Acton Historical Society Blog: A Different Kind Of Antique

Press release from the Acton Historical Society:

9/21/2021

The purchaser of this toilet tissue would never have expected it to elicit fascination from our volunteers, but disposable daily necessities seldom survive to become antiques.  We do not know where the roll came from, but we did find that a trademark application was filed on November 19, 1925 for “Avona” printed on the diagonal in the font that is on our label.  Jordan Marsh Company held the trademark for many years and periodically advertised Avona toilet tissue in the Boston Globe.  Ads around 1950 featured pictures of the rolls that had quite a different look from ours, so we suspect that our roll was from earlier days.  A May 2, 1927 ad mentioned a 1000-sheet package, not a roll. (page 4)  In the November 10, 1932 issue (p.9), Jordan Marsh advertised a special sale of 24 1000-sheet rolls for $1, so that could be approximately the era of our find.  The tissue came with options; one could buy white, orchid, rose, yellow, green, or blue.  Jordan Marsh would fulfill orders by mail or telephone.  We never know what we are going to learn by volunteering at the Society. Boston Globe

This press release was produced by the Acton Historical Society. The views expressed here are the author’s own.