Packing labels for fruits and vegetables are easily collected and relatively cheap. I began collecting them when my family bought an old apple orchard many years ago.
Labels are colorful reminders of the way agriculture used to be. My father has told me many stories of packing fruit crates on their ranch during the Depression. Peaches, pears, and prunes all neatly stacked inside a crate and labeled with the Bonnie Brae Ranch label. Unfortunately none of the labels have survived.
Here are a few from my collection followed by a few links to sites full of information. If you're looking for something to collect that's easy to store and display this is it.
Click on any of the images to see them larger.
Often times one label design is used by several different producers. "Jackie Boy" is one such label. Only the packing information is changed from label to label denoting the location from where the product shipped.
This is my favorite label. It's unique to the specific area which still produces apples to this day. And there isn't a better apple for pies and applesauce than the Gravenstein.
For more information about crate labels see:
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Hey! I just discovered your blog via Ephemera and Tom Murphy. I'll be visiting occasionally, but this one caught my eye because of the label art - produced using stone lithography which is as far as you can get from the four color separation printing of today. There's a reason why you like the labels, and it has a lot to do with the way they were produced.
ReplyDeleteYes, old stone lithography created beautiful work that we rarely see anymore unless we like ephemera. No dot patterns. No moire. But there could still be some serious registration problems.
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping in.