BRITISH MUSEUM - COCA-COLA

Sir Hans Sloane

The British Museum, established in 1753, largely based on the collections of Sir Hans Sloane, first opened to the public on 15^th January 1759 in Montagu House in Bloomsbury, on the site of the current museum building. Its expansion over the following two and a half centuries was largely a result of an expanding British colonial footprint and has resulted in the creation of several branch institutions.

Pemberton

It was also on the 15^th January 1889 that the Coca-Cola Company, then known as the Pemberton Medicine Company, was originally incorporated in Atlanta Georgia. John Stith Pemberton, a Confederate veteran and an American druggist was the inventor of Coca-Cola. He sold the company to Asa Griggs Candler. Candler, another Southerner, born in Villa Rica, Georgia, started his business career as a drugstore owner and manufacturer of patent medicines. In 1887 he bought the formula for Coca-Cola from its inventor Pemberton and several other share-holders for $2,300. It was he who incorporated the company on 15^th January 1889. It’s worth a bit more than $2,300 now.

So what do the British Museum and Coca-Cola have in common besides the date?