Tins!

I may have mentioned this before, but I am a collector of note! So is Rob I might add. My children call it 'my junk' and have promised to bury it all with me! Along with my Beatles records!

And since I have been working at the Hospice shop, I have managed to broaden my interests and collections! I have old jugs and coffee pots, meat mincers and kitchen utensils.

And TINS!

My collection!

There is a gap between the top of the kitchen cupboards and the ceiling, just enough room to house a wonderful collection. Some tins are new, some are middle aged and some, the pride of my collection, are old! Look at this one:

Ask any person of any age what was in this tin and they will know instantly. Mazawattee Tea. The elderly (I shan't say 'old' as I am rapidly approaching her age) lady gives it away every time! For years I have been desperate to find a Mazawattee tin, and you honestly cannot find them.

This is written on the bottom of the tin.

Well, actually you can, but wow, they cost plenty! So, when a friend was clearing out her father-in-law's possessions, she found this one, and immediately thought of me! I googled the history of it and discovered that the painting was done in May 1887.

'This was merely a start for he then had the idea of using a standard picture to advertise the brand. It is to many modern eyes a rather gloomy thing showing an aged, bespectacled and somewhat toothless grandmother with her supposed granddaughter and the compulsory cup of tea. This picture became popular and was used in its original form for many years. Although the artist is not known, the model for the grandmother was Mary Ann Clarke, the wife of an Islington bootmaker. The model for the child was to have been her granddaughter but she was too shy, and the artist had to enlist the aid of the little girl next door, Alice Emma Nichols. The picture was called “Old Folks at Home”.' (Thanks to Google)

These cigarette tins are from the same source:

And this one too:

Baumanns are still going strong.

Imagine that many coconut creams!

Now, this one below I bought on Thursday from the Hospice shop. It is battered and dented and we decided that it must have been a biscuit tin in its heyday.

There is a Springbok emblem on the front and a name on the side 'J J Hill and Company Ltd, Est 1880', so we decided to google the name. The building is still there, 150 Sir Lowry Road and is now 'Traders Clothing'. It was designed by a Robert Macbeth Robertson and built 'pre 1905'.

The original factory building.

So, fired with enthusiasm, I googled 'tins with springbok emblem' and came up with photos of our rugby team!! Eish! And a few odd tins but nothing like the one we have. We wonder whether the tins held rations for the army, they look kind of army issue, but I really would love to know its history. Does anybody out there have any idea?

In the meantime, it has a home here with us, among friends!