Rare 1902 King's Coronation chocolate tin to go under hammer at Scarborough auction
An empty chocolate box fit for a King is being predicted to make as much as £1,000 when it goes under the hammer in an auction at Scarborough’s David Duggleby on Friday August 7.
The 125-year-old box, which originally contained just a single bar of Rowntree’s chocolate, is one of the rarest commemorative wares produced for the coronation of King Edward VII in 1902.
It is thought to be only the second to be seen in an auction this century.
Holly Hammond of auctioneers David Duggleby said: “Along with all the country’s major chocolate manufacturers, Rowntree of York produced thousands of souvenir coronation tins of chocolate - painted tins decorated with portraits of the new King and Queen - that were distributed to the nation’s schoolchildren and many others.
"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.
“Rowntree also commissioned the Sheffield silversmiths Cooper Brothers and Sons to produce a small number of solid silver versions of the painted tins.
"The King and Queen got silver versions and the others went to members of the Rowntree family.”
It is one of the silver chocolate boxes that is to go under the hammer in The Period Home Auction at the Vine Street Saleroom in Scarborough on Friday August 7.
Holly said: “It is incredibly rare.
"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 26 1902, is wrong.
“That’s down to the fact that the King and Queen were due to be crowned on June 26 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 August 9.”
Asked about value of the silver chocolate box, Holly said: “Rowntree 1902 coronation tins can make as much as £30-£50, depending on condition, and tins that turn up complete with the chocolate have achieved two or three hundred pounds.
"However this is in a completely different league, about a s rare as it gets.
"The pre-sale estimate is £800-£1,000.
“And the fact that the chocolate has long gone?
“That’s a blessing in my view,” laughed Holly.
"Hundred and twenty five year old chocolate may be a curiosity but it would likely have played havoc with the condition of a wonderful piece like this - not to mention putting me off chocolate for weeks!”
Friday’s Period Home sale is a curated auction of furniture, clocks, silver, works of art and country house interiors extending to 262 lots.
Visit www.davidduggleby.com to see the catalogue.
Viewing is taking place at the Vine Street Salerooms in Scarborough throughout the week including Friday morning (August 7) from 9am until the start of the auction at 11am.