Vintage Framed Blanco Advertising Sign

Blanco was a compound used primarily by soldiers throughout the Commonwealth from 1880 onwards to clean and colour their equipment. It was first used by the British Army to whiten Slade Wallace buckskin leather equipment and later adapted to coloured versions for use on the cotton Web Infantry Equipment Pattern 1908 webbing. Blanco became widely used throughout both world wars. Blanco initially came in either powder manufactured by the Mills Equipment Company who designed and were a primary manufacturer of the webbing it was used much like soap. Pickerings manufactured it by the tradename Blanco It was manufactured in Canada as Capo which is an abbreviation for Canadian Colouring Compound.
Blanco was applied with a brush and water, and rubbed into the woven cotton material of load bearing equipment to provide a consistent colour to equipment worn by soldiers in the same unit and as a method of cleaning the gear. Post-war experimental rectangular waxy blocks became available with greater waterproofing abilities but after 1954 Joseph Pickering & Sons Ltd introduced a tinned paste product that didn't need the addition of water and could be applied directly from the tin. Other manufacturers made competing tinned paste products until the 1980s.

It makes it all sound so romantic - I am sure that it was a real chore.
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