6cm (2.5in) x 16.7cm (6.5in) x 10.5cm (4.3in)
Silver. Table top cigarette box, the hinged lid inset with a Boer War Queen Victoria gift tin, glazed and inset within the hinged lid. Cedar lined interior. Silver elements hallmarked London 1907.
In 1899 Queen Victoria decided to send British troops fighting the Boers in South Africa a New Year gift in the form of a tin of chocolate, bearing her likeness, the crown and her imperial cypher. Messrs Fry, Cadbury and Rowntree were roped in to provide the contents. As Quakers, all three manufacturers refused to accept payment, regardless of the order being worth over a hundred thousand pounds. The manufacture of the tins was funded by the Queen personally, and based on a design by the tin-box manufacture of Barclay & Fry of Southwark.