Coffee Collectibles

Coffee Collectibles

Antique advertising for coffee collectibles and tea relics are highly prized. Some of the most popular types of coffee collectibles are antique coffee grinders and mills, percolators and pots, and large general store coffee storage bins with scoops. Other important memorabilia are coffee cans, mugs and cups, signs and tins. Significant brands were Fat Boy, Chase & Sanborn and Luzianne and regional brands such as C.F. Blanke’s Coffee & Spice. In general, the coffee products advertised the company’s name and logo designs.

Storage Bins – Large coffee storage bins displayed in general stores were over two feet wide and two feet tall and held up to 75 pounds of coffee.

Coffee Tins –  Coffee tins were used to package the coffee and considered a way to keep the coffee clean in comparison to food offered in bins or barrels when people would use their hands sometimes to scoop it out.

Coffee Pots – The coffee pots, percolators, storage bins and tins were designed to display a company’s brand on the side of their containers. In the early 1900’s, coffee pots were made of tin, aluminum or enamel and were created to boil water or brew coffee.

Percolators – The first percolators were made out of aluminum or metal and placed on the top of a stove then forced water to come up through a tube to run over coffee grounds.

 Coffee Grinders

Many collectors are interested in coffee grinders from the 1800’s that were used in the general stores to help break down coffee beans into a more usable form. The coffee grinders were box-types, large floor standing models, wall-mounted or counter-mounted.

Typically, the grinders had a brass bowl with a single or double wheel and a crank to grind the beans into a drawer beneath it. Most were box-shaped but rare ones were round. The company had their logo or unique designs on the sides or top to differentiate their brand.

Elgin National – One well-known brand, Elgin National, featured a brass eagle finial on the top and an eagle with shield decals on the sides. Elgin National is a high demand brand for coffee collectibles.