Companies along the Maine Coast began packing sardines in 1875. By 1899 Lubec alone packed 1,117,000 cases of 100 cans each, and exceeded 4 million cases during World War II as the nation‘s leader. One of the largest firms was founded by Robert J. Peacock This photograph shows an authentic Peacock tin-plated steel can with the label lithographed directly on the metal, later sealed without sardines as a “reproduction.” The prominent UPC barcode was adopted by the food industry in 1973, fixing the date of this label as that year or later. Note that by this period statutes required a listing of contents, in this example in “Descending Order of Predominance Maine Sardines, Soy Bean Oil, Salt.”