Hong Kong Sugar Cube Collection

Submitted by Klaus on Sun, 03/06/2022 - 01:55

Foreword: On Gwulo we find collections of bar cards posted by several authors, and we have moddsey’s collection of matchbox labels. Now it’s time for new items: sugar cubes!

In the 1970s, I started to collect lump sugar or, to be precise, sugar cubes. Not any, but the ones with names of restaurants, cafes, hotels etc. on it. Of course, there were many with the names of sugar companies, coffee brands and similar items on the wrapping paper – these were of no interest to me. The worst thing were cafes with sugar sprinklers, a good reason never to visit these again.

Of any item I took two pieces, mainly for bartering with other collectors. Unfortunately, I never met one, so there are still duplicates in the collection.

My collection contains mainly sugar cubes from Germany, but also from other countries including the USA and Hong Kong. The latter ones are from my first visit in 1980. Here they are:

 

Park Hotel sugar cube
Park Hotel sugar cube, by Klaus
Maxim's sugar cube
Maxim's sugar cube, by Klaus
Hotel Furama Intercontinental sugar cube
Hotel Furama Intercontinental sugar cube, by Klaus
The Peak Tower Restaurant sugar cube
The Peak Tower Restaurant sugar cube, by Klaus
Hongkong Hotel sugar cube
Hongkong Hotel sugar cube, by Klaus

 

P.S. At the end of the1980s, I stopped collecting. The main reason was the replacements of cubes by single sachets. My collection was piled in an old letter case which was hanging at the wall. You could easily read the names on the cubes, but this wasn’t working for sachets.

Klaus, what a great collection of these sugar cubes, such a novel idea. I'm surprised they remained intact all these years.  I used to collect matchbooks and matchboxes of restaurants, hotels and nightclubs, but only have a handful of these left.