Rare Victorian Boots Pure Drug Co Fumigating Ribbon Post Box Tin – c.1888–1897

Rare Victorian Boots Pure Drug Co Fumigating Ribbon Post Box Tin – c.1888–1897

A wonderfully unusual piece of Victorian social history, this tiny Boots Pure Drug Company fumigating ribbon tin was cleverly designed in the form of a miniature red Post Office pillar box.

Standing just 6.5 cm tall, it is remarkably detailed for its size. The rich red printed body carries POST OFFICE lettering, the Royal Arms, a Victorian-style royal cipher and, most fascinatingly, a small “INLAND LETTERS” postage tariff to the front. The removable top is formed like the domed cap of a pillar box and incorporates a slot, completing the wonderfully convincing novelty design.

Turn it over, however, and its real purpose is revealed.

The surviving paper label to the base reads:

“Boots Pure Drug Co – Fumigating Ribbon”

Rather than simply being a miniature money box, this was ingenious packaging for fumigating ribbon, a Victorian household product sold by chemists. Prepared ribbon was designed to smoulder and give off an aromatic vapour, forming part of the Victorian enthusiasm for perfuming and freshening domestic interiors.

A remarkably tight Victorian date

There are two particularly useful clues on this little tin.

Boots adopted the name Boots Pure Drug Company Ltd in 1888, while the inland postal tariff printed on the front corresponds with the postage scale introduced in 1885: 1d for a letter up to 1oz, followed by increasing charges according to weight. That system was substantially altered in June 1897, when the 1d allowance was increased to 4oz. �

boots-uk.com +1

Taken together, these details suggest a particularly convincing date of approximately:

c.1888–1897

So this is not merely “Victorian style” packaging — the evidence on the tin itself points strongly towards the late Victorian period and the early years of the Boots Pure Drug Company.

Interestingly, postal-history literature records novelty pillar-box containers being produced for a variety of products, specifically including fumigating ribbon, alongside matches, buttons and chocolates. �

gbps.org.uk

Early Boots history in miniature

The Boots story began with John Boot's Nottingham herbalist shop in the mid-19th century. Under his son Jesse Boot the business expanded rapidly, becoming the Boots Pure Drug Company in 1888. By the 1890s, Boots stores were selling an increasingly diverse range of pharmacy, perfumery and household products. �

boots-uk.com

This little tin therefore belongs to a particularly interesting period in the company's history, when Boots was developing from a traditional chemist into the enormously successful national retailer we recognise today.

Condition

This is a genuine antique item showing considerable age and use, and we think that is very much part of its charm.

There is extensive rubbing, scratching and loss to the original red and printed finish, together with tarnishing, oxidation, marks and general surface wear. Areas of the decorative paper/printed panels are heavily worn and partly illegible, and there is some age-related distortion and wear to the lid.

Importantly, however, the essential features remain: the miniature Post Office design is immediately recognisable, much of the postal decoration survives, the removable slotted lid is present and, best of all, the original Boots “Fumigating Ribbon” base label remains in place.

There appears to be some old material or residue inside the base. This has deliberately been left untouched and undisturbed.

Please study all photographs carefully as they form an important part of the description.

Dimensions

Height: approximately 6.5 cm

Diameter: approximately 4 cm

Why we love it

It is difficult not to be charmed by this one.

In barely six centimetres of tin we have Victorian pharmacy history, early Boots advertising, postal history, novelty packaging and domestic social history all wrapped up in the form of a tiny red pillar box.

Its worn condition somehow makes it better: this was clearly an object that lived a life rather than spending the last 130 years tucked safely away in a drawer.

A fascinating addition to a collection of antique advertising tins, Boots memorabilia, chemist and pharmacy collectables, postal history, miniature pillar boxes or Victorian social history — and certainly a conversation starter.