Peek Frean tins - 1st collection

I don't really think of myself as a collector. When I go to flea markets I look for things that I think are beautiful or useful but preferably both. I know when I get a little thrill that I've found something I really want to take home. Sometimes it's disappointing when I find something that I think is beautiful and it turns out it's a special kind of collectible I hadn't known about and therefore too expensive for me. I usually want to use the things I find, rather than display them, and I'm not looking to complete a set, or find things that are rare and worth a lot of money. So I'm not that kind of collector, but I do tend to find things of a certain kind and I sometimes inadvertently start a collection of sorts.

Today I went to the Sunday market at St. Lawrence with a girlfriend and found lots of things I really like. I've decided to group them and show them as collections with similar things I've found previously. Otherwise I would have too many pictures in one post! So the first "collection" is of Peek Frean cookie tins from England in the 50s/60s? I'm not quite sure. I keep finding ones with beautiful blue and green colours, which match the colours in our place and I can't resist them.

It started with this floral tin, I found it at Goodwill for $1. I love the colours and the flowers on the tin, and I also thought it was a nice useful size for crafts supplies. I was so smitten with the tin I couldn't believe it was going for $1 and felt like I needed to dash over to the cashier before they realized their mistake. I put all my balls of size 8 pearl cotton and some beads into it (for miniature bead knitting) and I carried it with me on trips. The tins are great for that because the lid can also be used as a tray so you can sort out beads and buttons etc. on it without them getting scattered and lost. Incidentally, I saw this tin in the movie The Magdalene Sisters. The nun had it in her office. Gosh that movie was sad (but beautiful).The second tin I found was from the Sunday market. It had a blue kingfisher bird on it and I was told it was quite collectible. That's when I realized that people collect Peek Frean tins, but I just liked the pictures on them. So that one cost more, I think around $12.The next Peek Frean tin I found at the Sunday market had butterflies. At this point I had the tins stacked together with a variety of crafts supplies in them.This Peek Frean tin with fish on it was full of marbles when I found it at the market, but the seller agreed to just sell the tin. I think that one was $10. So since I had a few tins by then I was able to sort out my crafts supplies by type. One tin now has ribbons in it, one has buttons, one has trim like binding and rick-rack, etc.And finally, here is the new addition from today. It goes to show that I don't start a collection for its own sake because it isn't a Peek Frean tin at all. But the graphic style is similar. I like the way the lid indents on this and I like the decoration around the rim which you can see more clearly in the second picture. This one was $10. (I don't know why I keep telling you the prices, but I started that up so I'll carry on.)On this visit to the Sunday market I also found a lot of buttons but I will save that for the next post!