It’s not often that you find your future in a box discarded behind the supermarket. But not much about Weimar historian, author and artist Pat Jacobsen’s career path has been typical.

Jacobsen stumbled upon some boxes of old fruit crate labels in 1978, just as the young musician was moving into his first place. He tossed them in his car, figuring the colorful advertising images would make a cheap decorating medium for the bare walls of his new bachelor pad.

Shortly after, a friend introduced Jacobsen to a San Francisco woman selling similar labels, some for as much as $100. Suspecting an opportunity for profit, Jacobsen struck out along the Pacific coast, talking to fruit growers, packers and printing companies. Little did he know that this would become his life for the next 25 years.

Fruit companies used paper labels from approximately 1885 to 1960, when pre-printed cardboard boxes became more economical. By the time Jacobsen came around, printing businesses and crate manufacturers were all too happy to offload thousands of obsolete labels that had been gathering dust in storage.

“They said, ‘We haven’t used these in years. You’re doing me a favor,’” Jacobsen said.

Jacobsen returned to San Francisco, where he sold some of his finds for hundreds of dollars and traded the dealer for new labels before returning to the road.

Through his travels, Jacobsen has become the leading authority on fruit crate labels, authoring books on the history of label art, agriculture and lithographic printing and even appearing on the Martha Stewart Show.

He’s also amassed quite the collection.

“I have the biggest collection of labels in the world,” he said. “I’m wacko – I have more than anybody.”

Over the history of label use, there have been at least 50,000 different labels, “each one representing one farm, one picture, one family,” Jacobsen explained.

Some depict supersized images of produce, others feature glorified images of Americana and some include local scenes, including Donner Lake. Jacobsen’s favorites feature beautiful women.

“Some companies will have 100,000 (of one label) that were never used and they’ll give me 20,000,” he said. “With the rare labels, there might be only one or two that someone found in a box in Grandma’s closet. All of (my) one-of-a-kind labels are being preserved.”

Most labels are common and therefore sell for $1-15. When they start becoming rare, the price can increase from $25-60.

“After about $60, you’d better be talking to somebody who really knows what they’re doing,” Jacobsen said.

Jacobsen provides labels to local businesses like Newcastle Produce and Ikeda’s in Auburn, where the walls are decorated in the logos of local packing sheds.

“From the first day we sold them, there was a lot of interest from customers,” said Ikeda’s owner Glen Ikeda. “It’s nostalgic. We cater to people from San Diego to the Nevada border and they’ll say, ‘That’s where I’m from’ or ‘That’s where my grandpa worked’ or ‘My dad used to own that packing shed.’ The reactions are big.”

Jacobsen remains the most important figure in the fruit crate label world, but it’s not the only hobby for a man whose self-proclaimed mission is to make a living without a desk job.

Jacobsen still performs as a musician and has also written and self-published a book on sushi, “Arigatoo! The Sushi Lover’s Companion.” Recently, his interests have turned to scuba diving – newly certified, he just returned from a trip to Fiji where he dove with and petted sharks – and his new business, Millennium Art Glass Company.

Jacobsen took a stained glass class with his wife and turned out to be somewhat of a prodigy at both stained glass and art glass painting. He’s since studied under two renowned American glass painters, produced art for church windows and other private commissions and created his own designs – often of the nude female form, a subject he said is often overlooked by glass artists.

“I’ve done music, I’ve done the fruit crate labels, I’ve written books and now I’m really into the painting glass thing…I just keep trying to work for myself,” he said.

For detailed information about fruit crate labels, visit Jacobsen’s Web site at Fruitcratelabels.com. Information about Millennium Art Glass Company is available at Millenniumartglass.com.