Vintage 1940s Pilgrim Crate Label – Mayflower Fruit Association, Exeter, California

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Original 1940s crate label produced for the Pilgrim brand by the Mayflower Fruit Association of Exeter, California.

This label measures 12 3/4 inches × 3 3/4 inches and was used on California fruit crates during the mid‑20th century.

This example shows slight wear at the bottom right corner, with otherwise strong original color and clean edges. Stored flat.

The Mayflower Fruit Association operated in Tulare County and specialized in packing and shipping California citrus. Its proximity to Southern Pacific rail lines allowed fruit to be distributed efficiently to national markets.

Pilgrim crate labels are collected for their period lithography and representation of California citrus branding during the 1940s.

📋 What Is Printed On This Label

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

• Pilgrim
• Brand
• GROWN AND PACKED BY
• MAYFLOWER FRUIT ASS'N.
• EXETER, CALIFORNIA
• REG.U.S.PAT.OFFICE

Printer: no lithographer's imprint, form number or plate code appears anywhere on this sheet. None is claimed here.

What the sheet does not say. No fruit or vegetable is named anywhere in type on this label. Brands of this kind were printed for a packing house rather than for one commodity, and the contents were understood by the trade rather than stated on the paper.

The only fine print on the sheet is a registration notice. REG.U.S.PAT.OFFICE is set in pale blue microtype at the extreme bottom-left — spelled out in full rather than the usual abbreviated OFF. It is a trademark notice, not a lithographer's credit, and no printer is named anywhere on this label.

GROWN AND PACKED BY / MAYFLOWER FRUIT ASS'N. / EXETER, CALIFORNIA is the printed relationship in full, and Brand is printed as part of the mark: Pilgrim Brand.

The joke on the sheet. A Pilgrim brand, shipped by the Mayflower association — the figure at the right end wears a black steeple-crown hat with a blue underbrim and yellow buckle, a wide cream falling collar, a black cape and doublet with a buckled cross-belt, and holds a red-brown book with brass clasps in both hands.

On condition. These are sold from an unused stack, so this describes the printing rather than one individual sheet: the ink is unfaded, the stock is unmounted and ungummed, and the sheet was never applied to a crate. Anything materially wrong with a particular sheet is disclosed plainly.