Friday, October 5, 2018

The Wonderful World of Old Biscuit Tin Cans

Monday, October 8, 2018
Canadian Easter Day
Sunny with Clouds
12 C 54 F

The Wonderful World of
Old Tin Biscuit Cans

     I haven't been doing much blogging lately. Today, I ventured over to Bertoia Auctions to see what interesting toys that they had for sale. Sure enough, I found plenty. However, what caught my eye, were a fine group of old biscuit tin cans from Britain.  The auction date is November 10-11, 2018. You can look at their items for sale either on Bertoia Auctions website or on Liveauctioneers.



   Biscuit tins are steel cans that were made of tin plate. By about 1850, Great Britain had become the major supplier of tin plate throughout the world. Before there were tin plate cans, people purchased biscuits in bulk and put them in bags. With the advent of tin cans, there were 2 major functions of these cans for biscuits. The first was for preserving the biscuits, and the second (developed later on) was the "encouraging" of people to buy these cans for their children (of course with the biscuits inside). Eventually, the biscuit cans became in all sizes and shapes. As well, printing became more common with the patenting (1877) of a new printing process called lithography.

     The most sophisticated designs were produced in the early 1900's and later on in the 1920's and 1930's. However, costs became more expensive later on, and thus providing these nice cans became less. WWI interrupted the production of these cans due to the need of metals for the war effort. The same thing happened during WWII, and eventually tin cans became less popular, and with the added cost, they eventually disappeared from production.


Rolls Royce Biscuit Tin
Producer: William Crawford

Reading Biscuits Speedboat Biscuit Tin
Huntley and Palmer
Length:  17"  433 mm


Pride of London Airplane Biscuit Tin
W>Crawford & Sons, Scotland, England
Circa 1920
Length:  15 1 /2"  394 mm


Double Decker Delicious Biscuit Tin
Carr & Company, Carlisle, England
Length:  8 1/2"  216 mm


Jacobs & Company Snow Sled Biscuit TIn
Length:  7 1/2"  191 mm


Flying Scotsman Locomotive Biscuit Tin
W. Crawford & Sons
Length:  16"  408 mm


Royal Coronation Coach  Biscuit  Tin
W.R. Jacob & Company
Length:  6 1/2"  165 mm


Pied Piper Tambourine Biscuit Tin
Cart & Company, England
Length:  5 1/2"  140 mm

Organ Grinder Biscuit Tin
William Crawford and Sons
Length:  8 1/2"   216 mm


Windmill House Biscuit Tin
B.M.W..Limited advertisement
for Christie's Biscuits since 1853
Length:  8"  203 mm



2 comments:

  1. Wow thanks for bringing attention to the biscuit tins. Aren't they amazing? My favorite has to be the airplane. Enjoy the blog very much, thanks, Joe

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Joseph,

    Thanks for your nice comments. It's always nice
    to receive compliments form my viewers.

    If you have old or antique toys, and would like to send me
    some photos, and a narrative, I'd be happy to write a post for you.

    Have a nice day,
    Stacey

    ReplyDelete