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Preserving History: Authentic Objects Across Eras
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This original Deer Mark sweet potato crate label dates to the mid‑20th century and carries the printed line DISTRIBUTED BY LOUISIANA STRAWBERRY & VEGETABLE DIST. CO., HAMMOND, LOUISIANA — they distributed the crop, and the printed abbreviation is Dist. Co., not Distribution Company, with packing handled by the Opelousas Sweet Potato Company in Sunset, Louisiana.
During the 1940s and 1950s, Louisiana was one of the nation’s most important sweet potato‑producing regions. Crate labels like this were designed to identify growers, signal quality, and stand out visually in wholesale produce markets where shipments moved by rail and truck across the country.
The bold stag head artwork reflects a common branding approach of the era, using animal imagery to convey strength, abundance, and reliability. These labels were originally glued to wooden shipping crates and discarded after use, making surviving examples a small but meaningful window into America’s agricultural and commercial past.
This label measures approximately 9 × 7 inches and features rich color, strong typography, and classic mid‑century design. It displays beautifully on its own, framed, or as part of a larger collection of vintage produce labels and agricultural ephemera.
A genuine survivor from Louisiana’s sweet potato industry, this piece offers both visual appeal and historical context for collectors, decorators, and anyone interested in American food and farming history.
LOUISIANA PORTO RICAN is the printed variety, set directly above SWEET POTATOES — the single most searchable thing on the sheet for a sweet-potato or Louisiana-agriculture collector, and it had never appeared in a title or a body. The Porto Rican was the Louisiana sweet potato of the period.
The federal grade U. S. No. 1 and the pack NET WT. 50 LBS. are both printed and were cited nowhere; the weight also tells a buyer this is a 50 lb crate-end label.
The two sweet potatoes are rendered as photographic-realist objects laid in front of the buck's neck — the produce itself is pictured, not just the stag head. No lithographer's imprint appears anywhere on the sheet and there is no printed date.
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