Magic History 101: Fruit Crate Labels

MAGIC FRUIT CRATE LABELS

I get a lot of questions about how I decorate my back library, where I have been filming the demo videos.
Specifically, you have been asking where I find all of this stuff!
Well, I have been collecting anything interesting and "magic-y" for many years.
I always have an eye out and love to browse flea markets and antiques shows.

But you can actually get a pretty fast start shopping online- if you know what to look for.
Here is an excellent choice- FRUIT CRATE LABELS.
They are colorful, interesting, easy to find, and most of them are pretty inexpensive.

Back in the day (before Word War 2), fruit was packed in crude wooden crates.
The crates were inexpensive, yet gave enough protection to the fruit to allow it to be transported across the country, if necessary.
Of course, the crates needed labels to keep everything straight.
Paper labels were very cheap at the time, even with color printing.
Growers realized that grocers were actually displaying the produce in the packing crates in the stores.
So growers started creating colorful labels that would attract store shoppers.
For economy, the labels were printed in huge numbers, and placed in storage until they were needed.
But seemingly overnight in the early 1940s, growers switched over to the new corrugated cardboard boxes, which were much cheaper and actually stronger than the wood crates.
And they could be printed right on the box, eliminating the need for separately printed paper labels.
So the labels in storage were abandoned.
Stacks and stacks of these gorgeous labels sat in warehouses for decades. In mint condition!
In the last 20 years or so, because of eBay, these labels have become very easy to buy.
And because there are so many, they are relatively low priced.

The good news for us magicians is that there are a number of magic themed labels out there.
It is an easy task to frame these labels to instantly dress up your magic den.
Here are some colorful examples of labels from my collection...