United Kingdom. A Boer War Chocolate Tin, Complete with Original Chocolate, 1900

A gilt tin, featuring the bust of Queen Victoria, “SOUTH AFRICA 1900” and “I wish you a happy New year”, measuring 155 mm (w) x 97 mm (l) x 25 mm (d), with functional hinge and well sealed lid. The tin is complete with the original half pound of vanilla chocolate, comprising six bars marked ROWNTREE & Co., a crack horizontal throughout each bar, and the original paper packaging inside. A very rare complete set in near extremely fine condition! 

Footnote: The Queen Victoria Chocolate Tin was a distinctive and sentimental gift presented to British and colonial troops serving during the Second Boer War. Commissioned by Queen Victoria in 1900, the small, decorative tin was intended as a personal token of appreciation for soldiers spending Christmas on active service far from home.

Each hexagonal tin bore the royal cipher “VRI” (Victoria Regina Imperatrix) and contained a half-pound of chocolate, sourced from prominent British manufacturers such as Cadbury, Fry's, and Rowntree's. The tins were inscribed with a message wishing the recipient a “Happy New Year” from the Queen, reinforcing their symbolic role as a gesture of royal care and morale.

Not all recipients chose to consume the chocolate; many soldiers preserved the contents as keepsakes, and in some cases the chocolate was found decades later, still intact. Today, surviving tins—especially those retaining their original contents—are highly collectible artifacts, representing both the material culture of the war and the personal connection between the monarchy and the troops in the field.