Chocolate dating from Boer War sells for £125

A SLAB of ancient chocolate dating from the Boer War fetched £125 at auction.

The inedible slab sent by Queen Victoria to a soldier in South Africa in 1900 was snapped up by a US buyer.

The online auction, held by Scunthorpe-based Eddisons CJM, saw a three-way tussle between buyers in Kent, Pennsylvania and Ohio, with the latter prevailing.

“If I had to guess the buyer is more likely to be a collector than an eater,” said auctioneer Paul Cooper.

The chocolate came in a tin bearing the Queen’s bust and the words: “Wishing You A Happy New Year.” At the time the war was going badly for Britain with the Boers scoring a series of impressive victories.

Quaker manufacturers of chocolate – among them Rowntree of York – who opposed the war – had balked at the task, but eventually bowed to the royal request.

It was put up for sale by a woman who once owned a collectables shop in Lincoln’s Inn Fields in London, who had it lying in a cupboard for the past quarter of a century.