We’ve all been guilty of leaving leftover Easter or Christmas chocolate lying around for slightly too long, but one bar found in Bristol definitely has everyone beaten.
The vanilla chocolate bar was made 125 years ago in 1900, and could command a high price at auction when it goes under the hammer in June.
The slightly whiffy sweet treat can trace its history all the way back to the Boer War, when Queen Victoria decided that troops needed some cheering up as they fought in South Africa. She commissioned the three biggest chocolatiers at the time (J S Fry & Sons, Cadbury Brothers Limited and Rowntree and Company Limited) to make over 120,000 of the bars, each weighing half a pound. Packaged in special tins bearing the monarch’s image, as well as the inscriptions ‘South Africa 1900’ and ‘I wish you a happy New Year’ in her handwriting, they were shipped off to soldiers to boost morale.
The tins’ rounded corners meant they could be easily slipped into pockets for a little snack throughout the day, but some soldiers chose to post the chocolate back to their loved ones at home, or traded with other troops for tobacco.
Some of these uneaten bars have survived, but they’re pretty rare, and the Bristol bar, in its original tin with foil wrapping still partially intact, is expected to raise between £250 and £400 at auction. That’s a lot of bars of Dairy Milk.
‘This is a remarkable survivor,’ said specialist Lucy McCourt at Auctioneum Ltd. ‘This would have been a rare treat back in 1900, and the willpower required to not eat it would have been quite substantial. It just goes to show how coveted this tin of chocolate must have been.’
Lovers of military history, the Victorian era, or sweet treats, get in line. This one’s not for sharing.
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