Tin Tales Update

On 8^th March I posted about my collection of Mary tins, real, replicas and fakes, and I described how I had branched out and bought the tin that maybe inspired the Mary tin, the chocolate tin that Queen Victoria sent as a New Year gift in 1900 for the soldiers in the British and Empire armies in South Africa. I explained how I found out that the tins were made by three firms, Cadbury’s, Rowntree’s and Fry’s and that each firm had their own manufacturer. Although noen of the firms put their own names on the box and although they all used the same design it is possible to tell which tins were made by which company.

So I bought a tin and was able to identify it as having been made by Rowntree’s. I did say in the post that I wasn’t planning to add to my collection, although the Cadbury’s and Fry’s tins were still out there. . .

Famous last words. I bought a Cadbury’s tin that arrived today. How can I tell it’s Cadbury’s though? Well, have a look at the tin on its own first.

The Queen Victoria Boer War chocolate tin from Cadbury

Okay. Now let’s compare it with my Rowntree’s tin. 

Top - Rowntree tin - Bottom - Cadbury Tin

You can see that they’re very similar at first glance but you can’t help noticing that the dimensions of the tins are different. Cadbury’s tin, on the bottom of the picture is noticeably narrower than Rowntree’s and slightly longer. When you pick them up, the Cadbury’s tin feels ever so slightly heavier but there’s really not a lot in it.

For reference here’s the two tins with the genuine Princess Mary tin.

Of course, it now means that I’ll have to try and get hold of a Fry’s tin. My collector gene demands it.