A time when all resources were precious

A two-day vintage advertising and printed ephemera sale will stir memories from a time when less was thrown away and before plastic became ubiquitous

A set of five graduated pewter measures by Austin of Cork at Sheppards.(€200-€300).

MEMORIES of a pre-digital age, a time when devices such as a phone had just one function, will be stirred by a two-day sale of vintage advertising and printed ephemera at Sheppards in Durrow next Tuesday and Wednesday (April 12 and 13).

The collection of more than 600 lots from a world when less was thrown away and before plastic became ubiquitous, on view from today in Durrow, is instructive too.

Lot 186, for instance, dates to a time before the baby of recycling was thrown out with the bathwater of progress. “Waste not, want not” is the stern instruction on a vintage drinks advertising showcard from the Irish soft drinks and bottling industry — an appeal for the return of empty bottles.

Waste Not Want Not at Sheppards (€80-€100).

Nothing promotes the husbanding of resources better than scarcity and price, as we are all rapidly coming to know again.

In those not-so-distant days, all resources were seen as precious.

The practice of recycling as we understand it was widespread then even if recycling in that world most likely meant re-tracing a route taken on a bicycle to recover what had been inadvertently dropped.

A bright enamel sign advertises an agent for McKechnie’s Cork — dyers, cleaners, and hat renovators. (Who knew you could get your hat renovated?). Lot 378 comes with an estimate of €400-€600.

McKechnies hat renovations double-sided sign (€400-€600).

In a world where wonder was fuelled by nature, a poster for J Marsh of Oxford advertised: “A Great Novelty!! (Which May Be Seen Alive!!)”. A wonderfully large pig (the largest pig ever seen), which had won numerous prizes, was temporarily billeted at the Star Yard.

Admission to view this creature was 2d, or 1d for children and schools. The poster on card is estimated at €100-€150.

On a slightly similar theme, lot 294 is three vintage plexiglass signs for bacon rolls, teas and coffee. This was the world before the heart-stopping jumbo breakfast roll had been invented.

More than a century later it will come as news to many of us, courtesy of lot 124 — a circa 1900 poster for Morrogh’s Tweeds, Douglas Mills, Cork — that this was the first tweed mill to make Irish Volunteers’ uniforms.

In the days before so many businesses were swallowed up by mergers and takeovers, breweries and distilleries were numerous throughout Ireland.

There are advertising mirrors for many forgotten Irish enterprises. One of the more expensively estimated lots is an advertising mirror for the Phoenix Brewery special porter and O’Connells Dublin ale.

Phoenix Brewery advertising mirror (€2,500-€3,500).

Enclosed in a mahogany bar back, it is estimated at €2,500-€3,500.

Lot 84 is a set of five antique pewter measures by Austin and Co, Cork (€200-€300).

Sheppards sale — with all its memories of the way we were — is divided into three sessions and the catalogue is online.