Following is a list of escagraphs by category that
are found in history or in the marketplace today. Current items will
have a production company of distributor attached, historical ones will not.
This list was last updated in October of 2003.
To have indicated that some escagraphs are currently
available while others are not is based upon practice. For example,
while bread is not currently marked with baker's initials as standard
practice, it would not be surprising to find a bread loaf marked with a
baker's initials. When a specific escagraph has been included, as per
example, the sugar letters of Murrel, and they are indicated to be no longer
available, that is only to say that as a standard practice, they are not to
be found in the market but they could easily be made at home or by a
confectioner for a special promotion.
Through time, then, roughly
-
- 99% of Trademark/Name escagraphs that have
existed are still available
- 91% of all the Text escagraphs that have
existed are still available
- 89% of Letterform escagraphs that have
existed are still available
It should not surprise us that since Trademark/Name
escagraphs are in existence and accomplishing their job, they stay in
existence. The two oldest Trademark/Name escagraphs, Hershey and
NECCO, are still on the market. It is understandable that in the
Standard Food Item sub-category, only three of the items have disappeared
because, once the tradition of writing on standard food items has been
established, it remains because of the cultural pressures that brought it
into existence.
Because of their mandate to present information, the
Informational escagraphs remain stable, 72% of them that have existed, still
exist. Once a Letterform escagraph exists, it continues to exist
unless it is decidedly untasty.
We seem to Trademark, or mark food with a Name about
as often as we write on standard food surfaces. But if you consider
that all the Text items plus the Letterform items exceed the Trademark/Name
category by well over three times, it is evident that we users and creators
of escagraphs have not relinquished to advertisers our joy and grasp of the
escagraph's ability to allow us symbolic play. That gives us a handy
measure of their endearment to us.
In the shaped escagraph, there are three entries which
are copies of toys or games, all of which were available in the late 70s and
early 80s indicating that by that time, the issue of the escagraph as play
was not only firmly entrenched in user's minds but it was also being used as
a marketing tool.
Arabic numerals are a recognized element of the
writing process. The numbers 0 through 9 have a symbolic significance
as complex as the alphabet letters. Numerals were included on
gingerbread hornbooks and continue to be present in alphabet pasta packages.
Except for the chocolate calculator, I did not find any sweet numerals.
But nearly every package of alphabet pasta includes numerals lending support
to the claim that un-sweet alphabet pasta and numerals address a far more
somber realization of literacy and numeracy.
No claim is made that this is a complete list of
escagraphs available throughout history or currently in the marketplace.
- Andes Crème de Menthe Thins
-
- 1/5 ounce chocolate pieces with crème de
menthe centers with Andes molded into the top against a striated
background with a mountain image.
- Andes Candies L P
- 1400 E Wisconsin Street
- Delvan, WI 53113 USA
- Cadbury Fruit and Nut Bar
-
- Chocolate bar, containing fruit and
nuts, molded into 32 segments. Each segment includes the name Cadbuy.
- Hershey Foods Corporation
- Hershey, PA 17033-0815 USA
-
- Circular, pink colored mints with the
word CANADA stamped into the top. Canada Mints is a registered trademark
of NECCO. NECCO made and sold lozenges for distribution in Canada in the
19th century with CANADA stamped on them. Controversy arose when mints
meant for Canada were distributed in the USA. This mint is the heir of
that Lozenge.
- NECCO
- 135 American Legion Highway
- Revere, MA 02151-2405
- Currently available
-
- By Jelly Belly. Jelly bean shapes,
hence, also Standard Food item category. Words on some and the Jelly
Belly trademark on others, hence, also the Trademark Name category.
- Herman Goelitz Candy Co. Inc.
- 2400 N. Watney Way
- Fairfield, CA 84533 USA
- and
- Goelitz Confectionary Co.
- 1501 Morrow Ave. N
- Chicago, IL 60064 USA
-
-
http://www.jellybelly.com
- Currently available
-
- A square bar divided into quarters with
the name Chunky molded into each quarter
- Nestle USA, Inc.
- Glendale, CA 91203
- Currently available
-
- A chocolate bar containing crunchable
segments (rather like Rice-Crispies) in its composition. In sans serif
full caps type running the full length and breadth of the bar is the
bar's name CRUNCH against a striated background. Also on the surface
(upper left corner) of the bar is the maker's name in sans serif,
Nestle®.
- Nestle USA, Inc.
- Glendale, CA 91203
- Currently available
- Dare Maple Leaf crème cookies
-
- Maple flavored cookies shaped like a
maple leaf carrying the name and trademark of the company DARE. Because
of its shape, it should also be listed in the Shaped Escagraph
subcategory of the Text Category. A Canadian product.
- DARE Foods
- Kitchener, Ontario CA N2G 4G4
- Ghirardelli Chocolate Squares
-
- Thin chocolate square molded with spread
eagle flying through a banner stamped with the year 1852. Below that on
a plain bar is stamped GHIRARDELLI.
- Ghirardelli Chocolate Company
- San Leandro, CA 94578-2631 USA
- Currently available
-
- Round Ginger flavored cream filled
cookie with the trademark/name Newman molded in the center. Highly
decorated.
- Newman's Own Organics
- The Second Generation
- P.O. Box 2098
- Aptos, CA 95001 USA
- Healthy Choice Ice Cream Sandwiches
-
- A flat serving of ice cream inside a
cookie sandwich which has Healthy Choice molded on the tops of both
sides of both cookies.
- ConAgra Foods
- P.O. Box 3768
- Omaha, NE 68103 USA
-
- A chocolate bar with the name HERSHEY
spelled out in full caps molded into the bar. Some bars have the name
only once, filling the entire bar, some bars are divided into sections
with the name molded into each section.
