fruitcratelabels.com: SAMPLE ROOM
(For a status report on the Sample
Room <click here>.
The following links will take you to lists of different kinds of labels and items for sale.
HEY!! For some hot bargains on pre-built collections, <click here!>
WHAT IS THE "SAMPLE ROOM?"
In the world of lithography, the "sample room" is the room inside the walls of the printing plant where the company stored envelopes containing reference "samples" of the work they created over the years. Each day in the printing houses, new labels were being manufactured. An employee of the firm, would go to the cutting room where the labels were being bundled-up for shipment to their respective packing houses, for use on shipping crates. This employee would grab a pinch of each different label produced in that press-run, and carry them upstairs to the sample room, where they were sorted, date-stamped and filed in envelopes for later reference by artists, salesmen, pressmen, executives, and clients. Once a label had been on file for enough years, it would become obsolete and the whole envelope would be discarded. Since successful printers were always creating large volumes of labels, their sample files would grow, and periodically need to be purged of no longer necessary samples. In many cases, sample rooms maintained files of labels long after their users had gone out of business and orchard lands were turned into suburban neighborhoods (such as California's Silicon Valley, now resting in what used to be the Santa Clara Valley's "Valley of the Heart's Delight".)
In the history of the Pacific Coast, there have been over 50 major lithographic companies who maintained sample rooms. Many of these companies went out of business over the years and their files were discarded long ago. However, not all these files were lost to history. Patco has obtained the files of several of The West's major label printers, including Schmidt Lithograph, Stecher-Traung, Ridgway Litho, Louis Roesch, Muirson and others.
ABOUT PATCO'S SAMPLE ROOM
Today, Patco's Sample Room is a virtual set of samples
gathered from many places. Some labels are indeed from the preserved sample
files of Stecher-Traung Lithograph Company, Schmidt Lithograph Company,
Louis Roesch Lithograph Company, Ridgway Lithograph Company, Muirson Label
and Lithograph, and other firms who endured long enough for collectors to
get their hands on the files. The Sample Room, also contains labels which
were left unused in the basements of hundreds of packing houses and in barns
of growers throughout the Pacific states. (In the eastern U.S., where cigar
manufacturing was prominent, many printing companies samples were also preserved,
and many of these labels have dates on the back). The amazing thing about
today's collectible labels, is that they were never intended to be saved!!
Most, just never made it onto packing crates, and are therefore still in
their original condition.
PATCO'S GUARANTEE
All labels sold by Patco are absolutely guaranteed to be original, authentic
labels, which (in most cases) were simply never used on the crates they
were intended to decorate and identify. Literally millions of fresh, original
labels were found unused in the basements and closets of packing houses
across America, along the acific Coast, and around the world. These labels
were printed in the tens of thousands per year for nearly every packing
house. However, in the 1950s when the fruit and vegetable packing industries
switched over to pre-printed cardboard boxes, labels became suddenly obsloete.
There are variations in condition, depending on where the labels came from.
But I absolutely guarantee they are all original, authentic labels -- NEVER
reproductions.
PATCO SALES POLICIES
Labels from the Patco Sample Room, are available on
a "one per customer basis." Dealers requesting more than one copy
of common labels may be referred to other outlets for fulfillment of their
needs. (More about this below!) Rarer labels from litho company files, will be soldas singles
only to collectors. The goal of the Sample Room is to fairly circulate rarer
labels to as many different concerned, interested collectors as possible.
THE BODY OF COLLECTIBLE MATERIAL
Of all the labels presently available to collectors,
about 4,000 titles are available in numbers large enough to call them "common".
These labels are available through many different dealers across the country.
What makes the fruitcratelabels.com Sample Room unique, is the rarer images
unavailable through any other source. Many dealers have tried to buy my
best labels, at a low price of course, so they can build out their stocks.
But, Patco prefers to circulate the rarities evenly, to the most interested
collectors. Prices for rarer labels, will be fairly high -- that is the
nature of label collecting today.
A NOTE ABOUT TOPICS
Many people collect topically. Some people just want
"apple labels." Others just want "Florida labels." Others
want "any label with a duck on it." If you are interested in particular
images or topics, or geographic areas, email me with your interest and I
will be happy to help by going through our thousands of titles and pulling
the kinds of images you are interested in.
A NOTE ABOUT RARITY
In some cases, labels were found in very large quantities.
Labels were originally sent to packing houses by lithograph companies in
tied bundles. Each "bundle" generally contains 1,000 copies. In
the past twenty plus years as we collectors and dealers have scoured the
countryside gathering labels, some labels were found in quantities of 1,000
to 100,000 leftover copies -- ones that simply were never used. These are
known as Common labels and will generally be very inexpensive. In other
cases, labels were found in quantities of fewer than 100. These would be
considered much rarer, and will always be more expensive.
There are many criteria on which prices are based. Suffice it to say that label dealers have been gathering, selling, trading, buying, and publiching price lists since the mid-1970s. Many newcomer dealers are offering labels now on the Net. But, for real prices, developed by the old masters in this hobby, turn to them. There are several listed in the publications detailed in the C.F.F.L.X. Department.
A NOTE ABOUT CONDITION vs. AVAILABILITY
There are TWO kinds of labels -- those in mint, perfect
condition, and those that are not. Some people insist on perfect condition
labels only. That's fine, but it will severely curtail your collecting.
The reason is, that MOST of the labels found in the past 30 years, were in barns, packing
houses, attics, basements, printer's files, and other places. Of the thousands of brands available,
only a small handful, say 1,000 different brands, were found in neat condition.
The rest have the occasional corner tear, small fold, missing corner, pieces
of tape on the back, or front, and other various forms of damage and/or
repairs. That is just the way it is. Most/many truly rare labels are NOT available in clean condition,
I'm sorry to say.
In leading collections, there are lots of pieces with mild, to moderate,
to sever damage. There are labels which have been soaked off of 70 year
old box ends, labels with stains, mildew, termite and worm holes, scrapes,
chunks missing, nail holes, paint drippings, crayon marks, wood stains,
cracks, etc. I have found labels in antique shops on the end of a box, for
$5.00, taken them home, soaked them off, and sold them for $50. to a collector
who was thrilled to have it. The same label in clean shape (if one existed)
would be $400. For the true collector, condition means nothing if it is
a label you are searching for. There may never be found, a cleaner copy
-- this one may be "unique." (The
dictionary defines Unique as meaning "one of a kind."Not, two,
not "most unique", but one, singular copy known.)
True collectors know that labels are where you find them, and in whatever condition you find them - like inside the wall or floor of an old packing house, where mice have trudged over them for half a century. Labels in perfect condition may command a higher price, but, to a true collector, (at least in this hobby) you may NEVER FIND a clean condition version of a given label. So, the rule is, if you like it, buy it, add it to your collection. One day you may find a better one. Or, you may not. I have thousands of one-of-a-kind labels, with mild to sever damage. I personally don't care about condition, beacuse, there may be no other copies available on Earth. Most of the labels I have found in printer's archives have notes written on them, date stamps on the fronts and backs, some are glued to other papers, some are typed on, elements have been razored out by some long forgotten artist, there are staple holes, watercolor paint modifications, rips, folds, mutilations, coffee spills, etc. I don't mind. Because, there are no others on the planet. I am glad to have them at all.
So give some consideration to the reasons you are collecting. Condition is NOT paramount in our little hobby. Many of these labels are so rare, you are lucky to find one at all! I can't stress this concept highly enough.
A NOTE ABOUT AVAILABILITY
In the fruitcratelabels.com Sample Room, all labels are subject to prior sale, and prices
may change at any time without notice, just as availability may change at
any time. Some labels may be listed, whether I have only one extra to offer, or 5,000. Each label is different in supply.
I may have the only stocks known, or, 10 dealers may have the same ones.
Generally speaking, if it is over $25.00 it is rare, and few exist. If it
is over $100. it is really rare. Today some labels sell for $1,000. Yes,
that's right. There may only be 3 known, and someone may have to then pay
a conservationist to repair the label, at $75.00 per hour. In any event,
labels on my lists are all subject to prior sale.
A NOTE ABOUT MY PRICING
You'll find the prices I use are based on my 20 years of research and collecting,
and are generally published in my hobby-wide price guide(s) and lists. I
don't price by whim. I research ever label and every price and I stick by
them. There are dozens of dealers who have published lists for over 20 years.
I have just about all of them on file. I am familiar with nearly 70,000
labels, and have databased over 10,000 for my price guide and kept them
current, based on sales records of actual prices realized. If you are not
willing to pay my prices, I will be happy to give you the names of all the
other dealers and you can contact them -- no problem. Then you will find,
that what I am saying is true.
You will also find I am priced the same as most other dealers on all the common items. On the ones no one else has, I may ask more, but, then, I am offering label you cannot get anywhere else, and it took me 20 years to acquire them. Nonetheless, I try to remain fair, reasonable and consistant in my pricing. I am even willing to negotiate (sometimes).
ALWAYS BASED ON CONDITION
My prices are BASED on condition. If I ask $45.00 for a slightly damaged label, I have already
taken the damage into consideration. That is why I am not asking $75.00.
So, my prices are pretty firm. Please do not try negotiating the price down
due to some samall damage, because I have already adjusted for it. That
doesn't mean I am inflexible, it just means that you have now been forewarned
what to expect out of my pricing. I will happily answer your questions about
any label before you buy. Just drop me a line.
"ONE PER CUSTOMER" IS THE RULE!
This is a very important point! Much
of the stock at fruitcratelabels.com is unique to my business! Many of the
labels listed here you can find elsewhere, however, many are available ONLY through me, and are unique to this site. My goal is to serve collectors, not other
dealers.
I try to spread these labels around fairly and evenly to everyone who collects,
NOT to build other dealers' stocks. Many dealers have come to me and said,
"hey, how about selling me 10
of that label I have never seen before, at wholesale. Then I can mark them
up and go sell them myself." Well,
unfortunately for them, I don't do that. My unique listings are what set
my stock apart from all other dealers. That is why I have this web site,
to offer things no other dealer has. So, if you are a dealer and you want
to buy more than one, my databases will know it. If you try to defeat this
policy, I may suddenly run out of everything you want. So, let's all be
fair about it. I am happy to provide one-per-customer. That is the rule.
Thanks!!!
OKAY, GET IN THERE AND HAVE SOME FUN! :-{D}
Okay, all that said, welcome to the sample room, and I hope you enjoy your
experience here. Feel free to contact me anytime, about any facet of label
collecting! -- Pat Jacobsen 1/19/99 <Email
me, if you like>