A wrapper from a vintage skein of yarn turned up recently at Lee Mills (just the wrapper, no yarn) in the Knitting & Crochet Guild collection. I think it dates from 1920 or not much later - the brand is J. & J. Baldwin's Beehive yarn, but the manufacturer is Patons & Baldwins - the two companies merged in 1920. I like the little engravings of things you could knit with Beehive yarn - a lady's stocking, a pair of leggings for a child, a pair of baby's bootees are all easy to guess at. The objects at the top right look like some sort of wristlet for a lady. The drawing at the top left is, I think, a shawl - it is worn over the shoulders and the strings cross over in front and tie at the back. (I have seen a pattern for something like that.) All very charming, though they seem a bit old-fashioned for 1920 - similar patterns were current before the First World War.
On a later ball band, from the 1950s or 1960s, the company is named as Patons & Baldwins, and the beehive (which was originally the symbol of J. & J. Baldwin) still appears in vestigial form.
And it is still there on a recent ball-band, though the Baldwin name has disappeared altogether.
So, you should save your ball-bands and one day they will be fascinating historic documents. (I just found three, all different, lurking in the bottom of one of my knitting bags, so it turns out I am already saving ball bands, without actually deciding to.)
Very interesting.
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