That's my House

Lately I have been asking customers to send me their stories as to how they are connected to their ads. As I have mentioned earlier a lot of times it is a relative in the ad or the family business.

A couple of weeks ago I had a customer buy a real estate ad and she had a special reason for doing so...it was her house. Now the ad was from 1904. That is 106 years ago. Wow...

Thank you Angela and here's to you and your Very Old House.

What about you? Do you think Country Life magazine listed your house for sale 100 years ago?

Here are the ads:

The Old Ad Store

That's my Grandfather

One of the fun aspects of selling vintage advertising online is discovering folks relatives. At least once a month I get an email that Uncle Freddy or Great Grandpa Nelson is in that ad I am selling. Or like the ad to the right John Cott, Cott Beverages. Here is a little secret...I know that.

No I don't know that your grandfather and grandmother started a tire company in Camden NJ. What I do know is that when an ad has an individual in it by name, then there is a good chance there is a relative somewhere googling that same name.

And how much fun is it when my ad pops up and there is sweet Sue your cousin's older sisters first teacher? Who married....well you get my drift.

Google your name, your grandparents name, etc. Then click on the shopping tab. See what you get!

Or search my shops:
The Old Ad Store

Sozodont Dentifrice Ads

Sozodont was the creation of a New Jersey dentist, Roswell van Buskirk. The name was derived from the Greek sozo meaning "to save" and dontia, meaning teeth. It actually did just the opposite.


The product made strong use of advertising as a marketing tool and by the late nineteenth century was an established household word. This ad is from a 1905 Theatre magazine and features a lovely lady holding her finger to her tooth a la Mini Me and Dr. Evil. I guess she is just pointing to what are supposed to be sparkling white teeth.

What did Sozodont promise? As was the custom in these early ads more than it could deliver or that was possible on earth.

Its manufacturers claimed that Sozodont would clean and preserve the teeth and harden the gums, as well as "impart a delightfully refreshing taste and feeling to the mouth." In addition, claimed promotional material, "it prevents the accumulation of tarter on the teeth and arrests the progress of decay."
As you can see from the Sarah Bernhardt ad on the right Sozodont became one of the leading toothpastes in the world. However, doom was looming because Sozodont did not actually whiten your teeth. As several dentists wrote continued use of the powder made your teeth yellow and removed the enamel. Yuck.
Can you imagine waking up every morning and thinking darn I have to use more Sozodont because my teeth are just not getting white enough.
And of course the ads:

McIlhenny Tabasco Ads

What drives a man to bury small seeds on an island off the state of Louisiana; seeds that will grow a pepper that can knock your socks off? Ask Edmund McIlhenny's family and they will say that great great grandpa, the Capsicum frutescens pepper and Avery Island were made for each other.

From a great hot sauce to a pretty fancy line of ties McIlhenny's is one of those brands that is instantly recognized. Heck they even have their own slot machine in Vegas.

Their website is fun to visit and you can HERE. They even offer coupons HERE.

My McIlhenny's ads can be seen at the Old Ad Store

Elgin Watch Ads

Another watch that interests me (and a lot of others) is the Elgin. I just posted this ad to the left last night. This is one of the Elgin Wonder Tales series and features General Frank Taylor US Army, retired with his Elgin watch story. It is noted that General Taylor chased Sitting Bull and fought the wily Filipinos.

Elgin was founded in 1864, as the civil war was coming to an end. The first watch Elgin made, an 18 sized B W Raymond railroad grade watch, was finished in 1867 and over the next 100 years, they went on to produce about 60 million watches. Elgin produced their first wristwatch around 1910, leading most other American watch companies by many years.
Elgin was originally called the "National Watch Company". The name never really stuck and in 1874, they changed their name to the "Elgin National Watch Company" because most of the watch trade and public were calling them "watches from Elgin". The ad to the right is from an April 1870 issue of Harper's Magazine and shows the company name as National Watch Company. The ad is for the Lady Elgin.

On May 20, 1869 the First Lady Elgin made its appearance and was the first of a series of 10 size movements and it was also key wind.

There are many web sites about Elgin watches. One of my favorites is: The Elgin Watch Collectors Site.

Here are my ads:

THE LARKIN SOAP COMPANY

John Durant Larkin (1848-1926) built an empire that rivaled Sears Roebuck based on a bar of soap and The Larkin Plan.

Initially he toiled in grueling fourteen-hour days producing the soap product that he then went out to sell door-to-door from morning to night. Thus began the “factory to family” theme that would be the mainstay of the Larkin Company throughout its history

All that changed during a discussion with his brother-in-law, the maketing wizard/genuis Elbert Hubbard (Fra Elbertus to some of us)

The growth of the company's mail-order business was spurred by Hubbard's suggestion that the Larkin Company replace the bulky standard twelve-cake package of soap with a lighter three cake box of soap for ten cents. Later, Larkin added small premiums to soap boxes as an inducement for customers to buy more soap. These modest premiums included handkerchiefs with toilet soap, towels with soap powder, or one-cent coins. Eventually, Larkin inserted certificates into the packaged products which could be redeemed by mail at the Buffalo office.

In 1886, Elbert Hubbard created the "Combination Box," a six dollar assortment of toilet soaps shipped for thirty days' approval. This package was altered, in 1891, to the ten-dollar Combination Box. It contained one hundred bars of Sweet Home Soap, nine small boxes of fine toilet soaps and creams, and a premium valued at ten dollars. Both packages contained enough soap to last the average family a year at a price that was roughly one week's pay. The purchase of these boxes entitled customers to certificates that could then be exchanged for selected items of their choice from the company's catalog which published Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter editions. The Larkin catalog offered hundreds of products and premiums. By selling directly to the consumer expenses were eliminated and the savings passed on through "free" premiums that were equal in value to the product's price.

Sales boomed from $220,000 in 1892 to $15 million by 1906. Larkin products and premiums made it possible for customers to furnish their homes, stock their pantries, and clothe their children. The "Larkin Club" was established enabling the customer to purchase items on the installment plan. It became the heart of the mail order business and a key to the company's success.The company referred to the clubs as the highest and most popular development of the Larkin Idea.

The growth of department stores, the popularity of the automobile and the volatility of the marketplace, especially during the Great Depression, damaged the Larkin Company's mail order business. Larkin's diversification into its own chains of retail food markets, gasoline stations, home craft stores, and a department store did not revive the company. The loss of key executives due to retirement or death and internal struggles among the next generation of Larkin executives, hurried the demise of the company. Sales fell from $28.6 million in 1920 to $2 million by 1939 and the Company ceased operations in the 1940's.

My ads:


Fra Elbertus created his own Goodie Box that he sold out of Roycrofters in East Aurora, NY.

Need a Nickle for the Soda Machine: Vintage Vending Machine Ads

I have some new friends in the ad collecting business and they are avid fans of Soda Pop Vending Machines! They have taken kindly to my web site deovoted to the soda industry: THE SODA SHOPPE VINTAGE ADS on eCrater.

As always when I meet "virtually" new customers, I become interested in their interests. I have discovered some beautiful sites for those interested in collecting, restoring or enjoying antique vending machines.

The Antiquities Vending Co has been in business since 1989. They have beautiful graphics on thier site.

Another great site for those interested is Soda-Machines.com