Croft card container?

[phlflyer1]

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

[conor912]

Mmmmm......breakfast cocoa.


Interesting thread.

[theuncommonartifact]

Hey, thanks Scott for this information. I love the advertising approach used for the Croft's Swiss Milk Cocoa: "stimulating with no injurious after effects". Odd, but consider me sold!

You have validated my suspicion that this tin dates from the late 1800s. I thought this was the case based upon the pinstriping style used. I am a collector of antique electrical fans and I have found fans of that era to feature similar pinstriping styles, but I was never really sure.

Any ideas about value for something like this? Comparables are tough to come by... Also, do you know if the cards were distributed with items this early?

Thanks again.

[phlflyer1]

Hi Jon,

Croft & Allen did have some items that were likely distributed with their candy packaging such as the non sports card below.





I do not believe, however, that any cards were distributed within their cocoa tins or glass jars.

My theory on the E92 cards with Croft & Allen and Crofts Cocoa backs is that they were likely handed out with the purchase of some product(s) at their local retail stores.

The Crofts Cocoa back is actually an advertisement for the Montague and Company retail distribution chain of stores and my thought is that the cards were made available at those stores.

As far as a rough value on the tin, I'd say somewhere in the $20-50 range is a fair estimate.

Crofts Cocoa glass jars (without the label) are pretty common on eBay in the $10-20 range If they have the label, however, they usually go in the $100-300 range depending on condition.

[theuncommonartifact]

Hey Scott, thank you so much for the info.

I find this all so interesting. I appreciate everyone taking the time to look and volunteer their knowledge. This is a nice forum and everyone I have interacted with has been kind, despite the tangential relationship of this thread to baseball cards. Now I know where to go when I come across some baseball cards. Thanks again!