Cardboard box with brown lid. Blue print. Image of Pan (satyr) blowing horn. Box contains 12 cardboard packages with similar Pan logo, each containing 4 individually wrapped condoms.
This Pan brand condom was manufactured during the first half of the 20th century. The cardboard container features an image of the mythic Greek god Pan playing his flute. The image of Pan was likely used because of Pan’s association with sexuality and male virility. A flap lifts up to reveal two condoms and the text “Fine Quality.”
In 1938, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) labeled condoms a “medical device;” this enabled the FDA to test condoms to ensure that they did not have holes or tears. Before 1938, companies that voluntarily tested their condoms often made a point of advertising their condoms as “tested.” Not all companies that claimed to test their condoms, however, did so.
Condoms such as these which claimed to be "tested" tended to be more expensive than those which were untested.
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