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Advertising antiques is an area of collecting that combines street jewellery (old enamel signs, dispensers, advertising windows, shop fittings and illuminated signs), ephemera (printed paper and card items) and old packaging (tins, labelled bottles, packets, dummy bars, boxes and counter bins). Made popular during the late 1960s and ’70s by collectors such as Robert Opie (The Pack-Age Museum), this area of collectables includes any throwaway shop display items used to advertise products, or the actual products themselves.

As more museums have moved toward displays showing how people in the last century used to live, people have become more aware of that the role advertising plays in their lives has changed little since the turn of the century. Viewing these displays and collections, it becomes apparent that many of the trademarks and logos that were synonymous with everyday life in the Victorian, Edwardian and Pre-war (WWII) eras would still be recognisable to someone shopping at a supermarket, garage or corner shop today. Firms like Cadbury, Nestlé, Fry’s Chocolate, Rowntree’s, Bisto, Bovril, Colman’s Mustard, Lyon’s Cakes, Lyle’s, Oxo, Cerebos, Brown & Poulson, McDougal’s, Shell, BP, Castrol, Texaco, Mc Vite, Crawfords, Hewlett-Packard, Daddies, Worcester Sauce and many breweries still have similarly branded products available.

It is this rich history of type faces (fonts), logos, designs, strap lines and mottos that were developed during the days of industrialisation that still affects consumers’ buying habits and perception of brand names. However, these techniques have advanced and closely match our social attitudes, making some old captions such as Craven A cigarettes “prevent sore throats”, “Guinness is good for you” and even the James Robertson & Sons Golly trademark fall by the wayside.