Thought I'd show off my Covina orange crates (which were actually referred to as "boxes" back in the day). Although exhibiting some wear, the labels are in overall good shape for their age, and the boxes themselves are still sound enough to stack for display shelving.
Just eyeballing, the "Red C" appears to be the older of the two. Red C was a long-standing brand of the Covina Citrus Association which was established around 1895,1 though my guess is this particular box dates to the 1930s. The Valencia Heights Orchards Association was in business from around 1930 through the mid-Fifties,2,3 and I think its box here is from the post-WWII Forties.
I would still like to obtain a Covina orchard box, which were stouter in construction and had branded rather than applied paper labels, but the only one of those I ever saw for sale went for more than I could afford. I no longer recall exactly what I paid for my shippers, but for sure it was less than a hundred each. They have way more historical and sentimental value to me than that, though!
Scene inside the A.C.G. (Azusa-Covina-Glendora) Citrus Exchange, 1910s.
References:
1 Covina Argus, October 5, 1907, p.12.
2 Covina Citizen, November 19, 1931, p.6.
3 Covina Argus-Citizen, January 30, 1953, p.7.
