1947 Planters Peanut Butter Jar

Everybody knows "Mr Peanut", Robert Downey Jr was his voice for 5 minutes recently! PLANTERS Peanuts are the industry standard, the Coke-a-Cola of snack foods. But Peanut butter? Yeah, they had their hands in everything at one time.
I came across this old jar in the Metro area, LOCAL estate sale....one of those that catch your eye & you can't believe what you're looking at!

One of those rare old jars that not only has the paper label intact but the original lid to boot! I usually pass on all but the most desirable jars without labels....otherwise its a lid on any old jar, right? But this gem had both! And it's pretty exceptional condition!
Dating this old relics can be a bit sketchy....I'm not the type to obsess over old ads on microfiche....OCD for you, not me!
But these ads did recently appear on Ebay....one an actual ad & the other an ancient PLANTERS Coloring book....which help to date the jar.

The top ad is dated 1949...showing a jar of PLANTERS PB with a different label.
The second, a picture of a PLANTERS coloring book from 1947, shows the PB jar with the label the same as the one in my possession! VIOLA!

The lid is in outstanding shape....and the label still has very vivid coloring....a few rips, but otherwise great shape. I did show a picture of the jar to a guy selling PLANTERS memorabilia at a local Bottle & Jar show this fall. He practically flipped out over the condition of the label itself....it was in better shape than anything he had for sale....my luck...."Some days you're the dog, some days you're the hidrant".......

1920's Whitman Salmagundi Chocolates Alphonse Mucha Art Nouveau tin

2 ancient(???) Whitman Chocolate tins.....
The 1st, the 1lb tin of the right, I picked up last winter while traveling the West coast of MI with Nosferatu...I liked it due to its style and age....the Art Nouveau style was a favorite of my greatly missed Godmother....she who passed too young & too soon. She had an Art degree from the University of MICHIGAN & passed her love of art on to me...being that I was the only other person in our family with any artistic skill! HA!!!
Anywho....these tins utilized the art of the GRATE Alphonse Mucha (1869-939). Look him & his works up if you're so inclined.
Whitman licensed the art from him & had the Tin-Deco Co of Baltimore make the candy tins in the 1920's.

I picked up the larger 2lb tin recently.....I like sets! I don't have the obsessive malaise...yet!
Reproductions of these tins were made in the late 1980's/early1990....
Now the question: Are these two 90+ year old tins or recent creations?
I've come across the repros....rounded edges and shallower boxes.....but I'm not so optimistic to think these two have survived all these decades in such incredible shape...
Some fading....the occasional dent & scratch....but I've come across others that looked like they'd been dragged down country roads behind a V-8 Ford!

I'll use 'em to store personal effects & heirlooms.....

The image of the woman was produced for the magazine La Plume in 1897...known as "Zodiac" it was a calendar. The image on both tins are stunning...

And regardless of their being authentic or reproductions... I think they are brilliant examples of how everyday items once where made with a dedication to craftsmanship that is long forgotten.
Keep an eye open...I've seen one recently in a nearby antique shop...for a reasonable price at that!

KRUN-CHEE Potato Chip tins & container

Back when DETROIT was the industrial hub of the USA, everything from autos to potato chips where made here in abundance.

     With auto factories popping up all over Metro-Detroit, savy entrepreneurs opened potato chip factories nearby to sell their product directly to the auto workers on their lunch breaks.

With over 40 different brands during DETROIT's "halcyon days", there are a number of vintage potato chip tins to be had at various estate sales, yard sales & flea markets.

      I've managed to pick up a number of KRUN-CHEE brand potato chips tins. All that I've seen, actually....

KRUN-CHEE was a Detroit brand that came under the ownership of Paul Zuckerman in 1952. Zuckerma already owned the Velvet Peanut Butter co.

I believe that 2 of the tins are from the "Velvet Era" of the company....the early to mid 1950's...

At some point the 3 "Norberts", modeled after Zuckerman's son, appear on the KRUN-CHEE tin.

BY 1957 KRUN-CHEE was sold to the Sunshine Biscuit Company of Cleveland, Oh. The large blue tin is from this era of the company.

The 4th container is a plastic chip "can"....I believe from the late 1960's/early 1970's....

I've come across one other KRUN-CHEE tin...a non-potato chip tin, that I'm currently pursuing....these 4 KRUN-CHEE containers are prime examples of the Potato Chip empire that existed in the Detroit area during the boom of the mid-20th century.

***UPDATE 2/2017***

Just last Thursday, at a local Estate sale, I came across the missing tin...a KRUN-CHEE Pop Corn tin! A bit weathered, but just what the doctor ordered! I've acquired all the various KRUN-CHEE tins I've come across....now to see if any odd ball tins pop up!

J. L. Hudson's brand Coffee Tin

"I've never seen one of those before...." Having started a conversation with the matronly antique dealer, I quickly discovered another poor soul who collected old coffee tins.
She was a bit brassy...Nosferatu didn't care for the banter but I welcomed the joshing. 
When shown the pic of barely half our collection she was impressed. "You've got more cans than I do!" Yeah....then I dropped the recently acquired BOMB on her....
I, by good fortune, had recently come across this J. L. Hudson's brand coffee tin...it didn't cost a King's ransom yet it wasn't my usual frugal purchase. I simply knew what I was looking at: An Ancient DETROIT rarity!
A 2nd such expert confirmed my hunch....."That was sold at the downtown store!" In the cafeteria....with the other food products! I swear...that Hudson's coffee is the best coffee I've ever tasted!" 

"A selected blend of Columbia Mara & Mocha"
I'll venture a guess, due to the small 1lb key wind tin, that this coffee vessel is from the late 1940's/early 1950's...
Searches of the 'ol Interweb proved inconclusive.....
A "One of a kind" find? Perhaps.....
A killer addition to a ridiculously extensive collection!

1934 Hamtramck Mayoral Communist Candidates Campaign Cards

Traveling the old forgotten alleys & ruins of Detroit, one finds many a strange relic from the distant past. So it was with these 2 ancient political campaign cards from Hamtramck for the Mayoral election of 1934.
Hamtramck is and was a suburb of metro Detroit. In the 30's it was predominantly Polish in its ethic makeup. It was also a hotbed for radicals & troublemakers!
George Kristalsky was born in Poland and immigrated to these shores...and brought with him the ideology of the times.
He was defeated in the '34 elections...along with 7 of his Communist brothern...which makes this decrepit card that much more awesome!

Hammer & Sickle telling a guy all he needed to know about these candidates! But HEY!!! At least they weren't those lousy FASCIST!!!

2nd card in blue as opposed to the black coloring of the 1st card!

Reverse side of the 1st card has the same info in Polish! 
Guys all long dead & buried....wonder how they'd view the political landscape of today? Probably prefer to stay dead to this shameful shambles that the Country has become...

And for good measure....my 1925 Street Directory of DETROIT....my source has some brilliant old junk/temporal artifacts....

Brilliant for its list of "All Night Car Services, Owl Cars, Hotels, Cemeteries, and Street Car Lines"! Maps of streets and surrounding countryside also genius!

JUMBO 7oz Peanut Butter Jar

The FRANK TEA & SPICE co of Cincinnati, Oh...makers of old Frank's Red Hot sauce...made peanut butter for ages....early 1900's till the 1960'2/70's...
Any of us have seen a slew of these JUMBO peanut butter jars....every Antique store worth their salt has a plentiful supply, most estate sales and even the more cosmopolitan garage sales will have one.
I'd never been interested in them...until reading a post on the "Jar Fetish™" sites...
"The JUMBO jars....produced for so long...have about 80 variations...different sizes, different lids, different eras...rarely will you come across one with a lid...."
Yuppers....that jumped out at me..."The lid is the key!" And here I found a 7oz jar, of the older variety, with its original lid!

Not the "grail" of peanut butter jars....but a rare find regardless!

All in a days scurraging!!

***UPDATE***  So...that lid I found is from the 1920's...one of the oldest JUMBO lids out there....not too shabby!

Potash & Turpentine

Another estate sale out in the hinterlands. Advertised as a "1850's farmhouse"....who could pass up a chance at some ancient artifacts buried out in the sticks?!?
Not I...Off I set in search of who knows what?
2 barns....full of "Horses-people" stuff! Harnesses & Horses collars...mostly useless things...useless to me anyways...off to the house!
Inside...most glassware & clothing....seemingly a bust.....then I noticed the basement with its "DO NOT ENTER" sign...being ignored by hoarders & employees alike! 
TO THE BAT-CAVE! Down a set of ramshackle stairs that even the Dog-Boy would have disapproved of! Again...nothing....dust & mold & a dank smell...people picking their way among the ruins...I had almost given up hope....until I saw a woman rummaging through an old cupboard....and there they were: An ancient prescription bottle....and, buried at the bottom...an old Velvet Peanut butter jar, dirty almost beyond recognition! 
The 'script bottle...looking like was just handed over yesterday to some farmer's daughter...."R.L. McCabe"...DETROIT, MICH. I have one other such bottle....who's label is torn almost beyond reading....this one is perfect. A bit of research provided ad's circa 1930's from DETROIT advertising McCabe's pharmacy! Who knows when they became defunct? A bottle of " Potassium permanganate"...A household oxidizing agent....good 'ol Potash!
And the Velvet jar...

Tucked away at the bottom of the cupboard....covered in dust & dirt....and filled with turpentine! Who can guess how long this jar had been siting down in the dungeon of gloom containing this piney concoction? An age & an age perhaps? Label torn & frayed....it took some cleaning & elbow grease...but it cleaned up rather well....artistic representation non-withstanding!