This week I posted the Please Enjoy Responsibly! picture to the HP Sauce gallery. This particular idea came to me late last summer as we were enjoying one of our many barbeques out on the patio with HP Sauce (of course) always at the ready. One can’t promote such a wonderful sauce without being somewhat socially responsible right? I decided then that I’d save every bottle until I thought I had enough bottles for the picture. Now that its seven months and eleven bottles later, I figured the time had come.

It wasn’t an easy seven months for those bottles. At first I thought I’d put them next to the recycling bin and simply keep from throwing them in with all the other paper & glass that makes their way to the curb every week. That didn’t last. About 3 - 4 bottles in and the next thing I knew I was going through the recycling at the curb trying frantically to find all the bottles before the truck came. What to do then with some empty HP Sauce bottles that I didn’t want throwing out just as I was on my way to work? I put them into the trunk (boot) of the car, that’s where! And that’s where they gathered. Over the course of the winter I would sift through the recycling and throw them into the trunk one by one before going off to work. That was until this past Sunday when I opened up the trunk to collect them at the puzzlement of my son. I know I’ll have some explaining to do when he’s older I’m sure! lol Either way, I hope someone out there enjoys the photo half as much as I did taking it.

I’m still working on collecting any print related HP Sauce advertising. I’m finding this kind of activity can be a very slow and solitary process, but one that can be rewarding when finding the right item. More on that in a bit…

This week during my lunch hour I browsed through a nearby antique shop. It’s one I’ve gone by many times but always overlooked. It’s one of those places that doesn’t really grab you until you have a purpose for being there. I entered the shop and an older man with a long white beard greeted me. “Hello, what can I do for you?” he asked. “I’m wondering if you have any sort of HP Sauce materials whether it be advertising, bottles etc..” I said while pondering how much better I’d got at asking that question since I first sought out on this ‘journey’. The first time I had got up the nerve to ask an antique dealer this question, he answered sharply and negatively before storming off in the opposite direction! “HP Sauce eh?” the man pondered. “I’ve been in the business a long time but that’s a new one for me!” I stifled a chuckle. “Sorry no..” he added. “I don’t have any HP Sauce items in here at all, and I would know too…I love HP Sauce!”. I laugh “It was worth a shot though wasn’t it?”. “Yup, you never know.” he said as he turned away.

I browsed around the shop for a while looking through some old magazines and books when I overheard him on the phone talking to another dealer - asking him if he had any HP Sauce items! Perhaps this question had piqued his interest. Unfortunately his phone contact hadn’t any HP items either but still, I had put a thought into someone’s mind which without my asking would surely never otherwise crossed his mind. I left the shop empty handed but content none the less.

While I continue to scour local antique dealers & flea markets, I’ll continue to display on the site what items I’ve found thus far. Today I’m uncovering the new HP Sauce Advertising Gallery where I’ll post print advertising etc. This gallery contains some HP Sauce adverts from the 1920s & 1930s including the Chatelaine advert from my previous post. Enjoy!

Back to rewarding activities…

What keeps me going with this site isn’t so much the items themselves, although they are sometimes quite unique; it’s knowing that perhaps someone else might also enjoy sharing this very niche bit of history with me and with that I’d like to thank Mandy for her kind words in the Nursery Rhymes - with a dash of sauce page.

I’ve wondered on and off about the availability of past HP Sauce advertising, especially in newspapers & magazines. I can only assume that there are many examples of such advertising as there is someone on ebay who has been selling such adverts out of some very old newspapers. Before I go down this route myself, I thought it’d be more interesting to find out what I could discover on my own.

This past weekend I found myself in an old local antique shop (as one does). It was the stereotypical antique shop with shelves everywhere stacked with old books. An older couple sat behind the counter reading, classical music on the radio and incense wafting through the stale air. I approached them and asked if they knew where I might be able to find some old HP Sauce adverts. The man peered up at me, his nose down as he looked over his glasses. “HP Sauce?” he asked. “Yes, perhaps you have some old newspapers or magazines that I could look through?” I responded. The next thing I knew, the woman was issuing him all sorts of directions on where we should look next. Eventually we came across a pile of old magazines in a corner and I was left there to sift through them. There was some fantastic old newspapers there including some copies of the Illustrated London News from the 1930’s. I looked through several issues but came up short, and I was about to leave the shop when I came across a Chatelaine magazine which I quickly flipped through. I didn’t have long to wait before I came across a large colour HP Sauce advert, right smack in the middle of the page! I bought the magazine and I’ve attached the advert for all to enjoy.

I’m quite hooked on this pursuit now. Who knows how far back these ads go? Since finding this particular ad, I have come across some electronic copies of HP Sauce ads published in an Irish newspaper from the 1920s and ’30s which I’ll save for another update. I plan on dedicating an entire gallery towards HP Sauce advertising - it’ll just take me a bit of time to plan out the logistics of it.

You may have noticed that I’ve revamped the sidebar somewhat and have included yet another version of HP Sauce advertising by including a new HP Sauce Commercials section! Yes, those are videos in there! I’ll most likely be tweaking the layout some more, but I hope this helps to bring some more information closer to the front page than they were before.

If you have some HP Sauce history which you would like to contribute to the site, please write. Thanks!

Soon after arriving back at my desk from lunch, a small white box was dropped off in my inbox.

I picked it up. It weighed next to nothing! shake shake Hmm…nothing rattled inside either.

Hang on, this box looks a little peculiar. The attached label doesn’t look like one typically used by a vendor. It simply has my name, work address and the word “Untitled” on it. It must’ve been sent by inter-office mail.

What kind of box is this anyway? Someone sent me a light bulb?

LOL! It’s a small generic packet of “brown sauce” stuck fast to the bottom of an otherwise empty box!!

The mind races! Who in all of cubicledom would’ve sent me this? Is it someone whom I work closely with? Perhaps it was sent by a lurker to whom I have no prior acquaintance!? But then again, how did he/she find out about the site? Is that what’s discussed in the cafeteria? (I wouldn’t know…I rarely hang out there long enough to find out).

Thank you to whomever sent me the wee packet of “brown sauce”. It’s halarious!

Here’s an interesting piece of HP Sauce history that I’ve just picked up. It’s an actual stock dividend issued by H.P. Sauce Limited on October 31st, 1950.

^*Click the pictures for a large view. Requires a javascript enabled browser. Recommended resolution of 1024×768 or better.

I’m not sure if there’s any significance of it being issued on Halloween or not, but the individual it was issued to sure sounds posh (from where I’m standing anyway).

I’ve added this little artifact to the HP Sauce History -> 1950 HP Sauce Stock Dividend area under HP Sauce Artifacts.

As usual, if you have more information regarding this or other artifacts listed, please contact me - I’d love to learn more!

Enjoy.