Owners of the Schmidt Museum of Coca-Cola Memorabilia in Elizabethtown have decided to disperse the collection of more than 80,000 items, which is estimated to be worth as much as $10 million.
“The response has been overwhelming. We’re just telling collectors to get signed up for updates and notices about the auctions,” said Larry Schmidt, who represents the fourth generation of the Schmidt family to be active in the Coca-Cola bottling business. He has been involved in the museum since its founding in 1977 and was president of the family owned Coca-Cola franchise in the 1990s.
Unlike his parents who assembled the Coca-Cola collection, Larry Schmidt said he is not a collector and will hold nothing back.
“Everything will be sold,” he said. “It’s a premier collection.”
“A big portion of our life has gone into collecting these wonderful, artistic pieces,” said Jan Schmidt, who, along with her late husband Bill, started the collection in 1972 when they went to an antique advertising show in Indianapolis and came home with a carload of vintage Coca-Cola memorabilia.
“That was the 1970s at the start of the Coca-Cola advertising craze. At that first show there was a huge amount of marvelous things at low prices,” said Larry Schmidt.
The Schmidt collection consists of one-of-a-kind posters, rare serving trays, early bottles, lighted signs, advertising clocks, antique delivery trucks, even the side of a barn emblazoned with “Drink Coca-Cola in Bottles.”
“With 80,000 items it will be necessary to sell some things in larger lots, but we don’t want to do anything that will harm the value. We want to sell the collection in a slow, controlled fashion that will protect the market and collectors,” said Schmidt.
“This collection is the best of the best,” said Allan Petretti, author of Petretti’s Coca-Cola Collectibles Price Guide, who is appraising the collection and helping the family market it. “The Schmidts defined collecting. The depth and breadth of their collection is beyond incredible. They have the rarest of rare pieces. They have things from every era and from every category. You name it, and they have it,” said Petretti.
Richard Opfer Auctioneering Inc., Timonium, Md., will conduct the auctions, which will be held on-site at the museum at 100 Buffalo Creek Drive in Elizabethtown, 50 miles south of Louisville.
The museum has been closed to catalog the items and prepare for the sales.
Items of greatest interest will be sold at the live auctions. Many items with lower value will be sold through the museum’s website beginning in mid-June, said Schmidt.
Coca-Cola runs deep in the Schmidt family heritage. In 1901, Frederick Schmidt became only the fifth Coca-Cola bottler in the nation when he opened a plant in Louisville, Ky. In 1920, the franchise, which covered much of Kentucky and parts of Southern Indiana, was split into three areas with Luke Schmidt, Bill’s father, taking over the Elizabethtown operations. Larry Schmidt, Bill’s son, became the fourth-generation president when he took over in the mid-1990s. The Schmidts later sold the franchise while the museum has remained.
“It’s a historic collection and an amazing legacy my parents have created,” said Schmidt. “It’s been a part of the fabric of Elizabethtown, so this has been a difficult decision but it’s the right one. It creates an opportunity for others to own a piece of history and it allows us to give back to the community.”
The Schmidt family intends to establish a foundation where much of the funds from the sales will be used for charitable purposes.
For details and updates about the sales visit the museum website at www.schmidtmuseum.com
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In the video below, Larry Schmidt comments on the contents of the museum.
VIDEO & ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
