Chase and Sanborn Coffee has been around for a long time – though I’m a little confused about why the advertisement refers to the “Seal Brand” or who C. H. McKim was. Since I found this advertisement in an Alpena, Michigan church cookbook, one thought is that maybe C. H. McKim was the proprietor of a store in that town.
A Hundred Years Ago 
It was called the ‘seal brand’ because Chase and Sanborn claimed to be the first coffee company to pack and ship roasted coffee in sealed tins.
Oh, that makes sense. Thanks for explaining.
There may have been a better way to convey that information.
This doesn’t seem like a very clearly written ad – though it was fun to see that Chase and Sanborn has been around for at least a hundred years.
I heard of Chase and Sanborn coffee but did not know they had tea too. At least at one time.
Until I saw this ad, I also hadn’t realized that Chase and Sanborn had a tea.
Can you imagine the first time a housewife in 1922 opened that sealed can with the great “whish” and magnificent whiff of coffee!
Wonderful image, I love the smell of a freshly opened coffee package. I suspect one might have been able to get it fresh ground at a store in some larger cities but the convenience of a sealed can is magic.
Through the wonders of the internet I found info at this site.
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/McKim-54
“An 1897 Directory for Alpena, Michigan lists Howard McKim as a partner in the grocery store McKim and Polzin with Frederick Polzin at 107 Water Street. … He also appears in 1905 as follows: McKIM & POLZIN (C Howard McKim, Frederick A Polzin), Complete Line of Staple and Fancy Groceries, Teas, Coffees, Spices and Table Supplies,…”
It reminds me of when my mom would do her grocery shopping at the A&P. She left her last stop at the coffee grinder for her week’s stash of freshly ground beans. I think that is when I first fell in love with the smell of coffee, even before I drank it!
This brings back warm memories. The coffee aisle smelled so nice back then.
Wow, I’m amazed that you were able to find this. I can almost picture one of the women of the church asking the local grocer if he’d buy an ad in the church cookbook they were compiling.
I love your description. I can almost smell the coffee. Chase and Sanborn probably seemed so modern back then.
Ads for coffee seem to be popular in every age.
Maybe advertisers try to create an image and brand preference because coffee’s a discretionary food
I got curious, too, so I went looking, and I found this interesting article about Chase and Sandborn from 1922!
https://www.gjenvick.com/Epicurean/CoffeeAndTea/GrowthOfChaseAndSanborn-1922.html
Thanks for finding. The article is fascinating. It’s interesting that Chase and Sanborn only allowed one store in a town to sell their products – ” . . there seems little reason to doubt that the policy of placing their merchandise with one representative merchant in a town and then protecting him in its sale locally has been of unquestioned benefit.” The ad makes more sense now, and I better understand what sole selling agent means.
I read in the novel Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk, about a woman advertising pioneer in the mid-1900s, that an ad where the product was depicted as enormous was called “hellzapoppin’.” This probably only dates back to the 1938 musical of that name, though.