KEEP IN A COOL PLACE

Picked up a few more rather nice elastoplast tins last week, which Im sure I'll post soon. But what I really liked (although I didnt know till I got home) was all three had the same phrase on the side of the tin. Reminds me of Abbevilles fantastic 1987 book, on the golden age of matchbook art Close cover before striking. Sadly, now out of stock, it has always been  one of my favourites!

Sticking Plaster Elasoplast or band aid?

Call them what you will! Four fabulous adhesive bandage tins from the late Sixties/ early Seventies.

In case of complaint please return and join a sample.

Top marks to our son, who was helping out at the School fair, and found this box of Caran D'ache pencils, from the 1950s. What care has been taken with the packaging, from the paper label to the string that binds them together.

Included in the box (below) was the original customer complaint slip. The translation into english is rather quaint 

In case of complaint please return this slip and join a sample.

Avon "Wild Country" aftershave Pipe

A splendid, but somewhat bizarre find in the 10p box, at our favorite charity shop, last week.
This beige aftershave pipe from Avon, must date from the Seventies. Its hard to believe that someone must have sat down at some point, and come up with this peculiar idea. I imagine it was created for the man who has everything!

The tobacco end of the pipe doubles as the aftershave bottle. You can see the bottle, separately on the left. An unusual item, that's for sure!

* Postscript: Well, it appears the pipe is not so unusual after all! There were a number of pipe designs by Avon, as well as all sorts of outlandish designs including a power drill! Below are a few more highlights.

Composite beer bottle stoppers

Following last weeks Antiques Roadshow, at The British Museum. I was reminded of my mudlarking days! The chap on TV had 1000s of items from The Thames including coins and clay pipes as well as some old bottle stoppers!

My small collection of bottle stoppers also came from The Thames, from just beneath Tower Bridge, each stopper carries a different Brewery logo. Its fun to imagine the identity of the previous owner, who opened his bottle of beer and threw the stopper into the Thames.

M & S Routemaster Biscuit tin

Marks and Spencers has had some interesting packaging recently. I picked up quite a bit of their kids confectionery for Halloween, which seemed to take its inspiration from the Fifties.

This weekend we popped into the Cardiff store and were surprised to see they had already discounted these Sasek inspired Biscuit tins. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?

Coin money bank bags

On a recent trip back to London, we popped up to the Market at Covent Garden. Monday was the antiques market, and was always interesting and occasionally there were some good finds. I used to go a lot when I was touting my folder around.

I was surprised that unlike so much of London, it was relatively unchanged. The stall holders were still chatty and were happy to talk about their finds and share their stories.

These pre plastic coin bags came from one of the stalls, and include some bank tags. They come from the British banks, Lloyds and The Midland, (now HSBC). Made from a heavyweight paper, with serrated edges, they come in some attractive colours. Most un-bank like!

1969 Britains Cotton- Education Pack

Heres a curious find from a car boot, this summer. As is so often the case, just as we were about to leave, this brilliant educational pack turned up on the penultimate stall.

Released by The Textile Councils, Education department, this box has all manner of samples relating to the cotton industry. Britain's Cottons- Samples of Cotton, from field to fabric is beautifully designed and details various aspects of the industry for the year 1969.





















A couple of statistics from the printed sheet above, stand out. In 1969 a total of 122,029 people were employed in the textile industry, and the UK exported £53,227,000 worth of cotton and man made fibre that year. I wonder what the figures were for the UK, last year?


















Above are some close ups of the sample book, along with a Cotton Boll sample. I bet The Textile council dont send boxes like this out to schools anymore?

Two Striking Matchboxes

Two lovely matchboxes from Spain featuring two Spanish football teams. Made by Fosforera Espanola, they look to date from the Fifties.

If you like theses, you may be interested to know that the collecting of Matchbox labels, Phillumeny is big business. Theres even a Matchbox society!

Its been a while since Ive been to a Matchbox Society fair, but there was always lots to see, and the prices were pretty reasonable too. Ill add some more soon.

Daddy Sugar Wrappers, France 1998 World Cup

Another topical post tonight, as France crash to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Mexico in the FIFA World Cup. Back in 1998 France hosted the Tournament and won it, but tonight that must seem a distant memory.

As with all these Global events, companies are only too pleased to produce commemoratives, and back in the 1990s, Daddy, the king of paper wrapped sugar cubes produced these rather fetching sugar wrappers. I do believe that like matchbox labels, theres an army of collectors of paper wrapped Sugar cubes. These wrappers are the sort that used to be very popular at service stations and cafes.

Ekta hair pins from India

Pez sweet dispensers

I remember having Pez dispensers as a child, but it wasnt until we planned a trip to The States that I was aware there was a Pez museum!

Sadly we never made it to the museum, but my interest in these strange sweet dispensers was revived, and ever since Ive always picked them up along our travels.


Theres a very good Pez flickr group , with nearly 900 pictures and over 158 members

The name Pez came from German word for peppermint.(PfeffErminZ). While the sweets were invented in 1927. It wasnt untill around 1950 that the first dispenser appeared. There have since been over 550 different dispensers.

Curiously the Austrian manufacturer of Pez are suing the museum in Burlingame, seeking all profits from the museum's 14 years of operation. Makes no sense to me!

Cadburys chocolate box lid

Got really lucky at the car boot last weekend, when a couple were clearing out there loft.

There was a stack of stunning chocolate packaging from the sixties. This was the best of the lot! It seems odd today, that the actual chocolates dont feature on the pack, just a fantastic Wild West board game. And what about the colour palette?

Remember Remember Kenneth Townsend

On recently posting "Marble Fun" up here, I was amazed to find out we had more by Kenneth Townsend. Here for todays post is Remember, Remember. A great game of pairs by Galt Toys.
It appears Galt released this game in two guises. Im not sure which was released first, the one here or Snap, which can be viewed over at kenneth townsend















Above are are a few close ups of the cards and the reverse!

metal chewing gum advertising signage

Thought you might like these? Seven Small tin advertising signs that clipped onto advertising stands that stood next to the shop till. The signs are just a bit bigger than the original chewing gum packets and judging by the prices date from the mid to late seventies.

Those were the days when you could still buy a Bubbly for a penny, and before Bubalicious and Space Dust swept the nation!

Matchbox drums

I spent an age over at wackystuff the other day, and what a treat it was! With nearly 1000 images to peruse, it really is a delight!

Some of the highlights include some very idyllic 1950 family postcards as well as some superbly printed labels.

Prompted by some of the matchbox labels on wackystuff I have posted a couple of cylindrical matchbox drums, of my own. These lovely little drums hold 100 matches with brightly coloured heads, all visible through the tightly fitting lids.

HOUSE SOLITAIRE

The prolonged arctic weather has meant I havent got to the computer as much as Id have liked this week. Today for your perusal another lovely find, this time from a charity shop in Wales.

HOUSE SOLITAIRE is an Arnold Arnold Toy made by Summit Games Ltd, Leeds. The beautifully designed card game looks to date from the mid Sixties and is reminiscent of classic toys by Galt. Sadly there are no credits for the illustrator, or designer but the illustrations remind me of one of my favourite childrens book artists, Roger Duvoisin,

The idea of the game is to take two cards and match the roof with the lower half of the house. Once you completed the set you can turn the cards over and see the children who live there in corresponding costume.

They dont make games like this anymore!