#Middlebury #Antiques
The photo does not show a bookshelf full of books. It shows an antique tin box that held cookies (called biscuits) in England about 1905. Hundreds of different figural tin boxes were made to hold cookies made by the English biscuit company, Huntley & Palmer. They are often sold to be used as attractive boxes, but there also are serious collectors bidding for them at sales.
Grocery stores in the past were very different. The use of automobiles, starting about 1910, changed the way folks shopped.
This figural tin box made to look like a bookshelf full of books once held cookies made by the English biscuit maker, Huntley & Palmer. It sold for $270. (Kovels photo)
Before 1900, grocery shopping was done at a street where farmers gathered to sell their produce. Then the markets moved into large buildings that rented space where farmers and customers bartered for food. Some farmers moved to residential suburbs and opened small grocery stores. They sold staples, like flour, sugar and tea, as well as fresh food. Clerks took the order and packed it.
But in 1916, the first supermarket was built in Memphis, Tennessee, and customers were able to choose their items, put them in a cart and take it to a cashier. That led to branding with eye-catching packaging and the modern chains of grocery stores.
Huntley & Palmer, an English bakery, created tin boxes by the 1850s to ship and sell their boxed cookies, called biscuits, so they wouldn’t get broken. They started making the figural – and now very collectible – tins in 1894 and made hundreds of different shapes. The bookcase tin in the photo was made in 1905, and is a top-quality example.
Q: My mother bought an Autumn Leaf wall pocket for me. I think it was part of the reproduction’s resurgence and not the original 1930s to ’40s Autumn Leaf. Can you tell me what it might be worth?
A: Autumn Leaf pattern was made by several companies. It was made exclusively for the Jewel Tea Company, a home shopping service, by Hall China from 1933 to 1978. Some kitchenware and teapots were reintroduced in 1985 and sold in retail stores. The Autumn Leaf wall pocket was made by China Specialties, a company in Strongsville, Ohio, that began offering limited edition pieces of Autumn Leaf in new shapes in 1990. They were made in Asia and are marked “Genuine China Specialties.” They sell for under $30.
Current Prices
Cut glass powder jar & cover, clear, cut crosshatching, fans & diamonds, round, squat, stand-up rim, American Brilliant Period, 4 by 6 inches, $35.
Candy container, Village Church, tin lithograph, stained glass window graphics, cross on top, 2 by 3 by 4 inches, $125.
Lunchbox, Beatles, Yellow Submarine, scenes, Beatles caricatures, metal, 1968, Aladdin, $215.
Mechanical bank, image of Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and Donald Duck, place a coin on Donald’s tongue, push button, and coin is deposited into bank building, 1940s-50s, 3 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches, $485.
TIP: Coffee or tea stains can be removed from a cup by scrubbing with salt on a sponge.
“Kovels’ Antiques & Collectibles Price Guide” – the new 2021 edition with more than 11,500 prices, 3,000 pictures and many helpful tips – is available in bookstores and online, or visit www.Kovels.com for a special offer.
© 2021 King Features Synd., Inc.
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