The beach at low tide is a great place to find all sorts of treasure. When I lived at Funter Bay we would search the mud around the cannery site for old bottles and artifacts. Recently Scott and Denice McPherson were visiting Funter Bay and pulled some brass cannery stencils out of the beach mud.
These appear to have been for marking crates for shipment to wholesalers. They probably date from about the 1930s. The “A&L Brand” Sockeye stencil is for No. 1 or “picnic” cans, which held 10-12oz each. The “Health Brand” stencil is for Tall cans which held 1lb each.
A photo from another cannery (not Funter) shows how crates were assembled from flat-packed parts and marked to contain various brands and products.
Making boxes at Clark’s Point, Alaska 1918 – John Cobb Collection / Wikimedia Commons
Thanks to Scott & Denice McPherson for sharing the photos of their great find!
