04. August 2024
A colorful 1930s print advertisement for the Hazelwood "The Dollar Brick" ice cream. More on the Hazelwood brand and its manufacturer Henningsen Produce from Shanghai, China in our previous article here.
05. July 2024
Behold an original 1930s Philips light bulb from our collection. If you look closely, you’ll however notice a strange ad behind it: A hint at the largest global business conspiracy you have never heard of and that found its end by what eventually unfolded in China.
30. October 2023
Halloween Special! Here's how foreign brands and local businesses advertised for the celebration in Shanghai in October 1938. Clippings from an original North-China Daily News paper in the MOFBA collection.
13. October 2023
This 1946 Shanghai magazine ad for Eng Aun Tong features a puzzling key visual - we certainly don't recommend using Tiger Balm as a sunscreen... The well-known heat rub was created in the 1870s by a Chinese herbalist in Burma. His sons took over the company in 1908 and developed it into a highly successful business empire which exported to China, Japan, and across Southeast Asia. In 1920 the headquarter was moved to Singapore where it continues to be manufactured to this day.
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...
10. April 2023
This exceptionally rare 1917 calendar poster for State Express 555 cigarettes from our collection, tells the unlikely story of a Western brand that, with one simple trick, became a top-seller in China and was even endorsed by the country’s most notorious “influencer” … State Express were luxury cigarettes manufactured in the United Kingdom by the Ardath Tobacco Company. The brand was founded in London in 1896 by tobacco merchant Sir Albert Levy (1864–1937).
28. March 2023
Like no other, this vibrant ad for the trifecta of Victor Sassoon’s hospitality empire, symbolizes the unprecedented real-estate boom and architectural splendor of Shanghai in the early 1930s. Join us on a journey through the history of the three edifices, all of which still house hotels today.
15. February 2023
This marvelous commemorative booklet from our collection was published on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the celebrated Shanghai Union Brewery. It offers an intriguing testament to Shanghai’s world-famous history of commerce, design, architecture and… tragedy.
23. January 2023
Happy Chinese New Year! This rare A.S. Watsons advertisement from our collection not only has a peculiar design around the auspicious character 康 (health), but tells the origin story and evolution of the famous Chinese calendar posters which were in fact pioneered by Watsons in the 1880s together with a second British firm.
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