A Hilliers Tin

Tin number twelve is a Hillier's Turkish Delight tin. This one is a smallish rectangular tin, 9cm x 5cm, and 15 cm in height. This one was gift from my son a few years back.

They are still available and selling for a few dollars, I am assuming filled with chocolates.

At present this tin is empty. The size and shape of it makes it difficult to store things in. So for the moment is sits as decoration on top of my cabinet.

A Flower Basket Tin

Tin number eleven is a flowery one. It's a medium sized round tin about eight centimetres high. Still another one that I don't know where it came from. I suspect that this one also came from my Mother.

There are no markings on it, and Mr Google is no help. I have a faint recollection that it may have held a Christmas cake in a previous life, but I am not sure. My Mother used to buy Christmas Cakes in her later life. In her younger days she used to make them, and a beautiful Christmas cake at that. It was so good that I wanted her to make it as a wedding cake for when DH & I got married all those years ago, but she declined. Much to my disappointment.

It's life now is to store braids and live in my cupboard, only to see daylight occasionally.

A Butter Cookie Tin

Tin number ten in my collection is a butter Cookie tin. This one is a medium sized round tin about 7cm high. Another tin that I am not sure where it came from, probably another gift from a student, I used to get lots of sweet things from students as end of year gifts.

This tin has a use by date on the bottom of October 2005, so another one that is not that old. Once again I have tried asking Mr Google, only finding similar ones selling for a few dollars.

This tin is sitting in my cupboard with nothing in it! Maybe I should pull it out and use it.

A Chocolate & Toffee Tin

Tin number nine in my collection is an Even's 60th Birthday Chocolate & Toffee tin.It's a large round flat tin, about five cm high,  and I have no idea where it came from. Possibly another gift from a student.

I tried asking Mr Google about the Evan's Confectionery Company that is marked on the side, with no luck. It gives an address in suburban Sydney, and all I got was an American company. I couldn't even find a photo of one similar in Goggle images. There is also a use by date of Oct 00 on the base, so it is not that old.

So this tin lives in my cupboard with lots of my other tins that I use for storage. This one holds stamps, some that I have made from corks, some that I have bought. The stamps I use occasionally in my creative pursuits. I have used some with crushing velvet, some with paint and textile medium  on fabric, some with paint on paper, and some with stamp pads on paper.

Must get them out to play again.

Damnish Butter Style Cookie Tin

Tin number eight in the collection is one of Danish Butter Style cookies. 

It's a tiny little round flat tin, about 16 cm in diameter and only 3 cm in height. There is printing on the base listing nutrition information and ingredients, and a best before date of 2013.

This tin would have been a gift from a student.

I've had a bit of a look on the net for a tin like it. There are lots of Danish Butter Biscuit tins there, but not one like mine. Maybe they are not up for collection yet, I have only had mine for a few years.

So what does my tin store now it is empty of biscuits? Threads of course. This one has my collection of Perle 5 threads, left overs from my correspondence course days. I should really donate them, Perle 5 is a bit too thick to use for my fine tastes.

Corinthian Tin Number two

This is another Arnott's Corinthian tin. It's a different shape than the one I posted about before. The last one was a large round flat tin, about 5cm in height . This one is still round in shape, but smaller in diameter and much higher. It's actually a better shape for these biscuits than the previous one.

This tin has a date of 2004 on the base and I know I bought it. I would have bought it for the biscuits though, not the tin, though the tin is still used for storage.

I've spotted one for sale on the internet. People must be still wanting them as the price is amazing. I am assuming it is only for the tin as the biscuits would be long out of date and stale.

So what is my tin used for storing now? More beads of course!

An Arnott's Corinthian's tin

Tin number six is an Arnott's  Corinthian tin. Once again, I am not sure where this tin came from, probably my Mum.

Corinthians are a long, cylindrical wafer biscuit filled with flavoured cream, and I first remember seeing them in my late teens. I remember some member of the family bringing them into the house at Christmas time, and we were all in awe over them. My Aunt used to visit and bring unusual things with her, so I have a funny feeling it was her who first introduced us.

The original ones were vanilla, but now I have seen two different flavours of wafers spiralled around, and different flavours in the cream fillings.

I've searched the net to see if any are for sale, but alas I cannot find one.

My tin now houses packets of beads, something else I have to sort through.

A Falcon Castle Tin

My next tin is a Falcon and Castle one. Not sure where this one came from, it could have come from my Mum's, or it could have come from a gift  somewhere way back when. I have a feeling it came from my Mum.

The sides of the tin and also the rim holds lists of ingredients in a few different languages. I can see English,  figure out French, maybe German, and what seems to be Arabic.

It used to house chocolates and toffees which had originated in Germany.

These are for sale on the net too but only for a few dollars.

I remember this tin holding my Perle embroidery threads way back in the early 1980's. I didn't have many then, I was only just introduced to them at the time.  I was doing  the creative correspondence course back then, through the Embroiderer's Guild here in Sydney, and they used to send thread packages to use in the exercises . I remember being sent lots of new to me threads, the Perles being just one of many.

 Now this tin  still holds threads, but an assortment of different odd bits & pieces. There are some Perle 5's, some old Semco stranded, some old Broda No 4, some leftover Minnamurra hand dyed stranded, and even some little square mirror tiles! Sounds like this tin needs to be sorted.

A 'Wind In The Willows' Tin

Now we have my "Wind In The Willows" tin. This is one that I bought myself some years ago because I liked the tin. 

It was different to anything I had seen before. It's quite a big tin, big enough to fit a layered cake into.

Because of it's height, there are lots of lovely Wind In The Willows scenes all around it.

The tin originally held something called 'Heartland Cookies'. I remember at the time they were not up to Arnott's standard, but after all, I had bought it for the tin not the contents. I've tried Googling Heartland Cookies and  they seem to be an American thing.

It's a fairly modern tin as it has bar codes on it. It is dated 1996 and was imported by Woolworths, though I know I bought it another store. There is a readable stamp on the base that tells me so.

So what does my Wind In The Willows tin hold now? Embroidery threads of course, in particular my DMC Perle cottons. The tin is so full of threads that it is bulging, I really must sort through it. Maybe one day.

A Tim Tam Tin

This tin was given to me as a Christmas gift quite some years ago. As you can all probably read, it is an Arnott's Tim Tam tin. Needless to say the Tim Tam's did not last very long and the tin was quite quickly put to another use.

Tim Tam's, for those readers that are unaware of them, are an Australian iconic chocolate biscuit. There a two chocolate biscuits joined together with a chocolate filling, then all coated with chocolate. Very rich and very indulgent. These days there are all kinds of Tim Tam's, from dark chocolate, white chocolate, caramel, and so on. Every so often they will do a special run of a special flavour combos to bring awareness to some charity. I've seen salted caramel, peppermint, choc orange, a mango one and my all time favourite of white chocolate and raspberry.

The photo above shows the side of the tin, while the one below shows the lid

So what does my Tim Tam tin hold now that it is empty of Tim Tam's ? More thread of course! This time it is metallic threads for my sewing machine.

I googled this one just for the fun of it to see if anyone was selling one, and yes they are. It's selling for nearly as much as my Queen Elizabeth 11 Coronation tin ! I must keep track as to the values I find to see what my tin collection might be worth.

The Queen's Coronation

This is the second tin in my collection. It is one that celebrates the coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth 11, way back in 1953.

This tin was also owned by my Mother, I vaguely remember it as a child, and I think it may have housed her crochet work that she was working on at the time. In other words, it became  a work tin.

The original purpose of the tin was to house biscuits by Peek Frean (Aust.) Pty Ltd. Boy is that a blast from the past! I have not heard of them in years!  The sticker is still on the base of the tin, even after all these years. The biscuits included tea snacks, oranges and lemons, lemon puff creams, lattice, cherry ripe, pat-a-cake, caramel creamette, wheat crunch, cream wafer, krusta, dainty cream, honey snaps, shortcake, custard cream, and bourne-vita cream. This tin was before my time and half of those biscuits I have never heard of. I do remember dainty creams and honey snaps, and lattice biscuits and custard creams are still made today by another well known biscuit company.

A tin similar to this is also for sale on eBay. I's not got quite the same price tag as my  tin that I posted about yesterday, but it is still more than I expected.

So what have I got in this tin today? Embroidery threads of course, the more unusual ones of my collection. There are metallics, variegated threads, hand dyed threads, vintage silks, textured threads, and even some of my own hand dyed ones.

Another special tin of my collection be re-purposed and used.

A Tin Collection

A few days back there was a discussion on one of my on-line sewing groups about tins and what we use them for. The girl that started the discussion was using hers to keep lollies and chocolate in, close by to her sewing machine so she could snack on sweet treats while she sewed. In my book that is a no-no, eating anything while sewing will give sticky and dirty fingers that might get on good fabric. I like to keep my sewing clean.

It got me thinking about my tins and what I use them for, so I went trough and dug them all out, photographed them, and was amazed at just how many I have. I would even call it a collection. Most are in use. I will endeavour to show them off over the next little while.

This first one is one I inherited from my Mother after she passed away. It was my Mother's button tin, and I remembered it from when I was a child, and I do sew. I had to fight for it, as male member of the family 'might want to sew a button on one day'. I didn't get it at first, but some months later it was handed to me.

I was more interested in the contents than the tin itself. When I brought it home I couldn't wait to see what treasures were inside. Mostly the buttons were men's trouser buttons, or shirt buttons. There were a few odd ones in bright colours which were plastic and probably date back to the 60's or 70's. It wasn't really the treasure trove that I was expecting. I have my suspicion that someone else was allowed to go through it and  take what they wanted, it wasn't as full as I remembered.

To this day this tin still holds buttons, just practical, serviceable buttons, nothing fancy. But I now think the real treasure is the tin it'self. When I photographed it, I turned it upside down looking for markings. Buried deep in the rusty bottom, was an indent that I had to take into good light to read. It simply said 'MacRobertson's'. So off to ask Mr Google I went.

So what did I find? My button tin hails from 1910 ! My Mother wan't even born then! So I have my suspicions that this tin was actually my Grandmother's! My Nanny was a dressmaker too, so now I feel even more privileged that I have it. There was one similar on eBay selling for a considerable sum! Mine is not quite the same. The size is, and so it the design on the lid, but the one on eBay has writing on the side that says it contained 'Opera Jubes', whatever they were. Obviously lollies of some sort, probably a jelly jube. My tin has no writing on the side, just on the bottom.

I was surprised at how much the seller was asking for this tin. To me now, my tin has much more value, knowing now that it came from my Grandmother, and her hands touched this tin nearly every day.