Founded on February 8, 1910, the Boy Scouts of America celebrated its 100th birthday in 2010. The “Boy Scout” brand is valued by collectors of Americana, Boy Scout memorabilia, fruit box labels, and anyone who is appreciative of great artwork, period.
The Boy Scout Brand label was used by the Orange Distributors of Cincinnati, Ohio. There are some citrus label collectors who disdain labels without an identification from one of the citrus producing states like Arizona, California, Florida, Louisiana or Texas, regardless of their beauty, rareness factor, or age. It is safe to say that this label does not suffer from this issue among collectors! But, why distribute oranges with a boy scout image in Cincinnati, Ohio?
It is possible that the label was used to distribute citrus through Cincinnati, Ohio, because an organization that was a forerunner to the scouting movement was founded there. That group was called “The Sons of Daniel Boone” and founded in Ohio in 1905.
Scouting as most of us know has to do with preparing our nation’s youth, boys and girls, to be ready to defend or aid our country in a time of national emergency. Many of our civic and national leaders can trace some of their development to earning merit badges of useful skills from an organization like the Boy Scouts of America. A handful of oranges in the backpack of a boy or girl scout is probably all about being prepared, too
JC