Tins With a Past: Uneeda Biscuit, Peek Freans, Royal Dansk and More

Every vintage tin was once a promise. A biscuit that would stay crisp, a coffee that would stay fresh, a name you could trust on a crowded shelf. Today they are small, colorful pieces of grocery-store history, and a few of them have stories bigger than the tin.

Uneeda Biscuit: the boy in the yellow raincoat

The National Biscuit Company was formed in 1898 from a merger of three rival bakery companies, and it soon changed how Americans bought crackers. Instead of scooping them out of a barrel, you could pick up a small box lined with waxed paper, patented as the In-er-Seal, that kept the biscuits dry and fresh. The company named the new cracker Uneeda Biscuit, and by 1900 it had sold more than 100 million packages.

In 1901 the company introduced the face that made it famous: a boy in a yellow rain slicker and hat, carrying a box of biscuits. The message was simple. Even in the rain, these stayed dry. His picture became one of the best-known trademarks in America.

Our Uneeda Biscuit tin is a 1970s Bristol Ware reproduction of a 1920s original. It has the same octagonal shape, the boy in his raincoat, and the NBC logo, a mark that dates to 1923. Nabisco, the name we know now, is just a shortened form of that old company name.

Peek Freans: London's biscuit maker

Peek, Freans & Co. was baking biscuits in London by 1857, and its tins were a fixture of English tea tables for generations. Nabisco bought the company in 1982, so the two stories meet. Our 1970s Roses are Forever tin is tall, octagonal, and covered in pink roses and gold hearts, and it is embossed on the bottom with "Container Made in England."

Royal Dansk: the blue tin everyone recognizes

Royal Dansk's cobalt blue tins are among the most recognizable holiday packaging anywhere, shipped from Denmark to markets around the world. The brand also issues limited editions with licensed characters, like our 2013 Mickey & Minnie Christmas tin, and holiday scenes like our Christmas Carolers tin. Neither is vintage, but both show why the blue tin has been collected for decades.

A&P and the key-wind coffee can

The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, known as A&P, was the largest retailer of any kind in the United States from 1915 through 1975, and it closed for good in 2015. Its bright red coffee cans came with a key-wind lid, a style first introduced around 1917. You slid a small key onto a metal tab and wound the strip away to open the can. Our 1950s A&P coffee can is still sealed, a time capsule from the grocery aisle.

Kentucky Club: a pocket tin with a horse and rider

Pocket tobacco tins are a collecting world of their own. Kentucky Club Aromatic Mixture was introduced in 1934, and the Bloch Brothers of Wheeling, West Virginia acquired the brand in 1943 and produced it until 1969. The mixture was discontinued in 2017. The tin carries the horse-and-jumper logo, and the colorways are what collectors hunt for. We have two unusual ones: a tartan plaid and a solid turquoise.

How to date a tin

• Look for a ZIP code. Five-digit ZIP codes began in 1963, so a US tin that has one was made in 1963 or later.
• Check the logo. Companies updated their marks over time. The NBC logo on our Uneeda tin dates to 1923.
• Read the bottom. A "Made in" mark or maker's name often narrows the country and era.
• Ask if it is a reproduction. Many tins were reissued in later decades as nostalgia pieces, and they are collectible in their own right.
• Judge the condition. Clean graphics, a lid that fits, and little rust make a tin easier to enjoy.

Don't let a little wear scare you away

A touch of rust and a few dents shouldn't put you off. For many people, weathering is part of the charm, and a worn, well-loved patina is exactly what suits country, farmhouse, and primitive decor. Rare advertising tins that show their age can also be highly prized by collectors, and some bring hundreds of dollars or more. We describe every flaw and photograph it, so you always know what you're getting, but a tin that looks lived-in is often the one with the most character.

Display them, don't dine from them

Vintage tins make lovely shelf and mantel pieces, and they are handy for non-food storage: buttons and thread, keys, small tools, hair accessories. We sell them as decorative collectibles and have not tested them for food safety, so we don't recommend storing food in them.

See more in our shop

Browse the full Collectible Tins collection to find a design that suits you.

Sources

Nabisco company history, International Directory of Company Histories. Uneeda Biscuit advertising and signs, Lost Landmarks of Troy. Brand details for Peek Freans, Royal Dansk, A&P, and Kentucky Club from our own listing research.