Afrikanische Frucht Compagnie (AFC)

No permission

Please login

You are not authorized to access this page. If you are already registered but you do not have have access to this page of our catalog, please send an e-mail to info@riehl-collection.de.

Brand Classification: 

  • Banana Company

In Hamburg, the fresh fruit trade has a long standing tradition. Since the beginning of the last century Afrikanische Frucht-Compagnie GmbH (AFC) has been part of that history as one of the few pioneers of the European banana market.

In the 1920s AFC established its position with its own reefer vessels and the introduction of trademark bananas to nearly all European markets. In those days AFC had its own plantations in Cameroon where stable, fair and sincere business relationships with retailers and producers were founded. During the late 1950s, after an intermediate involvement in Liberia, AFC continued to establish the same solid business connections with experienced producers in the best banana growing areas in Latin America; since 1968 under the new brand name of 'ONKEL TUCA'.

 

Bananenernte in Kamerun im Jahre 1934

 

Deutsche Kamerun Bananen

 

Created: 

May 2016

Updated: 

April 2020

Comments

Frank (2023-12-16)

Martin! Thanks for the comments :)

Martin S (2023-12-15)

Added a page from the german doctoral thesis showing the two small labels.
In the chapter it is described how the Nazi government forced the companies to add the word „German“ clearly visible on their bananas.
The AFC started a huge campaign about „German Cameroon Bananas“.
It is interesting that at that time Cameroon was a British Colony.
There was another company using a label which only said „Kamerun“ and they also were forced to add the phrase „german product“ to it.

Martin S (2023-12-15)

Added a picture showing how the smaller labels were placed on bananas.
It is a red version of the crown.
It is likely that there are several different AFC designs that we don‘t have yet.

Martin S (2023-12-15)

I‘m trying to add a picture of the advertising

Martin S (2023-12-15)

Also this one was used on fresh bananas and its not a pack label.
There is a pack label in crown shape showing on old photographs, but it is also much larger than this one.

Martin S (2023-12-15)

This is the small version and not a box label but actually placed on bananas.
The box label is much bigger.

Martin S (2023-12-15)

This is one of the AFC labels that actually were placed on fresh bananas ( Gros Michel and not Cavendish at that time )

Martin S (2023-12-15)

Yes, indeed this one was used on a display.
The ones used on bananas were smaller, ca 28 x 30 mm.
There are three of them in the catalogue.One has an identical graphic like this one, one has old german lettering and the third ine is crown shaped.
I just noticed that they are mistakenly labeled as box labels.

The proof that the smaller ones were used on bananas comes from a doctoral thesis on banana import in Germany. It says that the Nazi government forced the AFC company to clearly label their fruit as „german product“ otherwise they were not allowed to sell it.

The thesis is written in Gernan however…
Also there are old advertisements showing a crown shaped label placed on a banana.

Frank (2023-12-13)

It would be interesting to ask Martin S, what his oppinion is. He said, that the AFC, that I got from him, was meant for sticking on the bananas. And my AFC looks somewhat like this one here.

michael (2023-12-12)

This is the label shown on the blue box at the picture above. So it is rather a box label, but for a small hand of bananas.

Nick (2016-11-20)

@ Michael:

Thank you very much for summarizing and neatly organizing all the infos related to the AFC brand in one article.

Michael (2016-11-20)

This brand has got now an own article where all the fantastic information from Nick is summarized.

Michael (2016-10-12)

Yes, probably right: Figo Bananas PLU 3170 (http://banana-label-catalog.org/advancedsearch/figo)

Michael (2016-10-11)

This is an old label from 1930 and has got a wonderful embossisng on the back.

What I have heard: Feigen (=Figs) Bananas are dried bananas and came in a box from cameroon, because it was that time nearly impossible to ship fresh bananas this long way. In the box of the dried bananas was this label as a promotion.

There is a picture of a fig-box in the gallery: http://banana-label-catalog.org/gallery/izmir-figs

PETER NIESSEN (2016-10-11)

Figo banana, that is the name in Brazil for a sort of bananas. So, this bananas are sold not only dried. Maybe they are (or have been) the most suitable banas for drying. In our collections are some FIGO BANANA labels.

Nick (2016-05-01)

This label was not really used on bananas but as a seal on letters for promotional reasons.

Michael (2016-05-01)

Wow. What an introduction!

Subscribe to RSS - Afrikanische Frucht Compagnie (AFC)