THE WEEKEND COLLECTOR: The Labelman

The Labelman is Dwayne Rogers, who as a former agriculture inspector, began collecting produce crate labels in the late 1970s. He discovered that there were others out there, mostly in the agriculture business, who likewise had an interest in these colorful relics of the not-too-distant-past. At that time, it wasn't too difficult to find unused labels in agriculture warehouses, farms, and even print shops. Dwayne began collecting, trading, and began selling his labels at flea markets, street fairs, and eventually, eBay. I've bought some of my own labels from him.

Generally, I don't feature for-profit sites on my weekend collector feature, but I decided to make an exception, because the labels are generally very affordable, and he gives so much information about his labels. Not to mentioned, his collections are so vast and fascinating.

Stop by thelabelman.com for a little taste of freshness, and a bit of a nostalgic look at days past.

COLLECTION #181: Vintage Fruit Crate Labels

It's pretty hard to be a Californian and not either collect, or love vintage fruit crate labels. These lovely works of art were commonly used on produce of all kinds, and certainly not just California produce!  But in California it's easy to find these vintage prints in just about every antique mall and flea market.
 I have a small collection, which I love! I seem to have 2 themes that I prefer: western, and scenery.

Most of the collectible labels were produced from the late 1800s to around the 1960s. Generally, these labels are fairly common, and can be purchased for under $20. But there are highly desirable labels that can sell for many times that amount. For me, I collect the labels I can afford, and that I like. Simple as that!

I've thrown in here a few 'blanks'. I found these labels at a lovely antique store in Carpinteria called Whimsy Antiques . I blogged about them a few months ago on my other blog,  you can read about it here.
The fun thing about blanks, is that you can digitally alter them to add your own fun detais: name, title, dates, etc. Here's an example of how I took a kinda bland blank, and zipped it up with some color changes and personalization. Eventually, when I stop being so lazy, I will have it printed, and framed for our kitchen.

If you would like a full-resolution image of any of these labels, please send me an email, and I'll be happy to send it to you. (You can find my email address on the right side of this blog).