Slade Gorton

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The original Gorton's stick pin had stronger details and noted that the product they were emphasizing was "codfish", for which Gloucester was best known. When the same idea was again used by the Gorton-Pew Fisheries Company, the detail changed and it advertised "fish products", not just codfish. And, at an even later time the concept of a fish pin was used in a small metal folded tab style of pin.

The Cape Ann stick pin appears to be from around the same era as the earlier Gorton's stick pin. Both have the same style of twisted stick, which was quick typical of the late 1800s version of these items.

For many years, the most common type of packaging for fish was wooden boxes and crates, but with the invention of lithographic printing techniques metal boxes also began to be used.

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