Late 19th c/ early 20th - Cowan's Base Ball Milk Chocolate Box

[baseball tourist]

Picked a vntage wooden box up today at a local antique show. It is from my hometown (Toronto) and is sized like a typical cigar box. It has "Cowan's Base Ball Milk Chocolate One Cent Cakes" and "Made in Canada" on the lid. Has "The Cowan Comany Limited Toronto" on the side (front edge).

Googled a brief history of the company - founded in 1889 and was purchased by Rowntree of England in 1926. There seems to be a few 1920's era collectors cards issued by the company (birds, military) around, but the only mention to a baseball issue is in a Worthpoint auction listing from a few years ago.

Anyone know if baseball cards were in fact distributed by Cowan's? Thanks for the help!

http://i518.photobucket.com/albums/u349/stealhome/8676dcc2.jpg

http://i518.photobucket.com/albums/u349/stealhome/d6b52565.jpg

http://i518.photobucket.com/albums/u349/stealhome/1c51ca5f.jpg

http://i518.photobucket.com/albums/u349/stealhome/b61e5e12.jpg

(the stand up is a 2 way soda piece from the 1950's I believe, with a football scene. )

Chris

[Leon]

I collect esoteric cards like would have been issued, had they been issued. If there are baseball cards from Cowan's I have never heard of them. They would be quite rare if there are any. There are some put out by Rowntree.... regards


http://luckeycards.com/pfunc1932rowntreeandco.jpg

[baseball tourist]

Any ideas on the age of the box? When did using "Base Ball" go out of the lexicon?

[Leon]

I am going to guess the box is 1900's to 1910's, by the look of it. As for the term "base ball" or "baseball", I think in the 1800's and early 1900's it was a bit interchangeable. Also, being in Canada I think the term "base ball" (two words) could have been used a little bit later. These are just guesses and maybe someone else will know more. regards

[Butch7999]

Hi Chris and Leon -- very cool item. As for "base ball" as two words: based on our experience with tabletop baseball games and baseball advertising, we'd say "base ball" as two words was the overwhelmingly popular usage until about the turn of the (last) century (although you do occasionally see it as one word prior to that time), and still the favorite (but interchangeable as Leon suggests) into the early 1920s. A third variation, seen fairly often, is "base-ball," hyphenated, from roughly the 1880s up 'til around WWI. Sometime in the late 1920s "baseball" as one word gradually became the slightly more popular usage, but two words remained in fairly frequent if diminishing use through the 1930s. The single-word style seems to have become pretty much standard by about 1930, though, but you still find "base ball" even in the 1940s and, if rarely, into the 1950s. There are examples of the two-word usage from even as recently as the late '60s, but this is usually on cheap products imported from Japan and Hong Kong.

[baseball tourist]

Hi Chris and Leon -- very cool item. As for "base ball" as two words: based on our experience with tabletop baseball games and baseball advertising, we'd say "base ball" as two words was the overwhelmingly popular usage until about the turn of the (last) century (although you do occasionally see it as one word prior to that time), and still the favorite (but interchangeable as Leon suggests) into the early 1920s. A third variation, seen fairly often, is "base-ball," hyphenated, from roughly the 1880s up 'til around WWI. Sometime in the late 1920s "baseball" as one word gradually became the slightly more popular usage, but two words remained in fairly frequent if diminishing use through the 1930s. The single-word style seems to have become pretty much standard by about 1930, though, but you still find "base ball" even in the 1940s and, if rarely, into the 1950s. There are examples of the two-word usage from even as recently as the late '60s, but this is usually on cheap products imported from Japan and Hong Kong.

Thanks Leon and Butch! I appreciate the feedback.

I read online (here: http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?BioId=40770&query=) that Cowan's - "The company’s name had been changed to the Cowan Company Limited in 1893, and five years later Cowan adopted the maple leaf as a brand for his products, to distinguish them as Canadian goods in competition with imports"

As the post-1893 name is used on the box, and there is no maple leaf logo (albeit - "Made In Canada" is used) perhaps this helps to date it to approx 1894-1898 (if one believes the source is correct)?

[baseball tourist]

My hunt to find other Cowan's baseball items to compliment the box hasn't turned up any cards (Leon, you told me that this would be highly unlikely, and I belieive you!), but it has turned up a small tin, candy bar mold, that highlights a early 1900's baseball figure ( I assume, from the cap and style of pant) in mid-swing.

Thought I would share for those interested.

It measures 3.5 " x 2 ". Can't find any mention of this product ("The Winner") either. chris

http://i518.photobucket.com/albums/u349/stealhome/42a801dc.jpg