FOSTER CLARK'S

Curious Items

Here we have a selection of images sent to our site by Jason Marshall.

He writes; I found this in an old flax works,later a whisky bottling plant in Arbroath Scotland,do you know what it was for and how old it is? it is made of some kind of vulcanized rubber,and it does appear to be in imitation of a wooden case. I wondered if it might have been used to contain something liquid or corrosive or if the machine was for putting metal caps on whisky bottles?

I must thank Ron in New Zealand who was the canning manager at Foster Clarks in the 1950's for the following information regarding this item.

He writes;

I can fill in some of the details for you if you are not aware of the involvement of Foster Clark in a subsidiary in Scotland.
They acquired an interest in a small Scottish cannery called " TAY VALLEY CANNERS" for the production of mainly raspberries with the foster clark label.
This cannery was situated in an old flax mill at a place called ELLIOT JUNCTION about four miles West of the town of Arbroath in Angus.They must have aquired this factory about late 1958 or early 1959. I can not identify the piece of equipment in the photos. However the brass plate is almost certainly a plant number plate from Maidstone and the number on the plate would be identified in the plant register in records at FC Maidstone.This plant must have been sent from Maidstone to Elliot and might be an office case ,it is not a piece of cannery gear.
If you can find records of the machinery and plant at Maidstone the number would point you in the right
direction.

info@fosterclark.info

These story cards were auctioned on ebay and I lost out to a collector who collects items to do with "The Wild Swans" and knows nothing about Foster Clark's. The funny thing is I have nver heard of "The Wild Swans". As a result this lot went for over £16.

I assume they were a promotional item.