Of all the vintage biscuit tins kicking about this is one of my favourites, though it took me ages to find one in good enough condition for our shelves. Anyone of a certain age will look at the biscuits on the tin and instantly recall the taste and feel of Playbox Biscuits. Goodness knows what was in the icing sugar to produce such vivid colours, or how the raised stencil images were produced, but the end result was – at least as far as we were concerned – for special occasions only!
The tin must date to the early 1950s as it says “By appointment to the Late King George VI”, though whether he enjoyed a tin on birthdays or not I don’t know. It is the 15.5 ounce tin, they did a bigger one, and there were smaller card boxes (which is probably what we had).
Prior to this, the biscuits had been sold pre-war in a more traditional plain square or rectangular tin (above), with the design printed in colour on paper and stuck on to the lid. When they do turn up the label is often in poor condition as the metal rusts underneath the label.
After my circular tin appeared (I assume the product came back to the market as wartime sugar rationing eased), the design was then updated for the new Queen’s era post 1953 (above). They also tweaked the biscuit pictures too. So out went Felix The Cat, the girl watering flowers, and a bloke carrying a pig (nursery rhyme connection I assume!). In came more simple animal shapes, plus a footballer, Jack and Jill and a jazz trumpeter (trad jazz was big in the Fifties).
The Playbox design was then given a full makeover probably in the late Fifties or early Sixties (above), with more new biscuit pictures including some capital letters and the brand name. After this though the tins went downhill in terms of design quality (some of these may not even have been sold in the UK).
The run appears to end in what must be one of the ugliest children’s illustrations I have ever seen (below).
The early 1950s design has been pirated for a retro tin recently so beware people trying to sell it off as original. Peek Frean as a brand, having been founded in 1857, is now just a name, bought and sold by large organisations at whim. Amazingly though, UK rights were bought back by a member of the family in 2017 with the aim of trying to launch some premium branded UK made biscuits. At least we can still make some things well. Whether this will include Playbox we doubt.
Most of the images here were sourced on the web. The 1950s design is available in high quality via our photo library.
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