This past Friday, my wife Heidi and I went to an excellent Indian restaurant by the name of Ganges. We went early since we were both hungry, and we had the choice of any seat in the restaurant. We chose near a window. Since it was rush hour (A busy time for people going home), I was counting the busses that were going by. The last time that we were there,there were lots of busses full of people going by, and I was impressed with the number of busses and the timing of them. I counted about 15 busses before I got distracted and stopped. Needless to say, I had busses on my mind when I thought up today's post on Sunday.
If you enlarge the photo above, you'll see the following names:
OXO
PEARSSOAP
Coleman's
Mustard
Van Houten's Cocoa
Harry Lauder at the Tivoli
Mellin's
Food
(I didn't have enough time to research Mellin's Food)*
What's interesting to note is that there are no illustrations of photographs accompanying the
large-sized lettering on the advertisements. All there are are black or white lettering on coloured backgrounds.
OXO
Oxo is a company that made beef broth (like a soup but clear). The company was originally the Liebig Extract of Meat Company and was eventually purchased by the Societe de Fray Bentos Giebert & Cie. Th original production was in Uruguay in South America.
PEARSSOAP
Pears Soap isa company that originally manufactured a natural-based soap from glycerine. It was first produced and sold in 1807 - 207 years ago. It is still in production. It has a transparent appearance and is a nice amber colour.
According to Unilever, a mega multinational corporation, "Pears Soap was the world's first registered brand,and is therefore the world's oldest continuously existing brand."*
* en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pears_soap
The wonderful painting below was purchased by Pears Soap for advertisements. Mr. Thomas J.Barratt became the company bookkeeper in 1864.However his true genius" was in advertising, and he's "sometimes described as being the father of modern advertising".*
* en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pears_soap
Coleman's
Mustard
Coleman's is another British company that still exits today. The company was first called J.J.Colemans' of Norwich.The mustard of course was first created by Mr. Jeremiah Coleman was back in 1814, with 2014 now being the 200th anniversary of this product.. He blended a combination of brown and white mustard to create his flavourful product. The company was originally at a water mill, where I'm sure a grinding stone used the natural energy of flowing water to ground the seeds to a fine powder.
Van Houten's Cocoa
When you read all of the histories of these companies, you get a euphoric felling for the ability of people to create and invent. The Van Houten's Cocoa is no exception. The company was started by a Dutch father and son team by the surname of van Houten. Coenraad Johannes was the father, and his sonly name was Casperus. Originally cocoa (the bean of a South American plant) was ground into a fine powder and was then mixed with sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla in milk to create a very tasty drink. However if you've ever mixed a real chocolate powder into milk it doesn't dissolve well. Coenradd, the father was a chemist by profession,and in 1828, he patented an inexpensive way to extract the rich fatty oils from the cocoa beans. The centre of the cocoa beans are called "nibs" and have a fat content of 54%.This rich core was then reduced by Coenraad's invention - a hydraulic press to reduce the fat content to half. From there a much finer powder was created to more easily dissolve in milk. THe genius here was the dramatic improvement in all chocolate products - especially chocolate bars!
Although history generally credits the son Casarus with the invention, the true credit belong to the father - Coenraad Johannes!*
*description paraphrasing courtesy of Wikipedia
Harry Lauder at the Tivoli
The building below is called the Tivoli Theatre where Sir Harry Lauder once performed.
SHe, the building was once a famous and fine music hall in its' time, and attracted large audiences to hear fine musicians and singers perform.
Of course, what extraordinary post would be great without a person and his exceptional talent.
I never heard of Harry Lauder, later be be knighted as Sir Harry Lauder. His story is also exceptional. His father passed away at a young age, and being the 1880's, children had to go to work, since education above the age of 11 required payment. Harry worked for the Eddlewood Colliery in Scotland. The word colliery means the entire grouping of buildings and mines that are part and parcel of a coal mine. This he did for 10 years.
Harry's real talent was in singing,and he did so as to the miners as they came and went form the mines.His magnificent voice encouraged him to seek employment in local music halls which he did.
I won't spoil the story, suffice to day that this story ends exceptionally with fame and fortune garnered for this Harry's Lauder's most magnificent talent and personality.
Personally, I'm not an avid reader, but a very selective reader, and I like details. Today's post required lots more time to research the material to be found on the 1911 toy,so the story her is moray about the advertisements that the toy. However that 1911 Bing toy is a true "gem" considering it's 103years old, and in a condition that I'd wish if I lived to be 103 years old.
I have to thank a reader by the name of Bonnie Richardson for the concept of this post which is very different. She wrote something to me and I immediately though of today's concept by "thinking outside the box".
I can;t promise that I'll deviate from the norm, but I certainly got a great motivation to think outside the box!
Thanks for dropping by, and as always,
have a great part of the day or night,
wherever you may be,
Stacey
toysearcher@gnail.com
