A Candy Tin From King Edward's 1902 Coronation Is This Year's Hottest Auction Item
A commemorative candy tin from a past coronation is set to go to auction.
The container of Cadbury chocolate was given out to schoolchildren for the coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra on June 26, 1902.
One child, Mary Ann Blackmore, held on to the candy tin and passed it down through her family for more than a century.
As you've probably gathered from the goings on of the last few months, coronations can be a big To-Do. Often, these pomp and circumstance ceremonies bring souvenir gifts—and not just for the new monarch and their descendants. Even ordinary people can come away with a memento from the momentous occasion.
That's been true for more than a century. In much the same way babies born on coronation day this year received a commemorative mug, schoolchildren in 1902 were given a commemorative tin of Cadbury on June 26 to celebrate King Edward VII's and Queen Alexandra's coronation.
And while most children were quite likely to dig in and immediately savor the sweet treat, one student had a different idea. According to The Northern Echo, "When 9-year-old Mary Ann Blackmore received the treat at her school in Durham in 1902, she decided not to eat the chocolate, and instead keep the tin and its contents as a token of the important royal event."
As it turns out, young Ms. Blackmore might have had the right idea. She saved the tin rather than eating the vanilla chocolates within and then passed it down from generation to generation in her family—none of whom ever ate the chocolate. (Though, honestly, that probably became less of a temptation as the sweets aged across the decades.)
More than a century after the tin was first gifted, the commemorative candy is going up for auction at the behest of Blackmore's granddaughter, Jean Thompson, now 72. The auction is set to be handled by Hansons, and the tin and candies "have been estimated to reach at least £100 to £150."
Morven Fairlie of Hansons does offer one word of caution for whoever purchases the tin, however: don't let your tastebuds take the wheel. "If you do open the tin, it does smell of chocolate, but I wouldn't want to risk it."
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