British Biscuit Tins, Part II
By Donna Kaonis

Among biscuit tin collectibles, perhaps the most interesting are the full color catalogs issued by the biscuit manufacturers for their clients - grocers, wholesalers, hotels, etc. - to select the biscuits and the tin containers. Tins were usually filled with a mixture of the company's biscuits or packed with their individual popular brands. Christmas was naturally the busiest time of the year, and it was the novelty tins themselves which vastly increased trade at this time of the year. Biscuits presented in these cleverly designed tins were the perfect hostess gift. The catalogs are worth collecting in their own right as primary source material as well as outstanding examples of color lithography.

Other examples of point-of-sale material to the trade include signs, posters, store displays, and special tins designed to show a company's range of biscuits. The companies promoted their biscuits to the public through newspaper and magazine advertising as well as trade cards, pocket mirrors, puzzles, pamphlets, and miniature tins. The latter were used as promotional giveaways and were also sold as stocking stuffers. Huntley & Palmers, the most prolific of the biscuit manufacturers, issued a miniature advertising gramophone record as a clever give-away.

Some tins were naturally more popular than others and remained in production for several years, some were dropped after a short time, and others might reappear with different colors and design variations for a new look. Often the means of opening a tin was part of its integral design such as Crawford's boat, the "Berengaria," which utilized a gang plank to pull up and open the tin. Tins were given names, making it easy for the trade to identify and reorder.

The first biscuit tin makers were Huntley, Boorne & Stevens of Reading. Founder Joseph Huntley was the son of the Huntley who started the biscuit company and the close association of the two companies would be to their mutual benefit. Barringer, Wallis & Manners and Hudson Scott and Sons were also important tin plate printers.

The major biscuit manufacturers all began as small town bakers. The largest, Huntley & Palmers, began in 1822 in Reading. Joseph Huntley took advantage of the bustling business at the Crown Inn, a regular coach stop across the street from his bakery, by sending boys over with trays of biscuits for the travelers to purchase.

William Crawford and Sons, Macfarlane Lang and Co., Ltd., McVitie and Price, Peek Freans, Jacobs, and Carr & Co., are other biscuit companies familiar to collectors. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century competition was keen between these companies and production numbers, especially for Huntley & Palmers was staggering. Exports were also considerable and many tins found their way to the United States. Biscuits packed in decorative tins continued to be big business through the early part of the twentieth century, although production was slow to pick up following World War I. The approaching Second World War and the need for metal as well as the loss of workers to the war effort spelled the gradual demise of the fanciful biscuit tins. By the mid-twentieth century, the biscuit companies, finding greater strength in consolidation, had joined either the United Biscuits Group or the Associated Biscuit Company.

Today British biscuit tins are bringing impressive sales results, especially those tins that appeal to toy collectors. Prices realized last spring last spring at Bill Bertoia Auctions in Philadelphia included a Crawford sports coupe with passengers for $11,000; a Gray Dunn's racing car biscuit tin, $20,900 and a sedan biscuit tin by Crawford which realized $10,450.

Biscuit tins have long been appreciated in England where exhibitions have been staged since the 1970s. Several museums including the famed Victoria and Albert have permanent collections. Increasingly, collectors on this side of the pond have come to take note of the brilliant designs and exquisite printing of the British biscuit tin. Next time you're sauntering down the aisles at an antique show, take a closer look. Appearances can be deceiving. That purse, globe, basket, or stack of books just might be a biscuit tin!

British Biscuit Tins was excerpted from Collectors’ Eye magazine, a full color magazine dealing with popular antiques and collectibles. Visit www.collectorseye.com.