Antique biscuit tins collection is tasty treat

A lifetime’s collection of antique biscuit tins, featuring eclectic examples including aeroplanes, trains and castles, will go under the hammer at McTear’s in Glasgow this month.

The Lewis Collection was formed by Mr DB Lewis (known as Barrie) between 1980 and 2014. The collector’s interest in biscuit tins can be traced back to his own business ventures, which started alongside his wife, Jill, on a market stall in the West Midlands selling biscuits, cakes and confectionary. They later moved into the wholesale business from a premises in the West Midlands, importing and selling biscuits and cakes from Europe.

The collecting bug was triggered when Mr Lewis’s daughter bought a biscuit tin from a local antiques shop as a present for her father.

While his early collecting was less discriminating, with common examples bought during regular trips to antiques fairs, as his obsession progressed Mr Lewis sought out rarer and unusual tins from the main British biscuit manufacturers and those further afield.

He also fosters good relations with antiques dealers in Perth and Dundee, private collectors and frequenting sales in London auction houses making many purchases over the years.

By 1989, Barrie’s collection was so large that his home has a dedicated area to display his finds. In 2001, bequeathed the collection to his daughter and, upon his death in 2022, she moved the collection to East Lothian, Scotland.

Now the tins will be sold in a stand-alone auction of The Lewis Collection at McTear’s on August 28.