Three weeks ago, I presented an assortment of unopened chocolate bars from 1981. As a candy collector, I originally acquired them with the desire to recover the packaging – not so much the decades-old chocolate inside.
Opening those packages and comparing the old contents with current versions turned out to be a fun topic and today I want to show you the fully-recovered packaging.
Getting the bars out of the wrappers was only half of my recovery process. Due to their age, getting these wrappers into a nice flat shape took time. Using a number of tools including a butter knife, a detail cutting blade, and a Sharpie marker (capped) – I was able to carefully deconstruct the wrappers. After that, I placed each wrapper between two sheets of plain white paper and allowed a few days of flattening inside old hardcover books.
Presented here are the wrappers as they now look.
1981 Snickers - 1990 UK Snickers-Marathon - 2011 Snickers
Milky Way wrappers - 1981 - 1987 - 2011
3-Musketeers wrappers - 1981 and 2011
M&M's Peanut wrappers - 1981 and 2011
M&M's Plain wrappers - 1981 and 2011
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups wrappers - 1981 and 2011
I think these wrappers came out of the recovery process looking pretty good. It’s not always easy getting a wrapper into a flattened-out shape, and not all collectors I know do this. Some collectors prefer to keep the wrapper looking somewhat close to how they appear with the candy still inside.
At some point, I will photograph some of the unorthodox methods I’ve developed to recover wrappers from bars with minimal tearing.
To check out my original post documenting the opening of these bars, head over here.
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Great article and nice research, my friend. I may be able to lend some insight into why the Milky Way bars looked as they did. I was born in 1969. So in the 70s and early 80s, I of course was a candy fanatic, like most kids. I ate all the candy bars listed here, but a refrigerated Milky Way bar was my particular favorite. That is, until the mid or late 80s…when they came out with a “New” Milky Way bar. It even says it on the middle wrapper. The “new” formula’s taste and texture was…and is…absolutely awful, and it’s the same formula that they still use today. Nothing at all like the original. That’s why I appreciate this article so much. It reminded me of just how good the old Milky Way bar was…and seeing a pic of the old wrapper almost brought the taste back to my mouth. I can still distinguish between the two. Now you have me reminiscing about the taste of 1980s Suzy Qs, Ding Dongs and Matt’s cookies… and having visions of vintage Doritos and Tostitos bags…lol. Thanks again…