Coca-Cola’s famed formula has been secret for 125 years, but an antique dealer has allegedly found a copy of the original recipe and is selling it on eBay starting at $15 million.
Cliff Kluge, from Coca-Cola’s home state of Georgia, is selling
the document that might contain the original top-secret recipe in
an old box of papers he bought at an estate sale.
Kluge has listed the ‘historical document’ on eBay, with a
‘buy-it-now’ price of $15 million, and an auction price starting at
$5 million.
Kluge doesn’t expect the item will sell for the asking price,
but does think the document is worth at least a few hundred
thousand dollars, TheDailyMail reported.
The sale ends at 22.11 GMT on May, 14. There are currently 0
bids.
If somebody buys it, that doesn’t mean they would be able to
reconstruct the unique beverage, as Kluge says on eBay that “the
recipe states it, that there are some ingredients that cannot be
processed but by anyone except for the company in Maywood, NJ, and
they won’t sell to anyone but the Coca Cola Company. According to
this 70-year-old letter, it takes a month to make the formula –
it’s fairly complicated.“
The document is a yellowed, hand typed and written recipe from
1943, which the seller believes is the original Coca-Cola
formula.
Kluge lists the following description on eBay: “Typed on
January 15th, 1943, this single page (front and back) breaks down
the formula into exact amounts of specific ingredients to make one
gallon of concentrate, which, when combined and processed yields
enough to make 16 gallons.”
On the eBay site, it is advertised as a “70+ year-old recipe
on yellowed paper that was purchased out of an estate of a local
chemist in a city that claims the right of being where Coca-Cola
Bottling originated.”
It is unknown whether Kluge knew the box contained the recipe
before purchasing, or if he stumbled upon it by luck. It is not
clear how much he paid for the box of papers.
The Daily Mail reported Coca-Cola denies the recipe is an
original, but admit it may come close to the original 19th-century
formula.
Coca-Cola is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, where the
company keeps the original recipe locked in a vault.
Coca-Cola’s first quarter results exceeded forecasts, with the
biggest rise since 2009, boosted by Latin American sales as well as
a deal to sell bottling distribution rights in North America.
First quarter net income fell 15 percent to $1.75 million, but
profit was still 46 cents a share, which outperformed analysts’
estimates.
Coca-Cola shares increased 17 percent in 2012, above the 10
percent S&P 500 Index gain.
And for those a bit short of the $5 million needed for a copy,
but who want to brew their own version of the sweet soda, one of
eBay user provided his own Coca-Cola recipe: “FE Coca (Fluid
Extract of Coca) 3 drams USP 4 oz FE Coco Citric Acid 3 oz 3 oz
Caffeine 1 oz 1oz Citrate Caffeine Sugar 30 # 30 # Water 2.5 gal
2.5 gal Lime Juice 2 pints (1 qrt) 1 qrt Vanilla 1 oz 1 oz Caramel
1.5 oz or more to color Color sufficient Use 2 oz flavor (below)
2.5 oz flavor to 5 gals syrup 7X Flavor Alcohol 8 oz 1 qrt Or ange
Oil 20 drops 80 Lemon Oil 30 120 Nutmeg Oil 10 40 Corriander Oil 5
20 Neroli Oil 10 40 Cinnamon Oil 10 40 (The Pemberton formula for
7X is the same as the Beal, just four times as much.)“
This article originally appeared on : RT