In 1919, after many years of success and innovation, the Coca Cola Company was sold for twenty-five million dollars to a group of investors lead by Ernest Woodruff and W.C. Bradley and the now famous company was restructured as a Delaware corporation. Four years later, Mr. Woodruff’s son, Robert Winship Woodruff became President of the company and through decades of his leadership, the Coca Cola Company became one of the most successful businesses in the world.

As with many collectibles, this soft drink reminds people of a time of their youth. With Coca Cola, that includes just about every one of us that are now alive; at least from nations that sell the increasingly ubiquitous product.

Are the polar bears your favorite Coke icon? Look for their deck of cards… The backs of the cards are all the same and depict the same scene of two polar bears appearing to engage each other over a bottle of Coke. However, the face cards have designs on them, they depict different scenes involving the polar bears that many people have now come to associate with Coca Cola Products. The bears have been representatives of Coke for a number of years.

In the Coca Cola Triple Bottom Line report they detail: “LIVE POSITIVELY focuses on seven core areas key to our business sustainability: Beverage Benefits; Active Healthy Living; Energy Management and Climate Protection; Community; Sustainable Packaging; Water Stewardship; and Workplace.”

How was coca-cola really born? The answer to this question is “Prohibition.” Yes, in 1886 Prohibition legislation was passed in Atlanta, which made the alcoholic version of Pemberton’s Wine Cola illegal. Not to be thwarted, he developed a non-alcoholic version of his product which was introduced to the public at a soda fountain within Jacob’s Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia on May 8, 1887. The beverage sold for 5 cents per glass. And thus Coca Cola was born.

But did this new version of Pemberton’s Wine Cola, now called Coca Cola, actually contain Cocaine? Well, yes, it apparently did. At least until 1903, when pressure from the FDA forced the manufacturer to begin using “processed” coca leaves in which the cocaine content has been essentially removed. The Coca leaves are imported from Peru (the plant is native to South America) and then locally processed to remove to cocaine. The processed coca leaves are referred to as “spent.”

According to many resources, the Coca cola company still uses these “spent” cola leaves in the manufacturing of their product today. Just how much cocaine was actually in those early “soda fountain” versions of Coca Cola is now entirely impossible to say, though it was likely little more than a trace amount.

The Coca-Cola Company also produces a number of other soft drinks including Fanta and Sprite. Fanta’s origins date back to World War II when there was a trade embargo against Germany on cola syrup, making it impossible to sell Coca Cola in Germany. Max Keith, the head of Coca Cola’s German office during the war, decided to create a new product for the German market, made from products only available in Germany at the time, which they named Fanta. The drink proved to be a hit, and when Coke took over again after the war, it adopted the Fanta brand as well.

Fanta was originally an orange flavored pop which can come in plastic bottles or cans. It has become available in many different flavors now such as grape, peach, grapefruit, apple, pineapple and strawberry.