Tin Sign Info

Men in search of quick fortunes began drifting into Death Valley after the Civil War, hoping to find a lucky strike of gold or silver.  In 1881, one such prospector, Aaron Winters, was living with his wife, Rosie, at Ash Meadows, a desolate place near the Funeral Mountain, on the east side of Death Valley.

According to one visitor, the Winters lived in a hovel, “close against a hill, one side half-hewn out of rock, with a thatched roof. The earth served as a floor.”

That visitor was Harry Spiller, who had come riding down from Nevada, looking for a mineral that men were cashing in on big there.  “It lays in dry lake bottoms,” he told Winters, “white crystals like cottonball turned into mineral.  They call it borax.  Big demand for it.”

Spiller indicated that a fortune could be made by anyone lucky enough to find borax beds in Death Valley.  Winters questioned the visitor.  He learned that when sulphuric acid and alcohol are poured over borax and ignited, the mixture burns with a green flame.

After Spiller left, Winters obtained the chemicals he needed to make the test.  He was certain he had seen deposits in Death Valley resembling Spiller’s description of borax.  Making camp at Furnace Creek in Death Valley, Winters and his wife went to a nearby marsh and gathered up some deposits.

They then waited for nightfall to make the test.  As darkness closed in, Winters placed some of the deposits in a saucer, poured sulphuric acid and alcohol over them and struck a match.  It was an anxious moment.  For years, the couple had lived like desert Indians, eating mesquite beans and lizards when they had no flour and bacon.  Rosie had suffered keenly from the desperation of their situation.  Now, in a moment, the color of a flame would tell them whether they could look forward to better things, or only more of the same dreary existence.

With trembling hand, Winters held the match to the mixture.  “She burns green, Rosie!” he bellowed.  “By God, we’re rich!”

Winters sent samples of the material to the William T. Coleman Company in San Francisco.  He then quietly filed claims to the water rights at Furnace Creek.  A canny fellow, Winters knew that a borax plant couldn’t operate without water.

A Coleman representative soon arrived at Furnace Creek.  Winters haggled until he had secured the promise of a check for $20,000 for discovery rights, to be paid immediately after he had shown the Coleman representative where the deposit was located.

The representative may not have been entirely happy when he found out that the borax was located in the middle of nowhere; nevertheless, he handed over a check and began staking claims.  Then he discovered that Winters owned the water rights.  The Coleman representative had no choice but to reluctantly hand over another check, for $2,500, to secure those rights as well.

With his newfound wealth, Winters treated Rosie to a shopping spree in San Francisco, before settling down with her on a desert ranch outside Pahrump, Nevada, which he had purchased for $20,000.

Rosie bought new dresses and other comforts, but she did not have long to enjoy her newfound luxuries.  In 1887, Aaron Winters, owing back taxes, lost all but a small part of the ranch.  However, he remained a part of the Death Valley borax story.

This Swift’s Borax soap tin sign makes a great gift for someone or even get one for your self.

Baby Ruth is a candy bar that is made of chocolate-covered peanuts, caramel, and nougat, though the nougat found in it is more like fudge than is found in many other American candy bars. The bar was a staple of Chicago-based Curtiss Candy Company for some seven decades. Curtiss was later purchased by Nabisco, and after a series of mergers and acquisitions, the candy bar is currently produced by Nestlé. In 1921 the Curtiss Candy Company refashioned its Kandy Kake into the Baby Ruth.

Although the name of the candy bar sounds nearly identical to the name of the famous baseball player Babe Ruth, the Curtiss Candy Company has traditionally claimed that it was named after President Grover Cleveland’s daughter, Ruth Cleveland. Nonetheless, the bar first appeared in 1921, as Babe Ruth’s fame was on the rise and long after Cleveland had left the White House and 15 years after his daughter had died. Moreover, the company had failed to negotiate an endorsement deal with Ruth, and many saw the company’s story about the origin of the name of the bar as merely a way to avoid having to pay the baseball player any royalties. Ironically, Curtiss successfully shut down a rival bar that was approved by, and named for, Ruth, on the grounds that the names were too similar in the case of George H. Ruth Candy Co. v. Curtiss Candy Co, 49 F.2d 1033 (1931).

In the edition called What Are Hyenas Laughing At, Anyway? (1995), p.84, he reports the standard story about the bar being named for Grover Cleveland’s daughter, with interesting additional information that ties it to the President: “The trademark was patterned exactly after the engraved lettering of the name used on a medallion struck for the Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893, and picturing the President, his wife, and daughter Baby Ruth.”

The next edition, How Do Astronauts Scratch an Itch? (1996), p. 288-289, brings out a new and potentially more plausible (and prosaic) explanation. The author was tipped off by a letter writer, referring to another trivia collection, More Misinformation, by Tom Burnam: “Burnam concluded that the candy bar was named… after the granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Williamson, candy makers who developed the original formula and sold it to Curtiss.” (Williamson had also sold the “Oh Henry!” formula to Curtiss around that time.) The writeup goes on to note that marketing the product as being named for a company executive’s granddaughter would likely have been less successful, hence their “official” story.

However, in “Do Elephants Jump?” (2004), p. 264-265, David Mikkelson of Snopes.com denies the claim that the Williamsons invented the recipe, as Mr. George Williamson was head of the Williamson Candy Company, producers of the Oh Henry! bar. He continues to say that “the Baby Ruth bar came about when Otto Schnering, founder of the Curtiss Candy Company, made some alterations to his company’s first candy offering, a confection known as ‘Kandy Kake.’”

As if to tweak their own official denial of the name’s origin, after Babe Ruth’s Called Shot at Wrigley Field in the 1932 World Series, the Chicago-based Curtiss company installed an illuminated advertising sign for Baby Ruth on the roof of one of the flats across Sheffield Avenue, near where Ruth’s home run ball had landed in center field. The sign stood for some four decades before finally being removed.

Company founder Otto Schnering chartered a plane in 1923 to drop thousands of Baby Ruth bars over the city of Pittsburgh — each with its own mini parachute.

In 1995, a company representing the Ruth estate licensed his name and likeness for use in a Baby Ruth marketing campaign.

On p.34 of the spring, 2007, edition of the Chicago Cubs game program, there is a full-page ad showing a partially-unwrapped Baby Ruth in front of the Wrigley ivy, with the caption, “The official candy bar of major league baseball, and proud sponsor of the Chicago Cubs.”

Continuing the baseball-oriented theme, during the summer and post-season of the 2007 season, a TV ad for the candy bar showed an entire stadium (played by Dodger Stadium) filled with people munching Baby Ruths, and thus having to “hum” rather than singing along with “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” during the seventh-inning stretch.

This is the story behind the Baby Ruth candy bar know you can have your very own tin sign to remember days gone by.

The image of Miss Sunbeam® was created by a well known children’s book illustrator named Ellen Segner during the early 1940’s. Miss Sunbeam® was drawn from life by Ellen Segner in Washington Square Park in New York City and was based upon her observation over several days of a blonde-haired, blue-eyed little girl playing in the park. From these drawings, she developed the original oil painting of Miss Sunbeam®, which hangs today in the offices of Quality Bakers of America. Ellen Segner produced over 30 original oil paintings of Miss Sunbeam® that were used for print and outdoor advertising in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s across the USA.

Sunbeam® White Bread was first marketed in the Philadelphia, PA area in 1942, where it was an immediate success. After the Second World War ended, many bakers across the United States began to bake the Miss Sunbeam® Brand as members of the Quality Bakers of America Cooperative. Today approximately 40 bakeries covering the US from coast to coast bake and distribute Miss Sunbeam® breads and rolls.

You can have this tin sign to hang up on the wall in your kitchen or any room you choice and will fit in with any decor.

The business of food will always be profitable when it’s approached the right way. Fresh ingredients and friendly service are often enough to set a successful diner apart from the run of the mill. Of course, no traditional diner would be complete without some classic décor. Antique bar stools, a steel counter and a chalk board for listing the day’s specials are basic diner essentials.

Bare walls would never do in a cozy restaurant, and that’s where diner signs become indispensable. Some old-fashioned signs advertise products from a bygone age. Others simply provide a gentle reminder about the wholesome food that awaits eager patrons. Either way, retro signs add an extra element of ambiance to the classic diner experience.

It all started with a decision.
Our company originated with candy-manufacturer Milton Hershey’s decision in 1894 to produce sweet chocolate as a coating for his caramels. Located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, he called his new enterprise the Hershey Chocolate Company. In 1900, the company began producing milk chocolate in bars, wafers and other shapes. With mass-production, Hershey was able to lower the per-unit cost and make milk chocolate, once a luxury item for the wealthy, affordable to all. One early advertising slogan described this new product as “a palatable confection and a most nourishing food.”

A company on the move.
The immediate success of Hershey’s low-cost, high-quality milk chocolate soon caused the company’s owner to consider increasing his production facilities. He decided to build a new chocolate factory amid the gently rolling farmland of south-central Pennsylvania in Derry Township, where he had been born. Close to the ports of New York and Philadelphia which supplied the imported sugar and cocoa beans needed, surrounded by dairy farms that provided the milk required, and with a local labor supply of honest, hard-working people, the location was perfect. By the summer of 1905, the new factory was turning out delicious milk chocolate.

A KISS for the whole world.
Looking to expand its product line, the company in 1907 began producing a flat-bottomed, conical milk chocolate candy which Mr. Hershey decided to name HERSHEY’S KISSES Chocolates. At first, they were individually wrapped in little squares of silver foil, but in 1921 machine wrapping was introduced. That technology was also used to add the familiar “plume” at the top to signify to consumers that this was a genuine HERSHEY’S KISS Chocolate. In 1924, the company even had it trademarked.

Coffee is a brewed beverage prepared from roasted seeds, commonly called coffee beans, of the coffee plant. Due to its caffeine content, coffee has a stimulating effect in humans. Today, coffee is one of the most popular beverages worldwide.

Coffee was first consumed in the ninth century, when it was discovered in the highlands of Ethiopia. From there, it spread to Egypt and Yemen, and by the 15th century, had reached Azerbaijan, Persia, Turkey, and northern Africa. From the Muslim world, coffee spread to Italy, then to the rest of Europe, to Indonesia, and to the Americas.

Coffee berries, which contain the coffee bean, are produced by several species of small evergreen bush of the genus Coffea. The two most commonly grown species are Coffea canephora (also known as Coffea robusta) and Coffea arabica. These are cultivated in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa. Once ripe, coffee berries are picked, processed, and dried. The seeds are then roasted, undergoing several physical and chemical changes. They are roasted to varying degrees, depending on the desired flavor. They are then ground and brewed to create coffee. Coffee can be prepared and presented in a variety of ways.

Coffee has played an important role in many societies throughout modern history. In Africa and Yemen, it was used in religious ceremonies. As a result, the Ethiopian Church banned its secular consumption until the reign of Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia. It was banned in Ottoman Turkey in the 17th century for political reasons, and was associated with rebellious political activities in Europe.

Coffee is an important export commodity. In 2004, coffee was the top agricultural export for 12 countries, and in 2005, it was the world’s seventh-largest legal agricultural export by value.

Some controversy is associated with coffee cultivation and its impact on the environment. Many studies have examined the relationship between coffee consumption and certain medical conditions; whether the overall effects of coffee are positive or negative is still disputed.

Call it a cupcake caper: mystery surrounds who “invented” the original Hostess Cup Cake in 1919, although it was baking executive D.R. “Doc” Rice, who, in 1950 added the signature seven squiggles and vanilla-crème filling - a move that created the best selling snack cake in history.

As the vintage slogan said, “You get a big delight in every bite.” Florida resident Suzanne Rutland clearly agrees. She’s reportedly eaten more than 50,000 Hostess Cup Cakes, as many as four per day since her early childhood when she founded a Hostess Cup Cake Club. “Creamy” was the secret password.

“We all have things that we love and can’t live without,” she said. “Some people need their coffee each morning. I need my Hostess Cup Cakes!” If your one of those that needs a hostess cup cake every day, you can have a hostess cup cake tin sign for your kitchen to show everyone thaat your cup cake fan.

While it’s hard to improve on perfection, consumers have been able to sink their teeth into a few twists on the original over the years, including the popular Golden Cup Cakes, which debuted in 1999.

Popsicle is the most popular brand of ice pop in the U.S. and Canada. Popsicle is a trademark owned by Unilever, although it has entered the general vernacular in North America. It was founded in Michigan.
There are more than thirty different flavors. You can still have a popsicle tin sign to remember days gone bye.

1905, 11-year-old Frank Epperson left out on his porch a mixture of powdered soda and water that contained a stir stick. That night, temperatures in San Francisco reached record low temperature. When he woke the next morning, he discovered that it had frozen to the stir stick, creating a fruit flavored ‘icicle’ … a treat that he named his ‘epsicle’. He then waited 18 years before releasing it to the public.
1922, the ice-lollipop was introduced to the public for the first time at an Alameda, California amusement park, Neptune Beach
1924, Frank Epperson applied for a patent for “frozen confectionery” called the Epsicle ice pop, which he re-named the Popsicle, allegedly at the insistence of his children. It was originally available in seven flavors and marketed as a “frozen drink on a stick.”
1925, Epperson sold the Popsicle to the Joe Lowe Company of New York. Good Humor, a subsidiary of Unilever, now owns the rights.
In April 1939, a mascot named Popsicle Pete was introduced on the radio program Buck Rogers in the 25th Century as having won the “Typical American Boy Contest.”[1] The character told listeners that they could win presents if they sent packaging from Popsicle products to the manufacturer. He appeared in print and television advertisements, and activity books until 1995.
In June 2006, Popsicles with “Natural Flavors and Colors” were introduced, replacing the original versions. Company spokespeople cited customer requests for “an option without some colors and flavors to which some had allergies” as the reason for the change.

Ding Dongs - enrobedru.com/food-and-candy with chocolate coating, with rich and majestic crème filling, you can’t help but feel like royalty when you bite into one.  In fact, when they were first introduced, they were actually called King Dons in some parts of the country (and Big Wheels in some regions),

The name Ding Dong came from the chiming bells used in Hostess’ first television commercials and you’ll be singing a happy tune every time you polish off a package.  Nibble them slowly, like a king or queen, and savor the creamy goodness of every morsel, or bite right into that creamy center and get a mouthful of chocolate goodness.

Know you can have your very own Ding Dong tin sign to show all your friends that your Ding Dong lover.

PEZ is the brand name of an Austrian candy and the pocket mechanical dispensers for said candy. The candy takes the shape of pressed, dry, straight-edged blocks (15mm (5/8 inch) long, 8mm wide and 5mm high), with PEZ dispensers holding 12 pieces of PEZ candy.

The name PEZ was derived from the letters from the first, the middle and the end of the German word for peppermint, Pfefferminz, the first PEZ flavor. PEZ was originally introduced in Austria, later exported, notably to the U.S., and eventually became available worldwide. The all-uppercase spelling of PEZ echoes the trademark’s style of type on packaging and the dispensers themselves, drawn in perspective and looking as if the letters were built out of 44 brick-like PEZ candies (14 bricks in the P and 15 in each of the E and Z).

Despite the widespread recognition of the PEZ dispenser, the company considers itself to be primarily a candy company, producing over 3 billion candy bricks each year in the U.S. alone. PEZ Dispensers are part of popular culture in many nations. Because of the large number of dispenser designs over the years, PEZ dispensers are collected by enthusiasts. You can even find different PEZ tin signs and even collect them.