Crane's Chocolate Company

This poster stamp, designed by Maxfield Parrish, has sometimes been referred to as the "Holy Grail" for poster stamp collectors.

Sometime between 1910 and 1915 Clarence Crane commissioned Parrish to create a design that could be used on a label for small gift or sample boxes of chocolates. This poster stamp is the initial result of that commission. Most of the stamps were affixed to the chocolate boxes, and were subsequently disposed of or destroyed, but a very few have survived to find their way into the hands of a few lucky collectors. Mr. Crane was reportedly very pleased with the result, and Parrish slightly reworked the design for use as an actual box label for Crane's Chocolates. Parrish also did two other illustrations for use as labels for boxes of Crane's Chocolates.

This example was discovered in 2003 mounted in a circa 1915 poster stamp album created by the Maurice L. Rothschild Clothing Company. There is a small surface scrape in the lower left corner of the stamp, affecting a small portion of the design border, but otherwise the stamp is in excellent condition, and still has most of its gum intact. This example appears to be a lower marginal copy. The image size of the stamp measures 44 x 64 mm.

Links to related websites or pages of interest or:

Maxfield Parrish:

http://parrish.artpassions.net/
  http://www.bpib.com/illustrat/parrish.htm
  http://www.independentweb.com/parrish/
  http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/parrish_maxfield.html
  http://www.maxfieldparrish.net/wr/directory.htm

Crane's Chocolates:

No online references found, except for mention of the company's founder, Clarence Crane, who invented the candy known as Life Savers.

Rothschild Clothing:

http://www.greaterstatestreet.com/CULTWALK.HTM
(see item # 19)
  Hulda Rothschild lived to the wonderful age of 102, and had always been concerned about the needs of older adults in her community. Her husband, Maurice, started in the dry goods business by selling out of a covered wagon to railroad workers in Kansas. Years later, he moved to Chicago and became one of the merchant princes of State Street. The building he constructed to house his retail clothing store still stands at the Southwest corner of State and Jackson.