Featured Australian Paper Shopping Bag Help

Good evening everyone,

I am just wondering if anyone is able to help me with this paper shopping bag from ‘M. U. Lawson Hat & Cap Manufacturer’?

I am wondering if anyone can either help me identify the rough time period/ date this piece was produced, or a little more information about the business itself? There is an address listed of 2 Eastern Market Buildings, Bourke St. East, Melbourne.

I am guessing it is perhaps pre-federation (1901) from the coat of arms, which is not an official Commonwealth of Australia one. Right now, it is in my Victorian gold rush collection, so if anyone knows an exact date for this, it would be greatly appreciated.

The small bottom text reads ‘I Mayston (Successor To Schumkrafft), Printer & C Lonsdale St., Melbourne.’

It is quite a large bag, so I have stitched together multiple scans of the bag to show the entire design in one image. This explains any discolouration or apparent misprints.

Thank you very much in advance, I look forward to learning more about it.

 

Would you provide measurements please and photographs of the construction?

Debora

 

Hi Debora,

Measurements are approximately 550x370mm. I will take some more photos tomorrow morning.

Thanks

 

21.5" x 14.5"

Debora

 

If the bag is flat bottomed, it would date after 1870-1871, when Margaret Knight secured a patent on a machine to produce flat bottomed paper bags.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_bag

Australian crests with the "Advance Australia" banner and the emu on the left seem to appear in various forms from 1817 up to federation. There is variation in the objects represented in the 4 quarters of the shield - usually a sheep and ship in the top 2 quarters, but lower 2 are sometimes pick and shovel, anchor, or what appears to be a sheaf of wheat.

This is an example from ca 1821. The description notes that: "The Advance Australia Arms became widely used in the Australian colonies by private corporations and individuals".

https://www.openboat.com.au/the-story-of-advances-coat-of-arms.html

Here are some examples from the most likely era of your bag -

1882

https://www.esplash.me/pdf/fs_245_The_Australian_Coat_of_Arms.pdf

1883

1883
https://federation.collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/slides/slideshow/ss75.htm slide 74

1885

https://www.esplash.me/pdf/fs_245_The_Australian_Coat_of_Arms.pdf

ca 1890

https://www.esplash.me/pdf/fs_245_The_Australian_Coat_of_Arms.pdf

ca 1890

https://www.reddit.com/r/OldSchoolCool/comments/5fuqn0/sailor_showing_his_earned_tattoos_1890s/

 

That is consistent with the dates of the Eastern Market on Bourke street which opened in 1879.

Debora

 

Thank you very much for your help everyone, that is all really interesting. I suppose it is safe to assume it is most likely from between the 1880s and 1890s then?

And it is not of the flat-bottomed type, so I suppose this style had not been adopted by the business yet.

I will see if I can find out anything else about the business itself, perhaps through some archived newspaper online.

 

Would you post a photograph of the construction of the bag please?

Debora

 

Hi Debora, apologies for the delay in response. I hope these are kind of what you are looking for. The bag has been folded over at the ends and glued.

 

@Debora