eBay Eyes: Went Fishin'

I seem to have taken a bit of a hiatus from posting. But hey, isn’t that what summer is for?

These vintage reel boxes might trigger memories for some of you, but I’ve no salty sentimentality to offer. You see mine were not a seafaring people. Navy service during WWII cured my father of any further interest in maritime adventure. Ocean-passage to Ellis Island was quite enough for his father before that.

Fortunately, no nautical expertise is necessary to enjoy the period graphics on these old boxes.

What’s the opposite of “deep-sea” fishing? That’s me, age 3, with big bro.

eBay Eyes is an occasional presentation of found visual treats from that ever-expanding, electronic mega-marketplace.

Firecracker Boards

I was going to save this for July 4th, but I just couldn't wait. Later this week, Morphy Auctions of Pennsylvania will be offering over 1,300 lots of pyrotechniana from the collection of George Moyer. You may have read about his five decades of collecting all things firecracker-related in the New York Times, a couple of weeks ago. The labels, of course, are endlessly fascinating for their iconography and design, but for me the gems are the salesman's sample boards. The careful arrays of sparklers, roman candles, rockets, pinwheels, cones, etc., all seem to hint at the spectacular displays awaiting the user.

You can see all 19 of them, and slightly larger images of the ones I’ve posted, here.

Gunpowder Labels

DuPont might be best known for creating a synthetic parallel universe of our natural material world. The company replaced silk with nylon, glass with Lucite, rubber with neoprene, and stone with Corian. So synonymous is the company with chemicals, that substances such as Lycra, Teflon, and Kevlar have become household names. But when founder Eleuthère Irénée du Pont established the company in 1802, its sole business was the manufacture of gunpowder.

By the war of 1812, DuPont was the largest supplier of black powder to the U.S. government. During the Civil War, the company provided almost half of the powder used by the Union forces. As explosives technology advanced, the company became a leader in dynamite production and smokeless powder. (More detail here.)

Around the time of WWI, DuPont diversified into chemicals, and by the 1990s moved completely away from the blasting business. What remained with the company, however, was an amazing archive of powder labels. It now resides at the Hagley Museum and Library along with the rest of the corporate archives. Everything from duck shooting to mine blasting is represented and in addition to the DuPont brand, there are labels of acquired mills, and a collection of foreign labels as well. There are even a few original sketches.