi enjoys the lyrics used in the advertisement for the restaurant "Whataburger" and a glass from the eatery has become her most prized Coca-Cola collectible.

Her collection includes 38 different sets of glasses, or 220 glasses total, all sporting the trademarked logo.

Much of Phillippi's Coke memorabilia will be displayed at the fledgling Sebring Ridge Museum, at 146 W. Center Ave., just off the Circle, on Saturday. The museum will open its doors during the 41st annual Fine Arts and Crafts Festival. The Sebring Ridge Museum's future hours of operation will vary.

Also on display will be bottles commemorating national champion football teams, the Atlanta Olympics and from the 50th anniversary of the Mobil One 12 hours of Sebring race.

Bank checks with the Coke logo, several mascot bears, and probably the oldest items in the collection, paper sleeves used to cut the condensation from glasses dating to 1932.

Phillippi said the red and white colors caught and hold her attention.

"It just pops when you notice the red and white," said Phillippi. "If I had a big kitchen it would be totally red and white and decorated with Coca-Cola.

But it's more than just colors that attracted the county worker to collect since 1990.

"Coke is such a wonderful piece of America," said Phillippi. "It started in America and it's a piece of Americana."

Although she said she dislikes carbonated drinks and doesn't drink the stuff, Phillippi prefers Coke products with a Florida connection.

She recently bought a bottle stamped with Avon Park, through E-Bay.

"I paid $15 for one little Coke bottle, and there's nothing in it, not even the cap," she said.

But it's not an expensive pursuit.

"It's a fun kind of hobby - a light-weight hobby - you don't have to invest so much money or worry about losing your shirt."

The collector searches flea markets, estate sales and often visits small town antique stores. Friends have become valuable sources.

"When somebody knows you like Coke things, you get a lot of gifts," she said.

The drinking glasses are the core of the collection and the centerpiece of the exhibit. Most of the other items are held in reserve to barter or trade with other collectors for more glasses.

Phillippi is headed south for a job with the community redevelopment agency in Immokalee. Her last work day in Highlands County is Nov. 30.

The collection was loaned to the museum as long as the curators desire to control it, but the hour drive to Sebring won't keep Phillippi from occasionally visiting her beloved glasses.