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QUALITY STREET

HOW IT BEGAN

Like thousands of others, my mother kept buttons in her 1950's Quality Street tin. I kept screws in mine. I noticed how the Soldier and Lady - taken from J M Barrie's 1902 play 'Quality Street' - changed slightly in appearance over the years. Sometimes the changes reflected current fashions; sometimes the designs were whimsical; sometimes, for anniversaries, they went retro. Originally produced by John Mackintosh, Rowntree's continued the tradition but now,  since Nestle took over, the Soldier and Lady have disappeared in Britain. This prompted me to look out for examples of the different styles. 

Above are two shelves full of my tins with some more examples shown on the left. On the right is an original tin from the first year of production - 1936. Beyond the early box is a modern tin I bought in Singapore that

is made by Nestle, yet it still bears the Mackintosh name and even has a small Lady and Soldier as can be seen here ->