Company Logos

Company logos are a quick message to customers that identify a product on a store shelf or in an ad on TV explaining quality or im-provements. Very few have been changed but many have been updated for a more modern look.

The clothing, hairdos, and changes in the style of the letters have made the Morton’s Salt girl or the Quaker Oats man look like contemporary customers, not an old-fashioned product. The logo showing the Morton’s girl holding an umbrella has been used since 1914 with at least seven changes, so that by her 100th birthday, she had a knee-length yellow dress and short hair instead of braids. Look carefully at old advertising collectibles and examine the changes to help determine age.

Recently a Sherwin-Williams cabinet used to store paintbrushes was sold at a Conestoga auction for $425. The salamander logo, first used in the 1870s, was carved on the door dating the cabinet as an antique. The famous world globe covered with dripping paint logo replaced the amphibian in 1905. It was used until 1974, dropped, then brought back in 1984. It is now sharing space with the company name in fancy letters. Online ads and new ways of selling have led to many vintage logos being up-dated or removed. Fakes often are made with the new logo, so collectors should check to see when the design was changed.

Q: My grandfather gave me a bowl he found at a rummage sale many years ago. It’s marked Brentleigh Ware Made In England on the bottom. It’s 111⁄2 inches long by 53⁄4 inches wide and 43⁄4 inches high. Can you tell me how old it is?

A: Brentleigh Ware is a trade name used by Howard Pottery Co. Ltd. in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The pottery was in business from 1925 to the mid-1970s. Your large bowl may have been made to hold fresh whole fruit. Brentleigh Ware in not well known, and a large bowl might sell for $20 to $40.

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