Citrus Labels: Vintage fruit of a colorful era
Colorful relics of a bygone era, citrus packing labels once adorned every wooden box of oranges and lemons that were shipped to market. The practice of pasting paper labels on boxes began in Southern California in the 1880s to identify and advertise citrus fruit to the trade. Easily recognizable with catchy brand names, the labels helped growers, packers and shippers market their products across the United States.Labels were once considered crucial marketing tools, for they were how industry buyers or "jobbers" identified citrus from various areas.
Each association often developed its own catchy brand names and usually hired lithographers in San Francisco and Los Angeles to design and print the colorful artwork. Each label usually measured 10 inches by 11 inches. It is said that during the 70-year era of citrus labels, over 8,000 distinct designs were developed and used on more than 2 billion boxes of oranges and lemons.
The labels separated various grades of fruit based mostly on cosmetic differences, such as rind smoothness or blemishes. Associations would preserve the value of their better grades of fruit by shipping lesser grades under different brand names.
The age of labels came to an end during the 1950s when the traditional wooden box gave way to the preprinted cardboard carton. Thousands of citrus labels were destroyed, leaving just a few pieces of vintage art to remind the world of a uniquely American marketing tool. Those labels that have survived are collectibles.