Vintage Advertising Collectibles

[Country Joe]

Okay now we have an advertising collectibles booth, been open a few hours and we don't have any members.

I went and borrowed a little from one of my web pages to get the ball rolling.

I've always had an interest in old general stores, hardware stores etc. and wish that I had gotten my act together years ago to recreate an old general store, but well I didn't. But I do have a small collection of advertising tins and old kitchenware scattered about the house. So I guess I sorta got my wish in a smaller scale.

Advertising tins have been around for hundreds of years. Made to hold items like coffee, candy, tobacco and many other items. They also come in many sizes, I think the smallest I've every had was a Bell-ans for Indigestion, Vest pocket tin. 3/4 x 1" in size. Advertisng tins were also made in many different shapes. Cigarettes came in rectangular shaped tins, many tea tins are square. Figural tins in numerous shapes, everything from animals to cars, are hard to come across.

Coffee tins are also a nice colorful collectible and great to hold things, Band-Aid tins are also pretty neat. Maybe you have an old printers tray, many small advertising tins are available to fill it. Collectible medicine and other drugstore related tins are also very interesting. Some of the harder tins to find are the one that old razors came in, the earlier oyster tins are also tough to come by. Vintage advertising tins can run from a couple of dollars up to thousands for some of the rarest tins. Just recently an Austin Powder Co. Blasting Cap tin sold for over $10,000 at auction.

Advertising tins, because of their original use, often have scratches, dents, even a little rust, so don't let a few imperfections scare you off. But like most collectibles the nicer they are the more desirable. Many of the more recent tins are also collectible, more for the look than the value. But beware of repos of the older tins. Actually the newer type tins are collectible but are priced accordingly.

Maybe you would be interested in creating a small version of a general store, drugstore, hardware store in a corner of the house, a spare room, basement or garage. It can be done and you can control the size, of course it will out grown the space if you really get into it.

Okay, see ya in the morning.
Country Joe

[Country Joe]

Picked up a few neat little tins over the weekend.

Anybody else out there finding stuff?

See ya, Country Joe
Vintage Collectibles, Antiques
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[Country Joe]

Don't know where the photo from the last post went. So here it is again.

[Country Joe]

Picked this up yesterday at the flea market.

See ya, Country Joe
Country Joe's Vintage Collectibles
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[Ohio Duck]

Hi Joe
New to the site here but I will be back after reading some of the posts here. I came across one that had a statment about a Austin Powder Co. Blasting Cap Tin selling for big bucks. I have such a tin and wondered if you had a picture or more information about the one that sold.

[Ellene Meece]

I love the idea of recreating an old general store to display tins! In our museum that I am president of the board, we have an entire cabinet in our "Kitchen" room, dedicated to old tins.

[Les Beyer]

Near York Pennsylvania there is a big antiques mall that has a large room set up as a general store. This room is easily the size of a real general store, not just one wall as you see in many places. Its not just stuff thrown onto shelves either. As in a real store there is patent medicines (empty bottles & boxes), sewing notions and (new but old style) fabrics, hardware items... it's set up much like a museum but everything, except the fixtures, are for sale. It's a good draw for the mall... people go there just to see it and end up walking thru the rest of that very big mall.

[Ellene Meece]

This may be sacrilege to purist collectors, but the use of these old vintage spice tins is quite ingenious...Makes for interesting display anyway! :)

Photo: Spice Girls

[Ellene Meece]

Vintage Tobacco Tins by Tobacco Collectibles

[Ellene Meece]

Vintage Advertising Maxwell House Coffee Tin

Love the photography on this item!

[Ellene Meece]

Anyone collect the "Flat Fifties" Tins?

These flat tins contained 50 factory made cigarettes which took on the nick name "Flat Fifties"

[Les Beyer]

These Flat 50 tins are always a good seller for me at shows in eastern Pennsylvania and western New Jersey. The dark green "Lucky Strike" tins, in particular, are generally gone before lunch time but -as long as the hinges still work- they all sell quickly.

[Ellene Meece]

Hey - good info, Les!