Blue Bird Luxury Assortment Tin – Harry Vincent Ltd Faux Tortoiseshell – c.1930

Vintage Blue Bird Luxury Assortment Tin – Harry Vincent Ltd – Faux Tortoiseshell – c.1930s–1950s

A wonderfully decorative vintage Blue Bird Luxury Assortment tin, made for Harry Vincent Ltd of Hunnington near Birmingham, England.

This large rectangular tin has a particularly striking faux-tortoiseshell finish in rich amber, brown and black tones, picked out with gold-coloured line decoration and stylised floral motifs. The hinged lid is centred with the familiar Blue Bird swallow emblem, while the inside of the lid reveals a fabulous bright red advertising panel reading:

“BLUE BIRD – LUXURY ASSORTMENT – Harry Vincent Ltd, Hunnington near Birmingham, England.”

The Hunnington near Birmingham address, together with the hinged construction and decorative style, suggests a date broadly around the 1930s to 1950s, with the design having a particularly strong interwar feel.

Harry Vincent Ltd was a well-known Midlands confectionery manufacturer associated with the Blue Bird and Harvino brands. The company’s purpose-built factory at Hunnington opened during the 1920s and became an important local employer. Blue Bird tins were produced in numerous decorative designs and are now collected both as examples of British confectionery advertising and as attractive pieces of vintage kitchenalia.

An almost identical example of this Luxury Assortment tin is held within the Jersey Heritage collection, making this a particularly interesting survivor of Blue Bird’s packaging history.

The tin measures approximately:

23 cm wide x 17 cm deep x 10.5 cm high

It is in well-used vintage condition with plenty of genuine age-related wear, including scratches, rubbing, areas of surface loss, marks and oxidation to the interior. The decoration remains very attractive and the internal advertising panel is especially colourful and clear. The hinge functions as it should.

We rather like the fact that this one has not survived untouched. The wear gives it exactly the sort of character you would hope to find in an old shop or pantry tin that has actually been used.

A lovely piece for a collection of vintage tins, advertising, kitchenalia or confectionery memorabilia, and equally good simply used for display or storage in a vintage-inspired interior.

Please study all photographs carefully as these form an important part of the description and show the condition in detail.

As with all our vintage and antique pieces, this item has been described to the best of our knowledge and naturally shows signs of age, use and previous ownership.