Trico Advertising Ephemera
We were delighted to receive a donation from Keith recently which included some Trico advertising material.
These are freebies of Trico-Folberth, the UK arm of the American Trico company. Trico is probably best known for its windscreen wiper blades, which they invented over a hundred years ago. TheBritish arm was based on the Great West Road in Brentford in Middlesex, and it was Keith’s late father who worked there as, ultimately, Chief Development Engineer. The company had a red triangular logo, still familiar today.
In the donation, there was what I can only describe as a short poncho – a plastic rain cape from the late 1970s or maybe 1980s. We also have what looks like a book of matches, but is in fact a sewing repair kit. We think this is earlier – maybe 1960s. Along with thread, a needle and a safety-pin, the book has tear-off ‘stop-run’ sticks which look rather like matches. We believe they are essentially glue-sticks, which, once moistened, would be used to stop a ‘run’ in nylon tights and stockings. At least, that’s what we think! Please tell us if we’ve got this wrong. Two rollerball pens from the 1980s complete our set.
We spotted that all of the items are practical and useful rather than the gimmicky logo-laden items normally dispensed for free by manufacturers at trade shows. We say given away for free –we’re confident they would have been given away, probably by the sales team at the Trico stand at industry trade shows.
We went to our shelves and checked the Trico-Folberth advert in the Official Catalogue for the 1965 Motor Show at Earls Court. This shows that Trico were using the same logo and font since at least that time. Trico-Folberth closed its Middlesex factory in 1992 and moved to Wales.
