Ephemera – milk – bottle tops

OVER TIME WE WILL ADD LOCAL EXAMPLES  OF EPHEMERA REFERRED TO IN THE EPHEMERA BIBLE, Maurice Rickards’ Encyclopedia of Ephemera (New York: Routledge, 2000).

Here is a nice example of a ‘milk-bottle closure’, which Rickards describes at page 205. It evolved as milk was delivered rather than collected from dairies and as health concerns arose. In the early 20th century methods of sealing the milk from the open air were tested; the recessed disc of card became standard. It remained in use for some forty years. It was improved in the early 1930s by provision of lifting tags…’. The disc became an opportunity for identification of the milk (as our examples show). Rickards advises that the aluminium foil closure was introduced in Sweden in 1914.

No one likes to find fault with Maurice Rickards but the chronology is a little sketchy and of course is about the United Kingdom, not necessarily the Australian experience. When did they start here? Any ideas? When did the foil lids start to be used?

We look to our museums, libraries and private collectors for a bit more information.

The Powerhouse Museum has an interesting post about the cardboard top from the Devonshire Dairy; and why T.B. tested cows are mentioned.
They date the lid to a rather broad period, 1930s-50s.

Read more from the Powerhouse here.

There is a inbetween product, the waxed paper lid, at the Moorabbin Historical Society, they date the lid to the 1950s, read more here.