Vintage 1930s German Household Memo Board – Haushalt-Merktafel

A beautifully preserved piece of pre-war domestic design, this German Haushalt-Merktafel (household memo board) would have hung in the kitchen, quietly tracking pantry needs with a row of sliding pins. This particular example is especially rare—the tin plate has been hand-mounted onto a solid wooden paddle board, likely by the original owner. A quiet act of folk creativity, turning something purely practical into a piece of warm, lived-in domestic art.

The list of staples—from Mehl (flour) and Kaffee to Zucker, Seife, and Zündhölzer (matches)—reads like a poem of everyday life in 1930s–40s Germany. The typography, the patina, the texture of the wood… all of it speaks to another time. A time when nothing was wasted and everything had a place. 

• German, c.1930s
• Tin memo plate hand-mounted on solid wood
• A one-off folk art adaptation
• Original black sliding pins
• Printed with Fraktur-style pantry list
• Beautiful patina on both tin and wood
• In good working vintage condition

Dimensions;
Length: 36cm x width: 17cm