Keith,
Thanks for emailing me about this thread as you know I love all things related to Croft & Allen.
Jon,
That is a very nice tin. I've seen Croft & Allen tins in a few different patterns and color schemes but I'd say that yours is one of the earlier examples that I've seen.
While I can't give you an exact date on it, I'd be fairly confident in saying it dates from a range of around 1895-1910. Here is a quick synopsis of the history of the company.
Croft & Allen were formed in 1884 after Croft & Wilbur decided to split their existing business.
Here is a portion of an 1890 advertisement from the Confectioners Journal showing the design of the breakfast cocoa tins at the time.
With the patenting of the phrase "Swiss Milk" for Cocoa and Chocolate products in 1901, Croft & Allen became the first company to package their Cocoa in glass containers while still also offering tin packaging.
Here is an ad from 1906 as well as a photo of the Croft & Allen factory from the same year. Your tins design is very close, if not the same, as the packaging found in the factory store window.
Croft & Allen as a company ran into some difficulties in the mid 1920s and made a final attempt at reorganizing in the spring of 1929 before the market crash in the fall finished them off.
Thanks for sharing your tin with us!
If you are interested in seeing some other Croft & Allen items, here are a couple of other threads that you might be interested in.
http://www.net54baseball.com/showthr...ighlight=croft
http://www.net54baseball.com/showthr...ighlight=croft
Regards,
Scott