Vintage 1940s Channel Lemons Crate Label Goleta California Citrus Art NOS 🍎

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🍋 Vintage 1940s Channel Lemons Crate Label – Santa Barbara County, California

This original 1940s Channel Lemons crate label is a preserved example of Southern California citrus packaging from the mid-twentieth century. It was packed by the Goleta Lemon Association of Santa Barbara County, California, a region known for its coastal citrus groves and premium lemon production.

Lithographed by Schmidt Litho Co. of Los Angeles, the label features a dramatic coastal scene depicting seabirds, a lighthouse, and a ship navigating the Santa Barbara Channel, with lemon groves stretching inland. This maritime imagery was intentionally chosen to evoke freshness, coastal purity, and regional identity — qualities that helped Channel Lemons stand out in competitive wholesale markets. 🎨

During the 1930s and 1940s, Channel Lemons was associated with Red Ball–grade fruit, one rung in the Exchange's printed grade family. Labels like this were designed not only to identify produce, but to communicate trust, consistency, and origin at a glance.

Measuring 12 1/4" × 8 3/4", labels of this kind were printed for short-term commercial use on wooden citrus crates shipped by rail and truck; this sheet was never applied to one across the United States. Because these labels were intended to be discarded after shipping, surviving examples in untouched condition are increasingly scarce.

This piece remains New Old Stock (NOS) — unused, unmounted, and exceptionally clean. Color remains strong and vibrant, with crisp edges and an intact surface, offering a rare look at the label exactly as it would have appeared when first issued. 🌟

Crate labels from Santa Barbara County are especially sought after by collectors, as the region played a key role in California’s coastal citrus industry. Today, vintage citrus crate labels are recognized as collectible folk art and advertising ephemera, valued for both their visual impact and their connection to California’s agricultural past.

This Channel Lemons label stands as a preserved artifact from a time when California citrus branding was bold, narrative‑driven, and visually ambitious. 🍊

📐 Details

Era: 1940s
Producer: Goleta Lemon Association, Goleta, CA
Lithographer: Schmidt Litho Co, Los Angeles
Region: Santa Barbara County, California
Size: 12 1/4" × 8 3/4"
Condition: New Old Stock (unused, unmounted)
Material: Lithographed paper crate label

📋 What Is Printed On This Label

Every line of type on the sheet, transcribed from the label itself rather than paraphrased:

• CHANNEL
• BRAND
• Santa Barbara County
• LEMONS
• GOLETA LEMON ASSOCIATION
• GOLETA CALIFORNIA
• CALIFORNIA
• Red Ball
• SCHMIDT LITHO. CO. L.A.

Printer: the lithographer is named on the sheet — SCHMIDT LITHO. CO. L.A., set in microtype in the margin.

The Red Ball device is printed on this label. It is not just a historical association — a red rounded shield with a cream panel sits at the lower right carrying CALIFORNIA / Red Ball in red script. Red Ball was one rung in the California Fruit Growers Exchange's grade family rather than the top mark, so the device is quoted here as printed and no quality ranking is claimed for it.

The lithographer attribution is confirmed on the object. SCHMIDT LITHO. CO. L.A. is printed in dull red microtype along the bottom-left edge. Note this is the Los Angeles imprint; the Mayflower sheet from the same collection carries Schmidt's Fresno imprint instead.

The printed structure is CHANNEL BRAND / Santa Barbara County / LEMONS. Channel is the brand and BRAND is printed beneath it; Santa Barbara County is the origin line; LEMONS is the product.

The picture, in detail. A gold-rimmed horizontal oval looking down over ranked rows of citrus on orange earth, a white cottage with a red roof and a white lighthouse on the bluff, the channel beyond, a two-masted schooner under sail and a violet-and-orange island range on the horizon under towering clouds. FIVE cream-and-tan gulls are scattered across the blue field around the oval. The groves run down toward the shore in the foreground rather than stretching inland.