Threads and their labels

My current Morning Stitching needed some green, so I took this one out of the box of stranded* cotton - the box with threads passed on to me by friends whose mothers hadn't used them in their lifetime. (*Doesn't that give a new meaning to "stranded cotton"?)

Though "vintage", it's a brand new skein -  neatly tied up so you can easily find the end of the thread and carefully pull it out. And look at the lovely lines on the label! They prompted me to look closer at other labels - a mini-history of the evolution of Coats Anchor, and a glimpse at other brands -

Looking for information on the history or manufacture of embroidery threads, I found this, and was not tempted -

460 colours! (DMC has 465...) Just as with those huge sets of crayons we lusted for a children, some colours would disappear quickly and others would be left sadly around for years. Also, it was instructive to see that individual skeins (8 metres) now sell for prices randing from 47p to 77p - or,  three or four skeins for the price of a cup of coffee.