I 💗 vintage tea and biscuit tins. With pretty designs or distinctive logos, rusty edges and battered lids, they take me back to those olden days before plastic became ever-present and persistent in our lives. I can imagine my grandmother prising the lid off a tea tin and scooping out the leaves for the teapot!
Many such tins were on display in the kitchen of an old cottage at the historical museum we visited recently. Some once held iconic products, like Arnott's biscuits, Weetbix and Uncle Toby's rolled oats, that we can still buy today.
Arnott's biscuits began way back in 1865.
(It is no longer an Australian-owned company.)
Weetbix were first produced in the 1920s.
Images of Australian animals decorated tea tins.
A flowery design on an old sugar canister.
A display of old tins on a shelf.
(Doors, windows & lids shaped like rooftops.)
The Uncle Toby's company was founded in 1861 as Parsons Bros.
(Nestle acquired Uncle Toby's in 2006.)
Before pre-packaged goods, like these from yesteryear and those we find at the supermarkets today, my great-grandmother would have done her shopping at the local grocer. Bulk foods, kept behind a long wooden counter, would have been measured out according to the order she made with the grocer. She may have brought her purchase home, wrapped in brown paper and tied with string...how times have changed!
Meg
p.s. If you'd like to take a walk down memory lane, to the shops of old, this link may interest you:
I especially enjoyed reading about Bickmore's General Store, at Kurri Kurri, on pages 21 & 22. There's a photo of the shopkeeper behind a long wooden counter!
I used to have a big collection of Arnotts tins, and still have 3 which I keep for home made biscuits and cake.
ReplyDeleteThey are perfect for keeping biscuits or cake. I always think they are that bit special!
DeleteMeg:)
I used to collect tins. I still have them stored away someplace. I started with a cracker tin when the tin came free as a promotion when the crackers were purchased. Then I started saving tins that held staples like cocoa, baking powder, tea, syrup. Around the holidays they would package things like chocolate chips, cookies, crayons, etc in them. I probably have at least two or three dozen. I would display them atop the upper cabinets (up near the ceiling) in the kitchen. The best thing about that collection was when we moved they didn't need careful packing since they weren't breakable, and any scratches just added character. But I did take care to fit the smaller ones inside the medium ones inside the large ones; then I could fit all those tins in just one box. :)
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you have quite a collection, Kath. I love that these old tins can be reused over and over for storing lots of things besides tea and biscuits. Meg🙂
DeleteI too love vintage tins. Especially the ones with country scenes. 😊
ReplyDeleteAren't the old tins wonderful, Nil?! I have a few small tins that I keep bits and bobs in. Meg 😊
DeleteWhat a lovely post. Tins are great for storing things in aren't they. I have a collection although none are that old they are all well used and loved.
ReplyDeleteI think old tins are great for storage too. I have a few small tins that I keep some craft supplies in. My favourite is a little tin with a teddy bears picnic scene on the lid and sides. Meg🧸
DeleteI love vintage tins, too. I have several of them. I feel nostalgic for those times...always have.
ReplyDeleteI feel that nostalgia too, Stephanie. Whenever I come across things, like these old tins, it makes me think about how life must have been back then. Meg😊
DeleteBeautiful old tin cans! I love to see the past in the these old tins.
ReplyDeleteThere were lots of fascinating items from the past in the old cottage kitchen, Angela. These tins, heavy rolling pins, battered cake pans, old mixing bowls and more! Meg 🙂
DeleteLove the old biscuit tins and at least on Anzac Day and Christmas they bring tins out like this.
ReplyDeleteI saw some tins of biscuits when I popped into Big W the other day, Kathy. I realised then that xmas merchandise was on display in shops now. Meg🤗
DeleteI had a few vintage looking tins I bought a few years back which were often produced around Anzac Day etc. but I put them in the Op Shop during the renos as I had nowhere to display them. They brought back memories of bygone days when I was growing up in the late forties and fifties.
ReplyDeleteI expect a very lucky someone will buy your tins from the op-shop, Chel. I imagine it might have been quite a treat to choose a biscuit (or two) from a special tin back in those bygone days. Meg🙂
DeleteWhere I spent most of my childhood (rural Argentina and Chile) change was slow in coming, plus I am getting on in years...so I remember the grocer wrapping our purchases in brown paper torn from a large roll, and tying it up with string. All done on a long wooden counter. I have silently been enjoying your blog! Best, Celie in Wisconsin, USA.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely memory from your childhood, Celie. I think how different an interaction it must have been compared to the speedy and impersonal self-serve checkouts of today's supermarkets. In the small town where I grew up, in the 1970s and 1980s, there was a drapery and I remember going there with my mother to choose fabric. I remember showing the draper the bolt of fabric and he took it down, measured and cut it and wrapped it up for me. That store is long gone now. Thanks for visiting!
DeleteMegXx
Neat! I love seeing historical places too! Especially the kitchens and cooking. And I just love to see a General Store in a museum. Andrea
ReplyDeleteI could spend hours looking through the kitchens of yesteryear, Andrea. I like to look at all the old utensils and pots and pans and things and imagine life back then. Fascinating! MegXx
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