Unique Vintage Items Pictures from Before the 1950s
Unique Vintage Items
Do you like vintage things? The pictures that we are going to look at in this article will make you feel nostalgic, even if you didn’t see them during the time that they are from in the ads. These are going to be incredibly vintage items. Some of them are even going to be unique. From soup to nurse you back to health to compact pistols, these are some of the most nostalgic vintage items from ads before 1950.
You will see a list of items that will each be visited in detail further down in the article.
List of vintage items:
Life Savers Fruit Drops
Campbell’s Tomato Soup
Jell-o
Wrigley’s Spearmint Gum
Colt .25 Caliber Pistol
Kellogg’s Toasted Corn Flakes
Kraft Cheese
Lifebuoy Soap
Colgate Ribbon Dental Cream
Detroit Electric Cars
Coca-Cola
Life Savers Fruit Drops – 1930
This ad was published in June of 1930 in an issue of Photoplay.
Life Savers, as a brand and product, was started in 1912. That is over 100 years ago by now, and it truly provides for a great deal of nostalgia across several different generations. Wrigley and Nestle are the two parent companies that co-produced this well-known product. It was first invented in Ohio by Clarence Crahe. They started as peppermint flavored life saver shaped candies meant to cool off the customer during the summer heat. Later, in 1921, the first fruit flavors were introduced into the lineup.
Campbell’s Tomato Soup – 1927
In June of 1927 in People’s Home Journal. Everyone loves some Campbell’s soup, especially if you are under the weather.
This company was founded in 1869, over 150 years ago, and is an American company based out of New Jersey. It is a large company now-a-days and is traded in the New York Stock Exchange. Joseph A. Campbell and Abraham Anderson started the company and made canned jelly, soup, veggies, and meats. MMM MMM GOOD!
Jell-O – 1912
This ad is from December 1912 in an issue of McCall’s Magazine.
This is a good old-fashioned American made product and brand if there ever was one. Kraft Heinz is the company that owns this one, and it is run from Chicago Illinois. 1897 was the year that Jell-o was introduced into the world in New York by Pearle Bixby Wait. This has been used in everything from light deserts for children to alcohol infused treats for adults over its many years of fame. Jell-o also produces puddings as well as their gelatin products, and they have over 40 discontinued flavors including root beer, Italian salad, cotton candy, bubble gum, maple syrup, seasoned tomato, sparkling white grape, tomato, cola, coffee, chocolate, celery, and whatever “plain” is.
Wrigley’s Spearmint Gum – 1913
This ad was released in February of 1913 in McCall’s Magazine.
The Wrigley’s company released its spearmint gum in 1893. The company also had the Juicy Fruit gum before this. Gum was free for customers with purchase of baking soda at the beginning of its life.
Colt Pistol .25 Caliber – 1912 & 1911
October 1911, also from Cosmopolitan is an ad that depicts a guard dog and a colt pistol firing.
Colt was started in 1855 and is getting closer and closer to being 200 years old. This has got to be one of the older companies in this article. The founder’s name was Samuel Colt, and the company was a large contributor to World War 1. Before the founding of the actual company Samuel Colt had several patents out for revolvers from the year 1835 and on. These guns have been a large part of history for America, from the civil war to world wars.
This advertisement
was in the August issue
of Cosmopolitan
during the year of
1912.
Kellogg’s Toasted Corn Flakes – 1915
In May of 1915 this advertisement was made part of the publication Good Housekeeping.
John Harvey Kellogg was granted a patent for the process of toasting flakes of corn in 1896. This product is what started the company which became much larger and varied over time. Michigan is the place of origin, and in 1928 Kellogg also started making Rice Krispies.
Kraft Cheese – 1942
This technically was an advertisement from 1942, but it’s close enough. It was released in December 19th in Australian Women’s Weekly.
This Kraft Foods Inc. company was founded almost 100 years ago in 1909. Kraft is who owns Jell-o from earlier in this article. It was originally named J.L. Kraft and Bros. Company. It has products in over 150 countries and does more than $1,000,000,000 in business a year.
Lifebuoy Soap – 1939
November 25th in an issue of Australian Women’s Weekly, this ad was shown for the medicated health soap of pre 1940s.
This soap was first made in 1895 in England UK by Unilever plc. This company doesn’t only make soaps and bodywashes; they also make food products, toothpaste, pet foods, pharma products, and more.
Colgate Ribbon Dental Cream – 1900
This damaged advertisement was salvaged to show the imagery from a contest put on by Colgate from around 1900. This was in a magazine, but it is unclear what publication specifically had this ad in it.
This American made product brand was first made in 1873 by the Colgate-Polmolive Company. This company was founded in 1806 by an English man named William Colgate that moved to New York City, USA. The original name at conception was William Colgate & Company. Being over 200 years old, this company has well over 30,000 employees and makes over $2,000,000,000 each year on average.
Detroit Electric Cars – 1900s
In the early 1900s an advertisement was actually run for electric cars! So, you thought Elon Musk and Tesla were the ground breakers in this industry huh? Well, the truth is over 120 years ago there were electric cars already being produced and there was an attempt made at making them a staple in our automotive industry. This was published in LIFE Magazine.
Anderson Electric Car Company made over 12,000 confirmed production cars between the years of 1907 and 1940. These cars were electric cars and were tested at around 20 mph lasting up to just over 200 miles until its next charge.
It has actually been revisited as a brand in recent years by the previous CEO of Lotus.
Coca-Cola – 1913
In May of 1913 in a publication of Modern Priscilla an advertisement for Coca-Cola was released.
This product was first released into the world on May 8th, 1886, in Atlanta Georgia. It has been listed on the top 10 most valuable brands in the world. It was originally supposed to be a medicine, and yes it had real cocaine in it essentially.
The company makes around $10,000,000,000 each year on average and has nearing 100,000 employees. John Stith Pemberton would be proud to see what his company and brand has turned into.
Recap & Summary
Now you feel nostalgia from ads that weren’t even in your generation. You know these brands, or most of them anyways, and you have seen them in your lives over the years. It is really interesting to see the brands that we know, and many of us love, in such an old and unique way. These vintage items surely fit well within the oddities category of this website, and we hope you enjoyed. Maybe you got to learn a little bit along the way. From chewing gum to one of the biggest companies in the world, there are so many interesting products and companies out there to learn about.
Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this article! : )