Rare Rowntree's chocolate box to go up for auction

A solid silver chocolate box is expected to fetch up to £1,000 when it goes up for auction in Scarborough.

Made for the coronation of King Edward VII in 1902, the 125-year-old box originally contained just a single bar of Rowntree's chocolate.

Auctioneers David Duggleby believe it to be only the second of its kind to be seen in a sale this century.

The "incredibly rare item" will go under the hammer on Friday morning.

Holly Hammond, from the auctioneers, said: "Along with all the country's major chocolate manufacturers, Rowntree of York produced thousands of souvenir coronation tins of chocolate - painted tins decorated with portraits of the new King and Queen - that were distributed to the nation's schoolchildren and many others.

"Rowntree also commissioned the Sheffield silversmiths Cooper Brothers and Sons to produce a small number of solid silver versions of the painted tins.

"The King and Queen got silver versions and the others went to members of the Rowntree family."

According to Hammond, the less rare 1902 coronation tins could make between £30 and £50 depending on their condition and up to £300 with the chocolate still inside them.

However she said this silver box was in "a completely different league, about as rare as it gets".

It retains its original leather case and was in "remarkable condition".

"It bears the Cooper Brothers stamp and is hallmarked Sheffield 1901, the year before the coronation, which brings us on to a surprise, the fact that the date of the coronation emblazoned on the tin, 26 June 1902, is wrong," Hammond added.

"That's down to the fact that the King and Queen were due to be crowned on 26 June but King Edward was taken ill with an abdominal abscess that required surgery shortly before the date and the ceremony was postponed for six weeks.

"The coronation did not actually happen until 9 August."

The only other silver coronation chocolate box that went under the hammer in recent years was in 2007, in London.

Hammond explained it was a box that was reportedly given by a member of the Rowntree family to their coachman and passed down through his family.

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