A tin of untouched coronation chocolates given to a schoolgirl 121 years ago has sold for ten times their estimate at auction.
Special tins of Cadbury’s vanilla chocolates were made to mark the occasion and both monarchs feature on the tin alongside the date.
Mary’s chocolates remained untouched due to “generations of self-restraint” and were found in their original tin by her family when she died aged 96 in 1988.
They went under the hammer at Hansons Auctioneers, in Etwall, England, yesterday (July 25) with a guide price of between £100-£150 ($130-$194).
But they smashed their estimate to sell for £1,000 ($1,300) to a British ex-pat following a bidding war between people in the UK, India, USA and Spain.
The buyer, Mark Harrison, who now lives in Alicante, said: “My family and I are royalists.
“We flew over to London for King Charles’ Coronation just to get a glimpse of the royal family. I feel I am buying a piece of history.
“The box of chocolates is extremely rare and unique. I really wanted to win the auction and was absolutely delighted when I did.
“I’m lucky and blessed to own them and I would like to assure the seller that they will be treasured by me and my family. ”
The gift was given to Mary by her Durham school and she treasured them as a royal memento for her entire life.
Mary’s granddaughter Jean Thompson, 72, said: “I’m not sure if the chocolates were given to my
Charles Hanson, owner of Hansons Auctioneers, said: “We had a crazy amount of interest in this century-old chocolate.
“Emails were coming in from all over the world. It’s an astonishing result. The royal memento and the reason it survived melted hearts.
“These days, chocolates are lucky to last a day in most homes, let alone 121 years.”
He added: “When people had very little they treasured things we take for granted today. The chocolates were inside an old chest of drawers.
“When you opened the tin, you could still smell the chocolate.
“The tin bears its original Cadbury’s vanilla chocolate label and wrapped over the chocolate and silver foil is a King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra Coronation label.
“Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate as we know it today was not introduced until 1905. You can see from the label that Mary was given vanilla chocolates.”
Cadbury was founded in 1824 in Birmingham by John Cadbury (1801–1889), a Quaker who sold tea, coffee and drinking chocolate.
The company was granted its first royal warrant from Queen Victoria in 1854. It held a royal warrant from Elizabeth II from 1955 to 2022.
Produced in association with SWNS Talker
(Additional reporting provided by Talker News)
