Posts tagged with "chocolate"



07. August 2023
A rare 1915 Cadbury's China calendar poster advertisement created by Walter Nutter & Co ("Kung-fah"), formerly Rex & Co Shanghai. From the MOFBA collection.
Although cocoa was introduced to Europe sometime in the 16th century it was not until the Industrial Revolution that new processes emerged which sped the production of chocolate and with that the development of an affordable mass market product. In 1824, John Cadbury, began selling tea, coffee and drinking chocolate in Bull Street in Birmingham, England. In 1847, John became a partner with his brother Benjamin and the company became known as "Cadbury Brothers”. The new firm began exporting...
24. July 2023
20. June 2023
A 1930s chocolate box from the Mars Chocolate & Candy Factory from Harbin, Dalian branch inscribed “SWEET TSI KUNG MEET CO. LTD - DAI REN SI KANG”. From the MOFBA collection.
This exquisite chocolate box from our collection unveils the exceptional history of Russian-Jewish immigrants who from the 1920s to 1940s, built a vast chocolate production empire, spanning across four factories in four Chinese cities and operating seven outlet stores.
12. December 2022
J.S. Fry & Son's 1927 Chinese Calendar Poster Advertising. From the MOFBA collection
A sophisticated Old Shanghai lady relaxing with a bite of Fry’s chocolate at her country home. Her bamboo flute (or is it maybe an opium pipe?) close beside her. What in 1927 may have sounded like an intriguing value proposition for J.S. Fry & Son’s in the Middle Kingdom, turned out to be nothing but a pipe dream…. Joseph Fry from Bristol, England started making chocolate around 1759. After several changes of name and ownership, the business became J. S. Fry & Sons in 1822. In...
05. December 2022
A Shanghai Bakerite "Sullivan" Assorted Biscuits box. From the MOFBA collection.
The crumb trail of Bakerite leads us back to the American James David Sullivan, who after serving in the Spanish American War, came to China at the turn of the century and established the Denniston & Sullivan photo supplies store on Broadway (today’s Daming Rd.) in the Shanghai International Settlement. In June 1906 Sullivan sold the business to former employees Messrs. L.L. Hopkins and J.J. Gilmore who continued to operate it but moved it to Nanking Rd. (todays Nanjing East Rd.)
26. December 2021