Posts tagged with "sign"



09. January 2023
A tin advertising for Farbwerke vorm. Meister Lucius & Brüning depicting an imagined scene of a medieval German king meeting a Qing Dynasty emperor. From the MOFBA collection.
"Once upon a time, on a fair and wondrous day, the brave King of the Franks did journey to the fabled land of Cathay. Resplendent in his ermine-trimmed robes, he arrived at the Imperial Palace in the celestial city of Beijing. There, he was greeted with the utmost reverence by the Son of Heaven, the august Emperor of China, who was attired in his finest silks and adorned with glittering jewels. When the two monarchs took their seats of honor, a hush fell over the court, for all knew that this...
25. April 2022
Large Chinese Bayer Aspirin & Gardan vintage enamel advertising thermometer. From the MOFBA collection.
04. October 2021
Late 1920s metal sign from the MOFBA collection: Lever's Hygiene Medical Soap sold here
When British Lever Brothers launched Lifebuoy soap in 1894, it was with a mission to ‘make cleanliness commonplace’. This was important because in Victorian England infectious diseases were the number one cause of death. Lifebuoy came to the rescue with an effective antibacterial soap which was affordable and widely available. The company first entered China in 1911 when the newly created 'Lever Brothers China' - or LBC (利华肥皂有限公司) took over from treaty port agents the...
30. June 2020
Buick China enamel sign from the MOFBA collection
Buick is one of the oldest automobile brands in the world and the oldest in the United States. The first two Buick automobiles were made in 1899 and 1900 at the "Buick Auto-Vim and Power Company" by founder David Dunbar Buick and chief-engineer Walter Marr. Subsequently in 1904 William C. Durant was brought in as controlling investor. Durant built a few more model B's in 1904, and greatly stepped up production for the model C in 1905, then spent the next four years turning Buick into the...