Posted 14 years ago
Nothingbyd…
(3 items)
These are not very good pictures but I found this tin and have not been able to find anything else like it except for sample tins.
It is a full size can, painted red wrapped with the Donniford label. Has anybody ever seen one of these before? Again the samples all have the label painted on (and are sample size) and this is a full sized can.
I have looked everywhere I can think of and have been unable to find these anywhere and would like to be able to find out when it is from or whether I should just give it to my kids to play with.
The lid is solid red if that helps?
well here is a pocket tin verision in my collection http://www.mygerardinc.com/images/vtins/def/donifrd.jpg and I also have a paper lable and a small version of your tin in red. I will take some photos when i get a chance and post them
Just to add, the brand of the tin is not an uncommon one. It is not as common ad your Prince Alberts, Half & Half or Velvets you see at flea markets and antique shops but it is also not a rare brand.
Ok i posted it at this link http://www.mygerardinc.com/images/vtins/def/donifrd3.jpg
too bad i can't post the photo here
While I appreciate your photos, which are well done, this is a full size can similar to the sampler that you showed. But it has the label wrapped around it as opposed to painted and the number 340 stamped on the bottom along with the word Donniford. Why is it that I can find tons of the sample cans but none of the full size that are not painted on for the full sized red can?
I do have one of the same sizes as the one you posted. The metal is color beige but the label on it is also red but it’s torn and I have misplaced the label. The reason for paper labels was due to factories running out of the litho cans so they would grab whatever they had as long as it had the same size and volume, as the two pockets Dinniford I linked, and paper labeled them.
Some of tins that are paper label might even have a different brand of the same manufacture that was packaged at the same factory. Over the years the major tobacco companies bought out the smaller companies and the factories were consolidated.
The tins with paper labels are rarer due to the paper drying and becoming very brittle and falling apart and ending up like the one in my collection worthless once the paper is torn off. That is one of the reason why collectors won’t pay a high price for one or just shy away. I would recommend you enclose that tin in some type of plastic or any other see trough covering as to not to damage it.
As for the "sample" one I linked? It’s part of a set of 6 tins of the same size and various brands and would come in hard plastic container more of a variety pack then a sample. I been told that shops would customize the container as the buyer wished since some would be of different manufactures. I must have over 25 of them of various brands I picked up over the years.
What I meant by “Some of tins that are paper label might even have a different brand of the same manufacture that was packaged at the same factory”; was that they would place a different brand over one with another lithographed brand.
I know one collector that had a rare brand pocket under a more common paper label one and He tried to peel it off by soaking it in water and other solvents and ended up with some of the lithograph lifting off the metal and ended up with a crappy rarer tin. Then he found out that the original combo would have been a lot more valuable that the one he was trying to rescue.
What I have deduced over the 30years of collecting these tins is that the better brands are the more common ones since there are a lot more of them around. The rarer ones were the lousier the brands.