It often starts off with just one tin and no intention of gathering more for a collection. Then along comes a bargain, an opportunity, an Irresistible addition to your lonely tin on the kitchen shelf. Then away you go – looking for retro and vintage style of different colours, eras, shapes and country of origin.  Hariet senior’s very generous brother drove across Perth to pick up a Federation tea tin for her birthday one year  – pictured here. This series were produced from 1900-1940 by Griffith’s Tea.  The one shown here looks to be in the 1900s era with its Art Nouveau decorations. They sold them with tea but with kitchen food labels so that the customer would collect a set (and buy more tea)– and then they would be useful in the kitchen. The tin shown here is for Barley and we have seen tins for Tapioca, Rice, Sago, Currants, Oatmeal and Starch. The pictures of Australian native flowers is set against a dark green background.On each other side of the tin is a different native Australian flower. The lid is impressed with a flannel flower. They are often in poor condition unfortunately and probably best not to store tea in them now. There is a terrific display here in the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences [https://collection.maas.museum/search?q=tea%20tin] of Griffith’s Tea tins and other brands such as the iconic Bushells.  Twinings Tea tins are another highly sought after range of tea tins – we think there are hundreds to be collected.  On our recent collecting trip in the UK we were surprised to not see Twinings tins for sale in the usual foraging places (flea markets etc). Fortnum and Mason tins on the other hand were abundant. Mr Stanislav Breja from Bratislava, Slovakia [Who you can find more about here] has a fascinating collection of more than 2500 tins – including many Twinings tins. 

On Etsy Twinings Tea tins are highly collectible and sell for upwards of AUD$70 each for the rarer ones.  We have reconciled our Twinings Tea tin collection and we have tins for sale at very reasonable prices at the Hariet Emporium and an older set for sale on our Etsy Store.  

Happy Collecting!

The Hariets.