A tour of the largest known collection of Vernors memorabilia

Vernor's collector Keith Wunderlich in his basement den.

The centerpiece of the collection is this soda fountain, which took several years to complete.

The original soda fountain from Richardson Farm Dairy.

Wunderlich says that this frosty-looking vessel was a gimmick designed to make people thirsty, but didn't actually contain ginger ale: "That was one of their very early dispensers. It probably first appeared in the 1920s, but they still used them in the 1940s. The glass up above was supposed to hold a yellow Vernor's-ish-looking liquid, but it wasn’t Vernor's. The Vernor's just came up from a refrigerated unit underneath, through the handle. They had somehow rigged it up, so when you did pull the handle down, it would release some air into the colored water, to make it look like something was actually happening, but Vernor would never have allowed that to actually be Vernor's. "

Wunderlich says of his massive collection, "This is a decent representation of the ages of Vernor's, but in no way represents everything that Vernor's ever produced, because they produce a lot of stuff. It’s amazing how much they produced."

Wunderlich adds: "I know I am a fanatic about Vernor's. I mean, I realize that. I always tell my wife there’s worse habits I could have."

This ruddy version of the gnome could double as the Nain Rouge.

"Mellowed in wood four years" was just one of many slogans.

With red script and no green to be seen, this is among the earliest pieces in Wunderlich's collection.

This original card for James Vernor identifies him as a pharmacist and florist. "The original Mr. Vernor was a pharmacist," Wunderlich says. "He didn’t like the fact that just anybody could be a pharmacist,and so he started the Michigan Board of Pharmacy. He held Pharmacist License No. 1 the entire time that he practiced. He wanted to make sure that medicines actually followed strict regulations and, not gonna have ingredients in there that accidentally killed you instead of cured you."

There's something cheeky about this promotional piece. The comely blonde with the exposed shoulders has a come-hither stare, but the artist is the gnome himself, offering a devilish wink. Wunderlich says one Vernor's Club member bears the woman's likeness as a tattoo.

The original mascot of Vernor's was a delivery boy bearing a case of Vernor's ginger ale.

A more unusual piece: A gnome mask.

Vernor's sales pieces for every season, including Christmas, and "piping hot" Vernor's with lemon for winter.

The clock shows a winking gnome, and the ad has an unusual rhyme about "Experts and learners" doing better with Vernor's.

This framed document heralds the 75th anniversary of Vernor's. Wunderlich says, "Anniversaries were sort of a big deal. This is the 75th anniversary, the June 18th, 1940 one. So this was when Vernor's was still down on the river."

An actual mechanical gnome? Wunderlich has one. He calls it "the coolest thing I have." He says, "As far as I know, they had six of them in the plant that was at the foot of Woodward. They had a tour. They would take you through the process, so they would have the gnomes stationed at various places. His mouth actually moves up and down, his eyes go back and forth, but he couldn’t talk. They didn’t have that figured out back in the 1920s or whenever he was from."

Wunderlich continues: "Behind him would be these panels with the story of Vernor's. So you would walk through and the gnomes would sort of pretend to show you that. There were six of them, although I’ve never seen another one of them. He’s a pretty special guy. "

Of course, much of Wunderlich's collection consists of bottles, some of them very old, as well as bottle openers, even the occasional letter opener.

Here are cans, bottlecaps, and promotional bottle-holders that doubled as megaphones.