Comments on: Laurie Elks’ Bottle Label Collection

By: Drew Bishop

Drew Bishop — Thu, 04 Mar 2021 17:14:09 +0000

I myself, collect beer mats (coasters) for their artistic merit and very much appreciate the time that it takes to build a collection. I love the how design trends and rebranding show the evolution of labels and packaging. Thanks for sharing.

By: Mark.

Mark. — Thu, 04 Mar 2021 14:52:41 +0000

Top collection!
Lager in the early sixties, how exotic.
Tastier than that Ind Coope rubbish anyways…..

By: Betsy Brewer

Betsy Brewer — Thu, 04 Mar 2021 13:58:29 +0000

An interesting mix of very plain, and uncompromising (Mackesons black and white label on its carb laden stout, and highly imaginative of alleged properties (Allsopps fine cow on their milk stout).
And I still know what a Double Diamond does.

It works wonders……….

By: Sigrid Werner

Sigrid Werner — Thu, 04 Mar 2021 13:22:42 +0000

A great collection. If they are not in an archive already, he could offer them to the Museum of Brands in North Kensington: https://museumofbrands.com/

By: Lynne Perrella

Lynne Perrella — Thu, 04 Mar 2021 12:15:29 +0000

Ephemera Lovers, rejoice! Treasured scrapbooks like this one are such unique social documents; and just-plain-great visual legacies. The time spent chasing down the labels, writing to the source, placing items on a page one-by-one, and notating — it all becomes a personal reverie, visible and tangible. So often these books are lost, waylaid, discarded,
overlooked. Luckily, this one has survived in fine style, and we are so fortunate to
see it.

Surely, in each reader’s life, there is some similar relic? A diary, a clutch of photos, postcards in a drawer, glitter-encrusted dance cards, cigar bands? Oh, to have it all BACK for a day to look through.

Thank you, GA. You always shine a light.

By: Linda Granfield

Linda Granfield — Thu, 04 Mar 2021 12:03:20 +0000

Lovely colours and amazing detail work on some of the labels. For example, the vista and the shading of the cow on the last one, milk stout.
It’s lovely that Laurie didn’t have to soak the labels off bottles–pristine ‘art.’

I look forward to whatever splendid collections are scanned and sent to you, G.A.

By: julia harrison

julia harrison — Thu, 04 Mar 2021 08:00:16 +0000

What a tremendous collection. I love the picture Laurie creates of his young self writing off to the breweries and then carefully pasting his treasures in his scrapbook. What a thrill it must have been when a packet arrived in the post. In our digital age there is a particular pleasure in this kind of ephemera and the memories which it evokes. Now I am lost in the image of Truman’s huge shire horses clopping up Putney High Street: I loved their great feet and the sound they made: a glimpse of the past amongst the traffic that never failed to thrill me.

By: Achim

Achim — Thu, 04 Mar 2021 07:58:13 +0000

Well done, Laurie Elks, to collect these analog graphic icons. Who of today’s children collects something like this…? — I also love these labels, especially their graphic changes over the years.

Love & Peace
ACHIM