Crate Label, Red Bill Celery, Original Lithograph, 1930's, NOS, Vintage

Before supermarkets. Before plastic wrap. Before everything was the same everywhere — there were crate labels.

This is an original vegetable crate label — a 1930s stone lithograph from the factory stock of Harry Becker Co., Detroit, Michigan. It has never been used. Never folded. Never attached to a crate. It is New Old Stock in excellent mint condition.

The label is bright, clean, and unexpectedly charming. A yellow bird with bold black markings — possibly an American Goldfinch, possibly a rare Yellow Cardinal — perches with composed attention beside a vivid green celery stalk. The lettering is large, white, and confident. The whole composition has the directness and graphic economy of the best 1930s design: nothing wasted, everything working. It is a vegetable label that foregrounded a bird, and the bird is the reason you remember it.

Stone lithography of the 1930s is a different animal from the offset printing that followed — the tonal richness and the softness of the color transitions are irreproducible by modern means. This label is also unusual in its provenance: a Detroit-packed celery label rather than the California and Washington fruit labels that dominate the collecting world. That rarity is part of its appeal. Two available.

Frame it as bird art, as 1930s graphic design, or as an offbeat and genuinely rare piece of American agricultural ephemera. At approximately 11.5 inches tall it suits a standard 12x16 or 11x14 frame and works beautifully in a kitchen, a breakfast room, or anywhere that appreciates color and a touch of the unexpected.

A wonderful gift for a birder, a goldfinch lover, a vintage graphic design enthusiast, or a crate label collector who appreciates the road less traveled.

A note on crate label collecting: Original stone lithographic labels from this era are increasingly scarce. NOS examples like this one — never used, never folded, in original unused condition — represent the best of what survives from American agricultural history beyond the West Coast.

• Brand: Red Bill Brand / Harry Becker Co., Detroit, Michigan
• Type: Vegetable crate label — stone lithograph
• Made in: USA
• Dated: circa 1930s
• Dimensions: 11.5" tall
• Condition: New Old Stock (NOS) — unused, excellent mint condition. Age-appropriate yellowing consistent with period. Please review all photos carefully — we cannot accept returns.
• Framing: Fits a standard 12x16 or 11x14 frame — ready to display