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They even received a mention in the Norfolk News of 11th August 1900. I find the first sentence of the second paragraph interestingly perceptive in the light of this post.

Thank you Sir for that, I will add it to the information I have.

Regards
Malcolm

I recently found this example on Etsy, of all places.

Inside the tin was a tobacco card, which I at first imagined had been added to the ensemble at a later date. However, the condition of the card was so fine that it soon became apparent that it had been with the tobacco since very early in its existence. It was then that I noticed that it was an F & J Smith card and that it was exactly the same height as the presentation insert.

The 1884 Egypt Medal card was also produced as part of a numbered set of fifty, which included the five-pointed Transvaal War star (No 50; see below), which was never minted. This shows that the card in the tin pre-dates the issue of the QSA, fitting with the July/August 1900 shipment of the Scottish gifts. The first reference I can find to the five-pointed star is in the Echo of 12 May 1900.

It is my belief that, in all probability, each “Frae Scots tae Scots” tin included one of these cards. This would make sense, as all of F & J Smith’s commercial tobacco products had one of their cards inserted. If correct, this is the only tin I have seen that can be truly described as complete.
















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Neville,

That is an excellent find and does suggest how these gifts were originally presented, information that has been lost for many years.

Best wishes
David

Hi Neville,
That's a most interesting find that now prompt's more questions than answers, It's like the pipe in my collection, dated to the period but did it start off life with the tin or was it added to it?, I have tried to find another for comparison but after many request to museums in Scotland and the rest of this lump we live on, I have not been able to find another, I have found the contemporaneous reference in print so I know it existed.
Now for the detective work, The card is of the period, pre 1900 and it has the name of the company who supplied the tin and the tobacco.
The card indicates that it is one of fifty that came with cigarettes, so has it been added as a keep sake by the original owner or was it part of the original issue. Now to find another tin with a similar card .
Regarding finding one on Etsy, its worth spending the time looking as I found a Queen Alexandra's 1914 gift tin complete with content's on the site.

Malcolm,

Your pipe is certainly of a type that was popular as gifts for troops in South Africa, as the two examples below demonstrate.

As you say, we just need to find another tin and pipe that have somehow, against all the odds, remained together.

I'm pretty confident about the tobacco card.

Neville





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