30. July 2025
This exquisite 1926 map of Shanghai features an ad for Nestlé chocolate of which we also have an original packaging in our collection. Researching it, we came across the fascinating story how the well-known brand crowdsourced its first English & Chinese slogans for the China market.
24. April 2023
This stunningly illustrated 1933 advertisement for Federal cigarettes from our collection tells the history of the British company Major Drapkin, which was one of the last foreign companies to ever advertise in Republican China. Major Drapkin & Co was a tobacco manufacturer founded in England in 1898. Its best-selling brand was The Grey’s, named after the Royal Scots Greys cavalry regiment of the British Army. The company eventually became part of the United Kingdom Tobacco Co which got...
20. June 2022
A beautiful (and unopened!) art-deco design tea tin of "Selected Tea" by the Sincere Co. Shanghai. Sincere was the first Chinese-owned department store in Shanghai, opened in 1917. It was also the first of the "4 Big Department Stores" of Old Shanghai, followed by the Wing-On, the Sun Sun and the Sun. The relentless competition between them spurred modern retail innovations throughout the 1920s, 30s and 40s, such as in this case consumer packaged goods under "Sincere's" own private label brand...
24. January 2022
Tobralco was a fabrics brand by British company Tootal Broadhurst Lee Co, which was founded 1799 in Manchester. In 1918 a research department was established, which carried out early work on creating crease resistant fabric. The company was notable for its early use of brand names and was a leader in the field of selling direct to retailers. By 1939, the firm had spinning, weaving and yarn dyeing factories across England and 5 branches overseas. Additionally the company had agencies throughout...
13. September 2021
Presumably early 1920s as the eventual (and extremely popular!) Chinese brand name 老刀牌is not yet used, the key visuals cannon although is already trivialized. Read the brands back story and evolution here.
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