About 1,600 units.
Product packaging is a very important tool to influence consumers, so every manufacturer pays special attention to it. Factory packaging with artwork began from the second half of the XIX century. From this period the packaging has become a carrier of advertising information.
Packaging the late XIX – early XX centuries (250 items) used a variety of shapes, colors, textures. Particularly original was the packaging of confectionery products. Large factories had their own workshops for the production of packaging. Smaller companies had to order packaging at special factories. In St. Petersburg it was the "Institution of Graphic Arts. Colour lithography by E. I. Marcus" and "Factory for metal products and colour lithography on tin by G. Haimovich".
Printing, embossing, metallochromy were used in manufacturing. The level of skill and artistic merit of this production are very different. Distinguished artists of the association "World of art" took part in the creation of the packaging along with ordinary graphic designers. However, due to the fact that designing "sticker" was not prestigious, nearly all works in this area are unnamed.
In 20-ies of XX century in Soviet Russia old forms and ways of decoration in packaging were used sometimes, but it was only inertia.
The collection of postwar packaging is the most extensive (approximately 1300 units) and it is interesting from the point of view of completeness of information about enterprises and product manufacturers.
Nowdays with the new possibilities of printing, production of fancy packaging was resumed. Among the recent arrivals are about 30 units of packaging of goods, released for the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg.
