A few of my favorite vintage matchbox labels.
I love the bold hues, the unrefined illustrations and the
spot-color printing, but the real appeal lies in the "safety" angle.
Showing posts with label Vintage Images. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vintage Images. Show all posts
Lots Doing!
Linen-textured postcards from the 1960s.
I found these at a little charity-run thrift store in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
They sold quickly in the shop, but I made a few scans before sending
them on their way. I just love the bold colors and silly cartoon animals!
DDT Is Good for Me
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| Laboratory tests prove it: Babies who drink soda during their formative years have a higher chance of "fitting in" as teenagers. |
I'm a time traveler at heart. I spend an extraordinary amount of time daydreaming of future worlds and musing on the past, and these old advertisements always seem to spark a jumping off point for my little alternate world adventures.
If 100 years ago we thought soda was good for babies, what might we think of our current ways 100 years from now? Maybe future generations will look at old advertisements for baby formula and think, "Well, that's just wacky," or products like Lunchables and Cap'n Crunch will be seen as reckless in retrospect.
If DDT was once promoted as safe and beneficial, I suppose anything is possible...
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| "Added comfort, health and safety ..." |
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| "So pure, so good, so wholesome ..." |
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| "A delicious blended food drink ..." (Eww.) |
Une belle carte postale avec des fleurs ...
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| Vintage French Post Card, c.1900-1910 |
The flower which is single need not envy the thorns that are numerous.
- Rabindranath Tagore
Eerie Oddities
A few oddities I stumbled across recently. Above, an old painting of young contortionists performing for a private audience. Below, a souvenir post card depicting an Alaskan witch doctor. Quite unrelated in their subject matter, yet somehow strangely similar in their eerie and exploitative overtones.
Vitamin Donuts & Beer for Baby
An assortment of amusing vintage advertisements.
(When I see ads like this, I can't help but wonder what future generations
will make of our Kia Soul Hamstars and Kmart Shipping commercials.)
Surviving the Cold War
I recently received a stack of atomic bomb survival pamphlets from a fellow ephemera enthusiast, and what a treat! These pamphlets, published in the 1950s, offer a fascinating look into the national public consciousness at the onset of the Cold War.
Initiated by the U.S. government in response to the Soviet Union's first atomic bomb detonation, the little booklets and leaflets were intended to quell fears and help citizens prepare for an a-bomb attack. They offer advice on everything from preventing radiation burns to protecting food and water supplies.
The initial atomic bombs were relatively small by today's standards, so much of the information is out of date and doesn't take into account modern studies on the long-term effects of radiation, which makes for an intriguing and often humorous read. My favorite advice in the booklets relates to cleaning your house following the fallout:
Unless you are careful, some radioactivity is likely to be tracked in by people or pets ... but don't worry. There isn't much chance really dangerous amounts will pile up in the house. ... You can get rid of all the radioactive dirt you've picked up if you keep scrubbing.
Tastes Like Turkey
Okay, so it's not quite holiday fowl, but I couldn't help but smile when I saw this strapping young lad. He's one of Dr. Julius Neubronner's epic carrier pigeons, equipped with a miniature camera. Developed in 1908, the doctor's patented photography equipment allowed the birds to capture images in flight. His flock entertained spectators at several expositions in Europe where the images were immediately developed and sold as souvenir postcards.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Enjoy your birds!
Marching Powder
While researching copyright on a few vintage images for Junkmill's Drug Therapy collection, I stumbled upon this dark and glamorous advertisement for medicinal cocaine. Below, more foreboding depictions of drug use, including a poster for a German morality film titled Laster, or Vice.
Cigar Box Labels
Click to enlarge.
I just spent some time weeding through my ever-growing collection of antique and vintage cigar box labels and found a few more worthy of sharing. These come from lithographer O.L. Schwencke, who produced hundreds of elaborate labels from 1887-1908. Read more about the process in our previous post ... and be sure to check out our Humidor collection and Cigar Bands collage sheet, featuring more great turn-of-the-century smoking ephemera.
Quarantine
A few new collage sheets hit the shop this weekend, including an assortment of vintage quarantine posters and a somewhat unconventional collection of World War II propaganda posters aimed at educating troops on the dangers of loose women.
Here's what the UK's Daily Mail had to say on the topic:American health authorities tried to lessen the taboo that went along with sexually transmitted diseases in the years following World War II by launching a provocative ad campaign.
There are no official statistics to show how many people contracted sexually transmitted diseases like syphilis and gonorrhea, though the prevalence of these diseases jumped radically due to the movement of troops during that time. The sexual proclivities of soldiers, often lonely, far from home, and infatuated by foreign women, played a major role in the spread of the diseases in the middle of the 20th century.
The posters of the time played into the stereotypes of soldiers, as well as preconceived notions of the diseases. The references to prostitutes show that it was commonplace for soldiers to pick up call girls during their stays abroad. The ‘good time gals’ were used as sources of entertainment in the midst of the violence and horror of war.
Double Crossed
Click image to enlarge.
I've been busy cataloging and researching copyrights on new pulp fiction for the shop and thought I'd share a few of my favorite images. Secret Agent X-9, a cross between a secret agent and private eye adventure, was a long-running comic series that started in the 1930s. Black Mask was a money-making venture launched by journalist H.L. Mencken in 1920. The pulp magazine was intended to generate fund to support his prestigious literary magazine, The Smart Set. Keep your eyes on the shop, as I'll be posting new pulp collage sheets in the coming weeks.
Booty!
Click image to enlarge.
I couldn't help but smile when I came across this vintage fruit crate label.
A fine treasure, indeed!
The 18th Amendment
Click image to enlarge.
These Prohibition Era alcohol prescriptions blend the quinessential style of American currency with a slightly subversive streak. During Prohibition, more than a million gallons of whiskey were consumed each year thanks to freely written prescriptions from medical doctors. The labels clearly stated that the alcohol was strictly for medicinal purposes only and any other uses were illegal, though no legal attempt was made to halt the practice. Doctors were loose with the prescriptions, pharmacists filled the orders without question and, not surprisingly, as Prohibition marched on, so did the number of "patients."
Some fun Prohibition facts:
- President Warren G. Harding kept the White House well stocked with bootleg liquor, though, as a Senator, he had voted for Prohibition.
- While alcohol was illegal on land, the law only extended to a three-mile limit on water, a technicality that was frequently exploited, even by state shipping lines.
- The term The Real McCoy originated during Prohibition, thanks to Captain William S. McCoy, the leading rum-runner of the era. He refused to water down the rum he smuggled from the Caribbean to Florida; his imports were the real thing.
- The term Mountain Dew also has its origins in Prohibition. It was a term for Appalachian moonshine.
Happy Valentine's Day
Click image to enlarge.
Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs.
–William Shakespeare
Bunnys Waffle Shop
Click image to enlarge.
Bunny’s Waffle Shops were popular venues in San Francisco and Reno, Nevada, from the late 1940s to the early 1950s. By the late 1960s, only two shops remained. I'm lamenting Bunny's demise, as this is truly a charming logo indeed.
Humidor
Click to enlarge images.
I just adore the artwork from antique cigar boxes ... the decorative borders, the delicate scrollwork, the gold embossed flourishes, the typography. The amount of time and effort involved in designing and producing these labels is just astounding. It often took months of planning and several thousand dollars (a lot of cash in the 1800s) to see an idea through to the final product, according to the ever-knowledgeable Cigar Label Blog:
The process started with a sketch or painting. Once approved, it was sent to the lithographic department, where a specialist created a key line drawing, a black-and-white interpretation resembling a paint-by-numbers diagram. Staff lithographic artists then translated the drawings onto lithographer’s limestone.
Progressive proofs were developed for each color. Better labels were printed using 12 colors, each requiring a separate stone and press run. After 1890, additional runs were required for embossing and gilding (done with a bronze powder and shoe-shine-type buff wheel). Finally, printers applied their technical skills making final adjustments getting final approval for printing.
What many collectors aren’t aware of is although hundreds of thousands of cigar label images were created the original artwork almost never survived. It was standard practice of printers to destroy the originals as soon as the lithographers had transferred them to stone. If an artist insisted on his work being returned, the paintings were usually defaced or cut.
Hyvää Joulua
Click to enlarge image.
Herzliche Weihnachtsgrüße is German for Best Christmas Greetings.
Herzliche Weihnachtsgrüße is German for Best Christmas Greetings.
Hauskaa Joulua is Finnish for Good Yule.
In Finland, these little holiday gnomes are called Joulutonttu, or Christmas elves. Similar to the elves that work at the North Pole, these folk figures hail from Lapland where they assist Joulupukki, the Finnish Santa Claus. In Germany, it is said that if you whisper a wish to a gnome on Christmas Eve, on Christmas day it will be granted ... it's quite contrary to our American garden gnomes, as I'm fairly certain they're plotting some sort of coup, led by the Roaming Gnome, of course. What is he really doing with all those frequent flyer miles? Seems a little suspicious to me.
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| Mixed media collage. ©Chandra Orr/Junkmill |
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