FRUIT CRATE LABELS (dot).COM
Welcome to Pat Jacobsen's
FRUIT CRATE LABELS (dot).COM
If you love labels, you have arrived! This site contains many hundreds of pages of detailed information, illustrations, current prices, the text from my books on label history and values, plus, lists of labels for sale, links to other resources and other fun information about label art. This is the Internet's most authoritative label-art site, maintained by 30 year veteran label historian, collector and author Pat Jacobsen. This site provides visitors everything anyone would want to know about every facet of label collecting, especially advice about selling YOUR labels, what they are worth, and how to establish insurance values for them. We also have the latest books and reference materials available for collectors and enthusiasts, and are a safe and dependable source for qualified information on values for every kind of label! After thirty years of dedicated, full-time research, I am happy to offer you any information you may want or need. Welcome!! -- Pat
PLEASE VISIT MY NEW ENDEAVOUR:
2008 CLEARANCE SALE! Some great deals on eBay and onsite
Click here for unbiased Customer reviews or Seller
Profiles about me on 
SELLING YOUR LABELS
If you have labels to sell, learn about the values
of YOUR labels by reading this first!
<How to sell your labels> And, what "condition" means. Here is all you need to
protect yourself from dealers who might take unfair advantage of you, and
become educated quickly on the realities of the label "business."
Here are some "Qwik-Links"
to this site's primary areas. Email me if you have any questions whatsoever
and I will happily respond. Have Fun! Scroll down further for anything you
are looking for!
Here's Pat with Martha Stewart
on her national show!
And, here are links to the newest books available about labels (and other subjects I enjoy!)
"Arigatoo! The Sushi
Lover's Companion"
< click here
for details > AND
"Extra Fancy -- The
Label Art of the Pacific Northwest!"
<CLICK
HERE FOR THE FULL STORY!>
Also: "PAT JACOBSEN'S MILLENNIUM
GUIDE TO FRUIT CRATE LABELS"
(soon to be revised into "Pat Jacobsen's Guide to Label Collecting"
for release in 2008)
AND, Other new books available to collectors
<CLICK
HERE for all the details!>
"WELCOME," NEW VISITORS!!!
Original Crate Label Art and Agri-Lithographic
History
"What is Fruit Crate Labels (dot) Com?"
"Fruit Crate Labels (dot) Com" is a web site devoted to the collecting
of beautiful, old, lithographic advertising for fresh and canned foods and
agricultural products of the past 150 years. The site itself, is seperated
into Departments, which serve many aspects of collecting. Everything here
is brought to you by "Pat"
Jacobsen, a 27-year career California
and Pacific Coast historian specializing in western agriculture, global
label use, California printing and lithographic history, and one of the
most-recognized leading collectors and historians on labels. This site was
born on May 22, 1997 and is evolving. Please bookmark and revisit often
to see how it develops and let us know how this site can better serve your
needs. Thanks!!! pjacobsen@fruitcratelabels.com
I Buy Labels -- singles and collections! (click here
for qualifications: I Buy):
If you have labels to sell, trade, or need an appraisal for,
or desire to have auctioned to the greater collecting community, please
let me know, and I'll be happy to help. I buy collections or singles. For
more immediate assistance, you may call the number located at the bottom
of this page, and I can help you over the phone. Or, please email your inquiries
through this link: Contact
Pat directly. Click <here>
to learn about our buyer, Pat Jacobsen. I have 30 years of credentials,
books and price guides I have authored, and a collecting network of over
3,000 interested friends.
Also Spanish Citrus Labels: (Solicitar: Etiquettes / marcas de los cajones de las Naranjas y fruitas de Espana!) y Chile, Argentina y Mexico. Muchas Gracias!
What are Fruit Crate Labels?"
Since all fruits and vegetables
were originally shipped in wooden crates, labels were needed for the ends of each crate to identify its
contents, place of origin and to catch the eye of buyers with interesting
graphic images. Beginning on the Pacific Coast of America in the mid-1880s,
crate labels became America's largest innate art-form, advertising countless
millions of boxes of fruit to consumers across the nation and around the
globe for the past 130 years!
The largest producer and user, by far, was California. But Washington,
Oregon British Columbia, Florida, Australia and New Zealand, and other countries
also contributed to the phenomenon. However, in the mid 1950s, due to War
shortages and changes in packaging technologies, labels were no longer necessary
for most of the produce industry, as pre-printed cardboard boxes replaced
the older wooden crates. Some labels are still used today (2006) but only
a small fraction of the numbers used before the 1960s.
More than 100 printing and lithographic companies created labels
for food packers in more than thirty American states. Similarly, several
other countries have used labels of their own for decades, like Spain, Italy,
Canada and Australia. Worldwide, countless billions of labels have been
circulated since the 1880s. Yet, somehow, miraculously, thousands of labels
have been found in varying quantities, enough for collectors to appreciate
from far and wide. Adn, that is why label collecting is so fascinating.
Because nearly all the collectible labels available today, are here by accident.
They were printed, but never used, and so they sat on shelves of old warehouses
for decades, until discovered by collectors. Label collecting as a hobby
began in earnest along the Pacific Coast in the mid-1970s, and has blossomed
ever since, although many people have collected labels as far back as the
1880s! For a glossary of label terms <click
here>
Labels For Sale are in the: The Sample Room
(click here: Samples):
Is our online catalog for sales of authentic, collectible labels - a virtual
label "cyberteria." Never dealing in reproductions, only the real
thing, leftover, unused labels from a bygone era. All labels sold by Pat
and this site are Guaranteed Original, and are in excellent condition, unless
noted. The Sample Room Catalog will offer sales online of myriad rare label
titles. If you are interested in buying labels, visit the Sample Room. I
have thousands of labels in stock, not shown in the Sample Room. So feel
free to contact me with any request you may have, at: patj@fruitcratelabels.com.
Crate Expectations Publishing (click here:
Cratex):
Offers books for sale about labels, label collecting, price guides and lithographic
history. Soon to include multimedia presentations, videos, CD-ROMs, a subscription-based
image library other interactive productions. For info: patj@fruitcratelabels.com
Pat's Packin' House (click here: Patpak):
Offering Nuveaux gift items bearing nostalgic images, such as posters, postcards,
refrigerator magnets, computer mouse pads, calendars and other new products
bearing classic images. Contact: patj@fruitcratelabels.com
FCL.Com Digital Trading Co. (click here:
trading):
Offering image licensing opportunities to publishers, graphic artists and
product manufacturers. We also offer graphic arts and custom label design
services. patj@fruitcratelabels.com
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