A Different Kind of Antique

In recent months, much behind-the-scenes work has been going on at the Society’s museum buildings to improve exhibits for the day when we are able to be open again.  Work is also progressing on improving our storage to make items more accessible in addition to being preserved and protected.  In the process of digging into storage and less-accessed areas of our buildings, we occasionally come across a surprise. 

This summer, one of our volunteers uncovered this item, never accessioned into our collection, but a rare find nonetheless.

The purchaser of this toilet tissue would never have expected it to elicit fascination from our volunteers, but disposable daily necessities seldom survive to become antiques.  We do not know where the roll came from, but we did find that a trademark application was filed on November 19, 1925 for “Avona” printed on the diagonal in the font that is on our label.  Jordan Marsh Company held the trademark for many years and periodically advertised Avona toilet tissue in the Boston Globe.  Ads around 1950 featured pictures of the rolls that had quite a different look from ours, so we suspect that our roll was from earlier days.  A May 2, 1927 ad mentioned a 1000-sheet package, not a roll. (page 4)  In the November 10, 1932 issue (p.9), Jordan Marsh advertised a special sale of 24 1000-sheet rolls for $1, so that could be approximately the era of our find.  The tissue came with options; one could buy white, orchid, rose, yellow, green, or blue.  Jordan Marsh would fulfill orders by mail or telephone.  

We never know what we are going to learn by volunteering at the Society.