Gents, I was bold enough to snap up a Pears Transparent Soap Shaving Stick from an ebay BIN listing. It arrived today, and appears to be unused. While I think about whether or not to try it out, I want to establish its age as closely as possible. I would welcome your advice. Shall we start with some photos?
Pears was famous for their advertising campaigns, which ought to help. The first known Pears sticks were advertised in 1849 and were apparently the first shave sticks ever. By 1885 Pears was illustrating their ads. For example http://www.europeana.eu/portal/record/92037/C11E1C8DDB6555916FCDA8005F7BC21BD4586864.html shows a red tube with the "A & F Pears" signature and a price of one shilling. Later ads quoted 12d, which was the same as one shilling but might have sounded cheaper. Ads that specifically picture the stick seem to thin out after the turn of the century, in favor of the famous brand-oriented ads for Pears. But the Pears signature still appears in a 1907 USA trademark registration for the shave stick, found at http://books.google.com/books?id=yLAAgp4QsAwC&pg=PA2505.
Around 1918 Pears introduced a white, opaque shave stick as part of a new "Golden Series" product line. This new stick was packaged in a metal tube. I have no firm evidence, but I believe these new sticks replaced the transparent sticks entirely. One early mention was in the 1918 Chemist and Druggist: The Newsweekly for Pharmacy, Volume 90.
That takes us to something like 1849-1918 - a pretty wide range, and the upper limit is fuzzy. But we have a few more clues to explore. First, the bottom of the tube reads "Patent No. 6541/08". I am weak on UK patent marks, but I believe that means the patent was either applied for or issued in 1908. I would like to find the patent, just to read it. But as long as the opaque soap gives us an upper limit of 1918, we do not care when the patent expired. So this suggests 1908-1918.
Next is the "New Oxford St." on the cap. I find that Pears already occupied "71-75, New Oxford Street, London, W.C." in 1907 according to a contemporary circular. But the address appears to be unhelpful: another circular shows the same address in 1920. In case you are interested, I also turned up a 1915 Mitchell Mannering article titled The Father of Modern Advertising. It includes a picture of the building, and I recognized it immediately. It is the only decent-looking building left on that blasted and blighted block of New Oxford St. But I digress. Read the article if you like: it is only a few pages.
I think the dark line between the directions and the signature reads "PRICE 1/0." or "PRICE 1 S.", which matches the price in the early ads. The opaque sticks seem to have been a little more expensive, but I do not know if that helps pin down a date for this package.
It could help if we had a timeline for Royal Warrants. I found an 1894 ad listing two warrants, and a 1915 report mentions another. That could suggest closer dates for my stick, but only if we knew that Pears would advertise a warrant on their packaging - and if we knew exactly when Pears gained and lost their warrants.
So I seem to be stuck at 1908-1918. Any thoughts?
Pears was famous for their advertising campaigns, which ought to help. The first known Pears sticks were advertised in 1849 and were apparently the first shave sticks ever. By 1885 Pears was illustrating their ads. For example http://www.europeana.eu/portal/record/92037/C11E1C8DDB6555916FCDA8005F7BC21BD4586864.html shows a red tube with the "A & F Pears" signature and a price of one shilling. Later ads quoted 12d, which was the same as one shilling but might have sounded cheaper. Ads that specifically picture the stick seem to thin out after the turn of the century, in favor of the famous brand-oriented ads for Pears. But the Pears signature still appears in a 1907 USA trademark registration for the shave stick, found at http://books.google.com/books?id=yLAAgp4QsAwC&pg=PA2505.
Around 1918 Pears introduced a white, opaque shave stick as part of a new "Golden Series" product line. This new stick was packaged in a metal tube. I have no firm evidence, but I believe these new sticks replaced the transparent sticks entirely. One early mention was in the 1918 Chemist and Druggist: The Newsweekly for Pharmacy, Volume 90.
That takes us to something like 1849-1918 - a pretty wide range, and the upper limit is fuzzy. But we have a few more clues to explore. First, the bottom of the tube reads "Patent No. 6541/08". I am weak on UK patent marks, but I believe that means the patent was either applied for or issued in 1908. I would like to find the patent, just to read it. But as long as the opaque soap gives us an upper limit of 1918, we do not care when the patent expired. So this suggests 1908-1918.
Next is the "New Oxford St." on the cap. I find that Pears already occupied "71-75, New Oxford Street, London, W.C." in 1907 according to a contemporary circular. But the address appears to be unhelpful: another circular shows the same address in 1920. In case you are interested, I also turned up a 1915 Mitchell Mannering article titled The Father of Modern Advertising. It includes a picture of the building, and I recognized it immediately. It is the only decent-looking building left on that blasted and blighted block of New Oxford St. But I digress. Read the article if you like: it is only a few pages.
I think the dark line between the directions and the signature reads "PRICE 1/0." or "PRICE 1 S.", which matches the price in the early ads. The opaque sticks seem to have been a little more expensive, but I do not know if that helps pin down a date for this package.
It could help if we had a timeline for Royal Warrants. I found an 1894 ad listing two warrants, and a 1915 report mentions another. That could suggest closer dates for my stick, but only if we knew that Pears would advertise a warrant on their packaging - and if we knew exactly when Pears gained and lost their warrants.
So I seem to be stuck at 1908-1918. Any thoughts?
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