{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O323932"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O323932/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2019MC5404/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2019MC5404/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2019MC5404","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019LK4666","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019MC5405","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O323932","accessionNumber":"M.105-1983","objectType":"Biscuit tin","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"The British biscuit tin gained popularity after the Refreshment Houses Act and the Treaty of Commerce in 1860 brought about the use of printed paper labels on food and drink packaging. The two Acts increased the sale of bottles of wine, which needed labels to identify it. This normalised the idea of creating labels for food and drink and led to developments in printing processes. It was only a short step to the idea of printing directly on to tinplate. The new process of offset lithography, patented in 1877, allowed multicoloured designs to be printed on to eccentrically shaped tins.\r\n\nThe most unusual designs were produced in the early years of the 20th century, just prior to the First World War. In the 1920s and 1930s, costs had risen substantially and the design of biscuit tins tended to be more conservative, with the exception of the tins targeted at the Christmas market and intended to appeal primarily to children. The designs, generally speaking, are a barometer of popular interests.\r\n\nThe advent of the Second World War stopped all production of decorative tin ware and after it ended in 1945, the custom never really revived.\r\n","physicalDescription":"Biscuit tin in the form of a travelling caravan, brightly painted in green with red detailing, with four wheels and a hinged lid forming the roof.","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Co-operative Wholesale Society","id":"A3037"},"association":{"text":"made for","id":"x30791"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"Hudson, Scott & Sons","id":"A3039"},"association":{"text":"made by","id":"AAT251917"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"tinplate","id":"x32089"}],"techniques":[{"text":"offset lithography","id":"AAT192900"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Offset litho printed tinplate","categories":[{"text":"Containers","id":"THES48972"},{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"},{"text":"Eating","id":"THES48963"},{"text":"Food vessels & Tableware","id":"THES48952"},{"text":"Product design","id":"THES49025"},{"text":"Children & Childhood","id":"THES48980"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2019MC5404","2019LK4666","2019MC5405"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"021","id":"THES336756"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Biscuit tin","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Carlisle","id":"x35079"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1912","earliest":"1912-01-01","latest":"1912-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by M. J. Franklin","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"12","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"14.4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"This biscuit tin was made in 1912 for the Co-operative Wholesale Society by the Carlisle Company, Hudson Scott & Son. \n\nThe gave this tin the trade title 'Gypsy Van'. The title is repeated in this record as historical information and to aid retrieval of the record. 'Gypsy' is a term used to describe members of the Roma people or, more generally, one of a stateless people whose communities are traditionally thought to have originated in India, entered Europe in the 14th or 15th century, and are now dispersed across Europe, Russia, Turkey and the Americas. Some Roma people consider the term pejorative as it can refer to the negative stereotyping of traveller peoples. Others have reclaimed the term as a marker of ethnic pride. The museum does not support the use of discriminatory language.\n\nHudson Scott &amp; Sons were founded in 1799 by Benjamin Scott in Carlisle as printers and publishers. A nephew Hudson Scott succeeded Benjamin. The company began printing on tin in the mid-1870s using offset lithography in supplying printed metal sheeting to biscuit tin manufacturers. They opened their own box works in Carlisle and were incorporated as Hudson Scott &amp; Sons Ltd in 1898.\n\r\nM.J. Franklin Collection of British Biscuit Tins.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Biscuit tin, with the original trade title, 'Gypsy Van', tinplate, offset litho printed, made for the Co-operative Wholesale Society by Hudson, Scott & Sons, Carlisle, 1912.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Michael Franklin, <font -u>British Biscuit Tins</font>, London, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1984, ISBN. 0905209621"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"Mass produced","id":"THES48863"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["M.105-1983"],"accessionNumberNum":"105","accessionNumberPrefix":"M","accessionYear":1983,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-06-29","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-24","availableToBook":true}}