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.