Collecting Antique Tins: Fun and Profit

As you many of our readers may know, I have been selling antiques and collectibles at flea markets, and at an antique booth for well over 20 years. I’ve also been on ebay for over 8 years. It has been a lot of fun, the thrill of the hunt is the key for many of us ‘antique junkies’, and of course, profits enable us to continue on!

Recently, I have noticed that when I list vintage food and spice tins, people are buying! For a while, it seemed that this type of item was not quite the trend; popularity seemed to have dwindled. But when you think about their graphics, and what neat display items they make in a kitchen, den or bar, it makes sense that they’d make a come-back!

Some collectors like a certain type, for example, tobacco tins, and then only by a specific company. Others like spice or coffee tins, probably for kitchen decoration. Another desirable category would be tins for talcum and tooth powder for their bathroom shelf. In any case, you’ll find many of them quite charming!

I pulled an Antique Tins book by Fred Dodge from our shelf and was somewhat amazed by the diversity of style, subject matter and contents, and of course associated values. Tins are definitely not my ‘area of expertise’, so when I looked in the book and was “wowed” by some, I was surprised that they did not have much value. For example, I would have thought that the Zuane LaParot Talc with a colorful parrot would be worth more than $25-50!

Of course, anything with a sporting theme will be right up there. The “PAR After Shave Powder” is valued at $250-$300. Unfortunately, I’ve never run across one.

Native American Indian tins are evidently desirable as well. The book features several from the California Perfume Company, both called Natoma Rose. Quite lovely.

The book shows on that is very art deco and called “Cloth of Gold Talcum” by Lazell Perfumer ($100-150.) That would be a tough one to sell. I would be keeping that one for myself!

Peanut butter and candy tins are another ‘hot item.’ I don’t recall a time when my peanut butter was not in a jar. If I ever run across an American Boy tin, I’ll scoop it up for sure. And this Jack Sprat tin has a value of $500-600. Jack is not a lean boy!

I am not sure where I would display prophylactic tins. But, there were definitely some fantastic graphics on these. The most expensive one pictured is from Nutex and features three gents with arms around each other, wearing swim suits. What’s up with that? (Value was listed at $150-200.)

I thought the Golden Bear one was special, but when I peeked at the value, discovered it at $25-50, while the parrot featured on the Francois Products Clove tin was $100-$150.

Understandably, condition is very important. I’ve been told to NEVER EVER clean a tin, leaving that to the buyer’s discretion. I’m fine with that.

Most likely the best place to start your search would be estate sales, garage sales, and antique stores. We would rarely find them in a thrift shop, they’d be discarded as food items. We at CQ would love to hear from a collector of tins and hope they’d share their ‘best find’ with us.