Crate Label: Flying Colors Brand, American Flags, Schuman Anderholt Co., Holtville California, 1940s

Three waving American flags and a field of stars fill this crate label in patriotic red, white, and blue — a striking, uncommonly graphic design from California's Imperial Valley.

• Brand: Flying Colors
• Produce: General produce 
• Packing House / Grower: Schuman Anderholt Co.
• Materials: Lithographed paper, printed by Western Litho Co., Los Angeles
• Dimensions: 10.75 x 4.25 in
• Origin: Holtville, California, USA
• Era: 1940s
• Condition: Excellent, New Old Stock — never applied to a crate. Please review photos closely before purchasing, as all sales are final.

Warehouse stock, never used: the reds and blues are still vivid and the lithography is crisp.

Western Litho Company operated in Los Angeles from 1899 until the mid-1950s, and their color work was especially prized for capturing real detail with care — this three-flags arrangement, from the same era as the Upland Pride rose label also in our shop, is a fine example of why.

Schuman Anderholt Co. operated out of Holtville, in California's Imperial Valley — a region so tied to produce shipping that Holtville still calls itself the "Carrot Capital of the World" today. The valley's hot desert climate and Colorado River irrigation made it one of the country's major winter produce districts in the early-to-mid twentieth century, shipping melons and vegetables nationwide by rail, without this brand tying itself to a single crop the way most labels did. The bold, all-American flag motif here likely dates to the WWII era, when patriotic imagery was common on crate labels as a show of support for the war effort.

A bold, graphic piece for anyone who collects Americana or vintage advertising art, especially around the Fourth of July or Veterans Day.

Pairs well with our other Imperial Valley crate labels.