'Gaycock'

Many years ago, I bought an attractive metal re-creation of the "Gaycock" label. Purportedly it was a design from a old-time wooden packing crate that was used to ship produce from farm or grove to the customer. Copies of the design, in paper form, are sold all over the Internet. The design seems authentic--but is it? One observer has said paper copies of the label are so commonplace that it's hard to believe that so many exist in excellent condition in 2012. After all, these labels would have been printed prior to the 1950s or earlier. Maybe they are reprints? Perhaps. But I couldn't find anything on the distributor's name shown on the label, "Stanley Levinson Co." Perhaps the company went out of business long before the Internet age. So, I am left to wonder: Was there really ever a Gaycock brand?

Coming to your store soon

That pensive look

The Wild, Wild West

The Western frontier is part of the cultural tradition of the United States. For a century, the cowboy has been an iconic American image, representing such values as rugged individualism, patriotism, courage and masculinity. Cowboys were a common theme in advertising, particularly in the period from 1920 to 1960, decades after the frontier was fully settled. Using cowboys to sell apples and cantaloupes may seem a bit odd, but that's what growers and distributors did back in the day. The Western images appeared on the labels of wooden crates which were used to ship their products--and attract hungry consumers at the grocery store. Here are a few examples.

Odds 'n' ends

Another batch of bird art on packing crates

Old-time packing crates: historical themes

More in my series on the lithographed labels that emblazoned on the ends of packing crates prior to the 1960s ...


Some growers and distributors of fruits and vegetables adopted a historical motif in promoting their produce. Some of these were drawn from figures in the Civil War; there were still Civil War veterans or dependents alive at the time. Others delved into earlier eras for their inspiration; a few celebrated current events, such as the New Deal of the 1930s. Here is a selection, in chronological order, of some of the notables.