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About Vintage Advertising

From colorful Victorian trade cards of the 1870s to the Super Bowl commercials of today, advertising has gone from a small component of everyday life to a ubiquitous presence.

Perhaps the most easily recognizable advertising...

A similar fate befell tin signs, which were often produced as a cheap alternative to porcelain ones. Unlike their porcelain companions, however, tin signs were prone to rust and degradation, so many of those that have survived the years are in poor condition.

On the other end of the size scale were celluloid pinbacks, cheap buttons that were meant to be worn and displayed. Some companies distributed pinbacks to encourage newspaper subscriptions or the purchase of particular brands of cigarettes, while others were handed out at political rallies as campaign pieces.

Alongside ads that were meant to be seen were ads that were meant to be used. Coca-Cola, for one, realized that practical pieces of advertising would last much longer than signs and posters, which were routinely discarded. Common types of “utilitarian” ads included thermometers, calendars, mirrors, and clocks, all of which bore a company’s brand name and image in some way or another. Some small storeowners, for example, kept their vintage Coca-Cola thermometers displayed in their stores, for the simple reason that they remained useful. Items that were never or barely used, of course, command the most attention from collectors.

Other advertising collectibles include produce crate labels, salesman samples, tobacco tins, beer trays, and door push and pull signs.

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Interviews & Articles

An Interview With Comic Character Advertising Pinback Collector Mark Lansdown

I started off collecting comics, and still do, but I’d been given a few early Disney pinbacks as a child and always thought they w… [more]

An Interview with Early Kodak Advertising Collector Martha Cooper

My father had a camera store, so I grew up with cameras and used Kodak film. These days I like digital better, but I still have a … [more]

An Interview With Antique Advertising and Porcelain Enamel Sign Collector Alex Renshaw

How did I get started collecting advertising antiques? My dad was a lecturer and tutor in graphics and art from the 1960s onwards,… [more]

An Interview With Porcelain Advertising Sign Collector Michael Bruner

I liked to collect things even as a child. Things that didn’t cost anything, like different colors of stones. There was somethin… [more]

Early American Packages

One of America's famed industrial designers sat at his quite modern desk (which he thinks was designed in 1936 but which was alrea… [more]

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Recent News: Advertising

Source: Google News

Reunion at Sussex's giant market
Telegraph-Journal, August 28th

I saw depression glass, 1950s' glass and pottery, lovely old quilts, vintage advertising items, old licence plates, books and ephemera, linens, toys,...Read more

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The Ditchling Tinkerer; Dick Van Dyke Press Interview; The Potts Children; Photo gallery; Vintage advertising gallery with rare trailers and TV spots;...Read more

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