Barbara Worth Fruit and Vegetable Labels

VI. Barbara Worth Fruit and Vegetable Labels

Growers could pick their labels from standard art work provided by printing companies, such as Western Litho, so there is no connection between Arlington Heights Citrus Company in Riverside, or Reeds, Tatosian and Wahl, or Desert Grapefruit in the Imperial Valley. They all just happened to choose the same name, and sometimes the same artwork, just as different companies today might mail out the same Christmas cards. Many labels have a date code. Western Litho and others used a similar date code. "227" = February, 1927, "1248" = December, 1948, etc. Naturally, Barbara Worth was a favorite name in the Imperial Valley, the setting of Harold Bell Wright's best selling novel, "The Winning of Barbara Worth."

Most collectible labels are from lithographers overstock inventory, left over when wooden boxes were replaced by cardboard boxes. They were never sold and are unused. Labels glued to boxes, or removed from boxes, are generally worth less than unused labels, because they are usually in rather poor condition compared to the unused ones.

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1. Reed's Imperial Valley Grapefruit. Probably earlier than 1926. Pomona Public Library			2. Imperial Valley Grapefruit. Copyright 1926 by J. W. Reed. Western Litho 227 (printed February, 1927) Pomona Public Library
3. Desert Grapefruit Company, Imperial, California. Western Litho, no date. No picture of Grapefruit. "Marsh Seedless Grapefruit" across top. Pomona Public Library			4. Arlington Heights Citrus Company, Riverside, California. Western Litho 1248 (December, 1948) "Marsh Seedless Grapefruit" across top.
5. VEGETABLE LABEL. Tatosian and Wahl, Finest Quality Vegetables, El Centro, California. Western Litho 1145 (November, 1945)			6. ORANGE LABEL. Similar to label above, but glued to crate. "NAVELS" stamped on box. "Marsh Seedless Grapefruit" is removed from top, picture of fruit is more orange in color, is tied on right instead of left, and bleeds over the bottom red line. "Sunkist" is tilted differently.
7. Postcard. (Close label has same picture as #1, above. Far box says "Imperial Valley Queen" on side. Far label is similar to #2, above.) Grapefruit from the Imperial Valley, California. 105166. Postmarked Jan 23, 1936			8. LEMON LABEL. Arlington Heights Citrus Company, Riverside, California. Western Litho. No date. Photo courtesy Robert Booth.

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