Collecting: A Rationale The First Transistor Radios—1950s Collecting Pop Culture Matchcovers and Matchbooks Pushy Furniture More Pushy Furniture Kitchen Collectibles More Kitchen Collectibles Still More Kitchen Collectibles Vintage Televisions Nameplates and Lettering More Nameplates and Lettering Collecting the Wacky Nothing New Under the Sun Disposable Panties and Other Gems Our Disposable Culture Bathroom Collectibles More Bathroom Collectibles Luggage Labels, Airlines Records, Album Covers More Records Personal Music Players The Sony Walkman Trashy Novels Communists and Bomb Shelters Flashlights Wall Decor Music Guides / Lists / Top 40 Radio Crystal Radios Knockoffs and Ripoffs On the Table On the Table, More! Microphones Pocket Calculators Pocket and Portable Tape Recorders Drinks, Anyone? More Drink-related Foolishness The Box It Came In Lost In Translation Early Video Games Cigarette Packs More Cigarettes and Smoking Advertising Illustration More Advertising Illustration Small Computers Walkie Talkies Greeting Cards More Greeting Cards, Valentines A Collection of Clocks The Way Things Were More of the Way Things Were Board Games and such Collecting Variants Toy Guns, Space Guns More Toys Collecting Design Tubes and Transistors Collecting Batteries More Batteries Hearing Aids Garage / Utility Collectibles Collecting the Awful Architectural Illustration Religious Tracts Vintage Clothes “Fine” Art, Big Eyes, and Portraits “Fine” Art in the abstract


Bathroom collectibles: Spoolie, Listerine toothpaste, Secret Deodorant, Arrid Deodorant, Lucky Tiger Butch Hair Wax, Skinny Dip, Voit nose clip, Paris garters, Modern hair pomade. From 'More Bathroom Collectibles' at the web's largest private collection of antiques & collectibles: https://www.ericwrobbel.com/collections/bathroom-2.htm

Bathroom Collectibles

These products of the past look great anywhere but seem especially well-suited for display in a bathroom. If space permits, hanging a beach towel is always a cheery touch, especially if you're lucky enough to find one as great as the one you see here that advertises Marina del Mar California Swimsuits “From California, Naturally,” c.1966.

From California Naturally, Marina del mar California Swimsuits beach towel vintage antique collectible. From 'More Bathroom Collectibles' at the web's largest private collection of antiques & collectibles: https://www.ericwrobbel.com/collections/bathroom-2.htm

The goodies above, from top left: Spoolie (Spoolies) rubber hair curlers, USA, 1949. Voit Nose Clip (for swimmers), USA, c1960. Paris Garters (sock garters), A. Stein & Co., USA, c.1950. Listerine Toothpaste “Double Size,” Lambert Pharmacal Co., St. Louis, USA, c.1950. Skinny Dip perfumed talc, Pfizer (Leeming Div.), NY, USA, c.1970. Modern Hair Pomade “for unruly hair” by Cheatham Chemical Co., Atlanta, USA, c. 1947. Cru Butch Hair Wax from Lucky Tiger Mfg. Kansas City, MO, USA, c.1967. Arrid Roll-On Deodorant with “Perstop,” Carter Products, NY, USA, 1962. Ice Blue Secret Cream Deodorant, Procter & Gamble, USA, c.1960.

Vintage collectible Lady Ronson electric shavers, c.1960, made in W. Germany. From 'More Bathroom Collectibles' at the web's largest private collection of antiques & collectibles: https://www.ericwrobbel.com/collections/bathroom-2.htm
Vintage collectible Ronson shavers, C.F.L. models c.1959 (USA). Atomic! From 'More Bathroom Collectibles' at the web's largest private collection of antiques & collectibles: https://www.ericwrobbel.com/collections/bathroom-2.htm

Lady Ronson Electric Shavers are c.1960 and made in W. Germany. Both men's shavers are C.F.L. models from Ronson and are c.1959 (USA).

And here, from Proctor & Gamble in Cincinnati, are classic 1960-era Crest and Prell boxes. This packaging is just exquisite, in my opinion. As a perpetual student of design, I’ve spent some time wondering just why this is so.

One thing I notice is the complete lack of 3-D effects on these boxes. Nothing on them is pretending to be moving, jumping, exploding, or coming at you. They’re honest, and by implication have honest products inside. Contrast this with all the artifice seen on other packaging, then and now.

What drives designers, I think, to much of this artifice is a fear of looking plain and “generic.” This packaging looks neither. And the difference is design.

Vintage package design of especially high quality. Crest toothpaste and Prell shampoo, both from Proctor & Gamble, circa 1960. No amount of typographic tricks like shadows, shading, or 3-D effects so evident on other packaging has ever improved on, or substituted for, simply good design. These box designs are honest, and by implication have honest products inside. From the web's largest private collection of antiques & collectibles, https://www.ericwrobbel.com/collections/bathroom-2.htm



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