No sticky end for this toffee tin
● Fancy a crusty toffee?
Thanks to a 1995 Rugby World Cup centre, a 72-year-old toffee tin — with the 18 original toffees inside — has made it to auction.
Old Johannesburg Warehouse Auctioneers, which auctions antiques, fine art, jewellery, classic vehicles and collectables, is selling the rare WW2 Jan Smuts Christmas 1943 toffee tin.
It was one of thousands given to South African soldiers by Smuts and his wife Isie for Christmas during the war.
The tin is owned by the proprietor of the auction house, former Springbok rugby player Christiaan Scholtz, 51.
Scholtz is a longtime antiques dealer who began his business at university — before his SA rugby union career.
His own personal antique collection is focused on militaria — especially from the Anglo-Boer War.
But this particular tin came from an auction in the UK.
“I bought it travelling overseas many years ago. It was part of a package, a box of items.
“I have just moved house and downsized so I cleared out some items.”
Scholtz has owned the auction house, with outlets in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Wellington, since 2015. Before that he had Ossewa antiques in Melville, which he opened in 1994.
But he had been selling antiques as a law student in Stellenbosch. He went into the business because his grandfather was trading in the Eastern Cape, and he began gathering and selling old items. The idea for an antique shop came from his former wife’s father, who owned one.
Scholtz said empty WW 2 Christmas tins usually go for hundreds of rands, but tins with the items still inside are very rare and go for thousands.
“The chocolate tins from WW 1 from 1914-1918 are usually expensive and made of brass. It’s very rare to find the original chocolates inside. “We’ve sold a chocolate Jan Smuts tin from 1941 for R4,000.” Auctioneer Imre Lamprecht said about 100,000 of the tins were given out as Christmas gifts to the troops by Jan Smuts.
“The item is very collectable and falls under militaria. A lot of people collect things from the military — the Anglo-Boer War collections are usually highly sought after.
“We’ve had a lot of interest worldwide — as we are online — and we already have more than 1,000 people registered for the auction.”
According to the SA Legion UK , toffee tins were one of several “home comforts” gifts, including chocolates, cigarettes and Christmas cake, given to soldiers by Smuts and his wife.
This was done through the SA Gifts and Comforts Fund which sought to motivate and support troops in war.
The tin is expected to fetch between R1,000 and R2,000. It already has a pre-bid offer of R1,200.
The auction started yesterday and continues today.