125-year-old chocolate tin sells for £1700 at Scarborough auction
A rare 125-year-old silver chocolate tin made for the coronation of King Edward VII has sold for £1700 at auction.
The box - which originally contained just a single bar of Rowntree's chocolate - is one of the rarest commemorative wares produced for the royal event.
Auctioneers at David Duggleby believe it is only the second to be seen in an auction this century.
For the coronation, Rowntree's of York, North Yorks - alongside all the country's major chocolate manufacturers - produced thousands of souvenir coronation tins which were distributed across the nation.
They were decorated with painted portraits of the King Edward and Queen Alexandra.
The King and Queen supplied tins of the Rowntree chocolate for Coronation Dinners that were arranged for 'the poor of London' and for a Royal housemaids tea.
But the confectionery company also commissioned silversmiths Cooper Brothers and Sons from Sheffield, South Yorks., to produce a small number of solid silver versions.
The King and Queen were given silver versions and the others went to members of the Rowntree family.
And following a short bidding war at David Duggleby, in Scarborough on Friday (August 7) the gavel was raise and the Edwardian tin was sold for the huge figure.
It was also made from enamel and hallmarked Sheffield 1901.
Holly Hammond from auctioneers previously said the item was "incredibly rare".
Prior to bidding opening on the lot auctioneer Coralie Thomson said there had been "lots of pre-auction interest in this one".
She said: "This is in a completely different league, about as rare as it gets.
The only other example that we have been able to find ever going under the hammer was back in 2007, in London, a box that was reportedly given by a member of the Rowntree family to their coachman and passed down in his family.
"This box retains its original red leather case and is in quite remarkable condition.
"It bears the Cooper Brothers stamp and is hallmarked Sheffield 1901, the year before the Coronation - which brings us on to a surprise, the fact that the date of the Coronation emblazoned on the tin, June 26th 1902, is wrong."
"That's down to the fact that the King and Queen were due to be crowned on June 26th but King Edward was taken ill with an abdominal abscess that required surgery shortly before the date and the ceremony was postponed for six weeks.
"The coronation did not actually happen until 9th August."
Holly added that it is was a "blessing" that the chocolate was no longer in the tin.