Jim Dine photo query

[Caroline Levitt]

I am an art historian, currently completing an article on an illustrated book - Jim Dine's photographic illustrations for Apollinaire's 'Le Poète assassiné', published in 1968. In one of the photographs included in the book, there is what I thought initially might be an acrylic paint tube - it is rather crumpled and it is hard to read the label properly. However some conservation experts agree that it is not any paint that they recognise and have suggested that it may in fact be a photographic product, perhaps a tube of retouching paint or something. It apparently seems larger than standard tubes of retouching paint, but just in case this is a photographic product, I wondered if there might be a member of this community who might be able to help me identify it! I include the photo here, and would be grateful for any light anyone can shed on it:

Jim Dine illustration

 

[Janine P Freeston]

I do recognise the letter A on the tube, the position and font is reminiscent of acrylics I used at art college at the end of the seventies. The A signified the most expensive paint. I will try and see what I can fine out. If I do I will let you know. Sorry not to be more precise at this point.