Here is a beautiful wooden general store floor coffee bin from the Evans Coffee Company advertising for their Star brand of coffee, circa 1900. The Evans Company was better known in later years as the David Evans Coffee Co. and was mostly known for their Old Judge brand of coffee and spices. This wood bin advertised their Star brand of coffee, an earlier precursor to the more famous Old Judge named coffee. This bin illustrates their Star brand by incorporating a large “star” image in the center of the bin. Wooden bins like this were often one of the center pieces of general stores, as customers simply bought their coffee bins in bulk at that time. Unfortunately, the availability of coffee by the pound and these floor bins were short lived due to unsanitary conditions with people putting their dirty hands in the bins, and of course, rodents and such being able to access the bins easily since they were on the floor. Today collectors are left with some of the original bins which survived being cut up and used for wood burning needs, or to patch building holes and gaps as sometimes the original bin slats are found fitted for that purpose occasionally today.
The David Evans Coffee Company was started in St. Louis, MO in the 1850’s when Mr. Evans started buying coffee beans from the river packet boats on the landing in Saint Louis. While the Star brand was their big seller in the 1800’s, the Old Judge brand soon became their flagship brand and is still made today after a local STL based company brought the iconic brand back with its flagship owl logo image.