The Cratest Show on Earth

I spent a few hours in a treasure trove this afternoon: a small warehouse maintained (or curated if you like to get fancy) by a guy who buys and resells used retail and warehouse fixtures. But while he's at it, he acquires other things along the way.

Mostly what attracts the eye is his incredible collection of old fruit and produce crates with their lovingly rendered lithographic labels, stacked here and there.


A close up of the energetic Red Mule crate:


This is one of the few that's printed directly onto the wood rather than onto paper. Possibly silk screened?























Oh, man, check out how sad Uncle Sam is:

I wonder who died?

The rest of the collection is more idiosyncratic. These are just a few favorites.








The last piece was created by an artist. It's about 2x3'.