Be the first to guess what the pictured item is by leaving a comment below. If you have your own whatsit, our editors can include it in a future post. Please send an email to editor@kovels.com and attach a clear picture, the size and any markings. Hopefully, we will be able to identify it for our readers!
The pictured item is 7 inches high by 20 inches wide by 13 inches deep.
(Photo: Richard Opfer Auctioneering, Inc.)
Note: For those of you who signed up to get notified of each response (by checking the “Notify me of follow-up comments” box in the “Add Comments” section) and find it’s generating too much email, you can unsubscribe to the “Whatsitwednesday” comments by clicking the “unsubscribe” link in the “Whatsitwednesday” email you receive.
This is an unusual 1940s Coca-Cola “stadium vendor.” It’s metal with a bottle opener on the side and is missing the carry strap.
Since it says “ICE” right on the side and is 20 inches wide, it looks like it held ice for enough bottles for a vendor to hawk at games. At 7″ deep, it would hold a crap-load of caps, thereby convincing me it is a bottle holder with ice.
These were attached to the old coke vending receptacles, which were nothing more than a rectangular shaped box that held ice for the bottled coke. The opener was fastened to the outside with this container below to catch the caps. We used to remove the cork inside the cap and decorate our clothing by placing the bottle cap on top of garment and replacing the cork underneath the garment to attach it. Good ole days!
looks like all agree to what I think it is a coke bottle cap holder attached to the vending machine.
on the (great) old soda bottle dispensers this would be mounted on the outside of the machine to catch the bottle caps!
Wow! I like both answers so far, but my first thought was a vendors receptacle for selling cokes at ballgames. So I’ll have to go with my first thought.
Coke cap catcher.
It is a bottle cap catcher
When I was a bartender (many years ago) we had one of these attached to the “well” right next to the bottle opener. Of course, then most beer or any bottles required a bottle opener. So we would pop off the cap, and it would fall into a bin just like this one!
It’s the container in which coke vendors at baseball games carried bottled coke. A strap attached to the container went around the vendor’s neck.
See a vendor is this charming 1948 Coke advertisement:
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1948-coca-cola-coke-ad-baseball-game-1798168879
As many have said, I’m pretty sure this is for selling iced bottles of coke at a large scale public event such as baseball games. It would be worn around the neck with a strap as they walked up and down the stands yelling, “Ice cold Coke!”.
I think it’s a vendors-rack (missing the strap) used to carry Cokes being hawked and sold at venues like baseball games. Refilled after being sold-out, with bottle-opener on the side for opening bottles when a sale was made.
catches the bottle caps
It’s a bottle cap receptacle usually attached underneath a bottle opener.
IMO it’s a receptacle for catching the bottle caps from Coca-Cola and other tonic bottles. It would have been hung or attached underneath a bottle opener.
The vendor would carry Coca-Cola around the stadium selling it.
Coca cola ice bucket to put your bottles of Coca Cola cold.
bottle cap catcher
It’s for bottle caps that have been removed.
Used at a stadium or stands at a sporting venue to hold 10 ice cold Coca Colas that were for sale to the fans of the sport. With a belt it was warn around the waist and had a over the head neck strap. On the side is a bottle opener
I think it’s a bottle cap holder.
It looks like a bottle cap catcher for a vintage Coke machine.
Bottle cap catcher underneath old style bottle opener for glass bottles.
It catches the caps off old capped Coke bottles when you use the bottle opener above it.
I just want to know how to see the comments so I’m trying this
Looks like this holds bottles of Coca-Cola and ice using a belt around the waist or strap around the neck. There is what looks to be a bottle cap opener on the side. Curved to fit against the waist. Thinking these were used at baseball games around the 1930’s.
Used to collect the bottle caps from the bottled cokes you’d get from the cooler.
For the bottle caps ?
This is a metal (like steel) carrier for selling bottles of Coca-Cola at events such as baseball or football games. It would have had a strap that attached to each side and it would go over the head and behind the neck of the person carrying all that weight! They would hold it upright on each end of the carrier – also to save their neck! Great advertising piece!
I believe this was the holder for the cap after being opened by the cap puller on the left side.
I believe it was a cap catcher on a Coca Cola machine.
IT looks like it holds soda bottle caps when you remove them by using the attached bottle opener.
I’ve never seen one quite like it, but judging from the size and shape of it, my guess would be a basket that sits in front of the handle bars of a Coca-Cola peddler’s bike.
It is part of an old Coca Cola machine. It holds the bottle caps.
It is part of an old Coca Cola machine to hold the bottle caps
1930’s-40’s Coca-Cola stadium vendors bottle cooler.
I believe that was on a Coca Cola Machine to hold the bottle caps after they were removed from the bottle.
The contsiner under the bottle opener to catch bottle caps on the Coke machines back in the day.
Coke bottle cap collector that was on the side of the machine
Bottle Cap catcher.
Capcatcher
Ice Cooler for Cokes or other sodas.
This is a bottle cap collector.
Tote for coke vender
A vendor container to sell Ice cold coca-cola at a event.
It was attached to coke machines to collect the tops off the glass bottles
Going with intuition… it’s a little caddy that a waitress at a drive in restaurant would wear on her hip to keep things like her order pad in. The clips on the side would attach to a shoulder strap.
To catch pop bottle caps
It to catch pop bottle caps
I think this is an attachment for those old Coca-Cola chest-type dispensers that was used to catch the bottle caps after you put your newly-purchased bottle in the bottle-cap remover, which was attached above.
Concessionaire waist carrier for ice and soft drinks.
Concession drink container that was wornn around waist to sell coca coca.
Could this be attached to a vending machine under the bottle opener to catch the caps?
Could it have been attached to a vending machine under the bottle opener to catch the caps?
Ii think it’s a cooler.
Bottle carrier used at ball games or sporting events minus the shoulder strap….
Get your ice cold Coca Cola here…only 10 cents!
It’s a Sports Stadium Vendors Carrier worn at the waist or around the belly at the curved part and filled with bottles of Coca-Cola. (missing the harness).
Looks like it’s an iced beverage tub for traditional 7oz. bottles (24 quantity) plus shaved or crushed ice packed around them. Not sure if it originally came with a base.
A bin that would hang below the mounted bottle opener in a soda fountain for catching the falling bottle caps.
bottlecap catcher
It is a soft drink vendor’s (aka a hawker) container for carrying ice and bottles of “ice cold” Coca Cola drinks for sale to thirsty fans at sporting events, concerts, circuses etc. The container was suspended from a leather or canvas strap attached to each side of the container and carried around the vendor’s neck making it a hands-free, point-of-sale concession.
I think it was used by the people selling Coke in the sports stands at games.
1940’s bottle carrier probably for stadium use.
I remember this when you purchased your iced cold Cola-Cola in the small green bottle from the vending machine, this was placed beneath the bottle opener and would catch the drop
Get Your Ice Cold Coke, Right Here. Used to carry and sell Coke at the Stadium without leaving your seat. Had other ones for peanut venders too.
bottle cap catcher from a cooler
Small ice holder..probably not for Pepsi
…for bottle caps? There’s a bottle opener on the left, so maybe this is intended to hold the discarded bottle caps so they’re not just thrown on the ground.
I seem to remember one of these attached to the drink machine. Located just below the bottle opener.
It appears to be a soda bottle carrier for ball park or rink vendor, including a cap lifter shown on the wearer’s right side (left end in photo).
I recon this was used to carry cold drinks, presumably Coca-Cola and worn by the vendor with a strap from the neck or round the waist like what is known in America as a ‘fanny pack’. I hope it was insulated!
Looks like a belt worn sofa bottle carrier for a ball park vendor.
A bottle carrier for the waist line of a stadium vendor
ice holder
Tray for bottle caps
This is a stadium cooler and once had straps that fit over the neck for the sale of cokes at games.
A “ballpark” soda pop vendor’s bottle “holder” that hung in front of him.
This caught bottle caps when you got a coca-cola soda.
Bottle cap catcher
It’s a bottle cap catcher….
…it is where the caps fell after you opened the soda with the opener that was on the machine…
I think this is a holder for ice and Coke pop bottles… part of a carrier. There was once a woven strap connecting both sides of the curved bucket that slipped over the head of the wearer so that the weight of the contents would be carried on the shoulders of the person hawking the drinks. Think baseball stadium!
A carrying case for hacker/sales person to carry ice and bottles of soda on beach/fair/carnival.
miss the shoulder strap – kidney shaped to fit on the hip – several bottles and ice could be carried to sell
My guess would be it was an ice holder for a coca cola despenser.
This cup collected the caps
A case for a sales person to carry cold sodas around on beach or other fair/caravel event. Hong around neck
I think that’s an ice holder that went to a coca cola depended.
Holder for empty bottle caps
I think this was attached to the Coke dispenser, just underneath the bottle opener and was used to catch the caps.
I think it catches the caps when you open the coke bottle.
This was used underneath bottle opener to catch the bottle caps.
Hello, it seems to be an Ice-cooler
I think it is for a Coke machine to hold caps.
Coca-Cola holder for bottle caps attaches to Coca-Cola dispensing machine.
This was attached to a Coke vending machine that dispensed Coke in bottles. It was under the bottle opener on those machines, it caught the bottle caps.
Bottle cap basket
Coco cola Stadium hocking tray
Looks like what a vendor would strap around his waist to sell bottled Cokes at a sporting event, it has a bottle opener on the left side
Looks like what a vendor would wear around their waste and selling at events.
This is for bottle caps.
Was located on soda machine under bottle cap opener to catch and store bottle caps that were removed from bottles.
Affixed to dispensers to hold the cap once removed.
A bin to catch bottle caps mounted below a bottle opener
Looks like what the hawkers at a sports game would use to carry drinks and sell the to the crowd.
Bin to catch bottle caps mounted beneath a bottle opener
Guessing it might be the container that caught the bottle caps as u popped them off?
Ice cup for catching excess ice from pop machine
It is a bottlecap collector
It’s a cap collector from an old coke machine. I think I remember seeing those as a kid.
This was worn by a person, usually a young man on a belt around the waist and cold bottles of pop were sold out of them at ball parks and other venues.
Would this have held ice cream scoopers (in water) at a soda fountain?
It’s a bin to hold the bottle caps on the side of an old coke machine – the kind that was like a big cooler with ice that you reached into to retrieve your coke bottle.
I believe its a cooler
Could this be the container that held bottle caps after they were bought from a coke machine?