Posts tagged with "merchandise"



28. March 2024
1940s Chinese hand fan advertisement for "Robin Hood" cigarettes by the Waterman’s Tobacco Co. (中國華明烟公司) from Shanghai, China. From the MOFBA collection.
Robin Hood, the legendary outlaw from English folklore, famously stole from the rich to give to the poor. This 1940s hand fan advertisement for cigarettes named after the swashbuckling hero is from our collection and shows that the iconic character even stole the hearts and minds of audiences in faraway China.
08. December 2023
1920s trade card for LUX soap with a motif from the classic Chinese novel "Dream of the Red Chamber". From the MOFBA collection.
LUX soap was the first brand in the world to use celebrities as endorsers. This 1920s Chinese trade card from our collection though shows, that before capitalizing on the grandeur and allure of Hollywood it relied of more classical motifs, but which were no less juicy... LUX soap was created by the firm Lever Brothers, now known as Unilever, in 1899. Marketed as a laundry product for over 20 years, only in the 1920s, the company conducted a contest that led them to a very interesting...
16. November 2023
Shanghai U.B. Beer branded ash tray, ca. 1930s. From the MOFBA collection.
For for information on Old Shanghai's largest & longest-standing beer brand please visit our previous blog post here.
22. August 2023
Ca. 1940 hand fan with advertisement for the Shanghai U.B. Beer brewery and featuring comedy duo Han Langen (韩兰根) and Yin Xiucen (殷秀岑). From the MOFBA collection.
You’ve surely heard of Laurel & Hardy, the famous slapstick comedy duo of early American cinema. But did you know that China had its equivalent with Langen Han & Xiucen Yin? A 1940 hand fan advertisement for Shanghai U.B. Beer from our collection reminds us of their forgotten history.
06. June 2022
A kerosene lamp branded by Lockwood Bros, Pampa, Sheffield and Shanghai Rex & Co (公发英行 - "Kung-Fah" ). From the MOFBA collection.
22. May 2022
The brand by British manufacturer W.D. & H.O. Wills was one of the first machine-made Western cigarettes introduced to the Chinese market in the late 20th century. When British American Tobacco (BAT) was formed in 1902 it took over all the assets and brand rights for China from Wills and would turn Ruby Queen into one of the most recognized and successful tobacco brands in the first Republic of China. At one point in the 1920s Ruby Queen would even become the second most popular cigarette...
25. April 2022
Large Chinese Bayer Aspirin & Gardan vintage enamel advertising thermometer. From the MOFBA collection.
17. January 2022
06. December 2021
Shanghai EWO beer branded hand fan from the MOFBA collection
For almost 30 years the local Shanghai beer market was dominated by the omnipresent U.B. (友啤) beer brand. Its original creator was the Shanghai Union-Brauerei AG, incorporated 1912 by the German company Schwarzkopf & Co from Tsingtau (now Qingdao). After the Great War in 1918 a previously minor Norwegian shareholder, Mr. Frithjof Hoehnke, took over the business and renamed it to Aktieselskabet Union Bryggeri or Scandinavian Brewery Co. Ltd in English. In 1931 the company was once more...
28. June 2021

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