How to identify a Huntley & Palmers tin

The Reading Museum collection

Reading Museum has one of the largest collections of biscuit tins in the country. This collection provides a substantial and representative selection of Huntley & Palmers tins from the very first biscuit tin, to the shapes and styles characteristic of the late-twentieth century. The collection also includes some tins made for Jacobs and Peek Frean which, along with Huntley & Palmers, were part of Associated Biscuits. There are even a few tins that were made for other biscuit manufacturers as well.

Using the search engine

At present, information on over a thousand of these tins can be found on this site. To discover more about a tin use the Search bar in the top right-hand corner of the page.

Some tins have their name printed on the lid. If so, type in the name and, if it is included in our on-line database, details will follow. If there is no name then try the type of biscuits in the tin, or details of the illustration on the lid. For example, the below tin could be located by typing in the name printed on its lid. In this case 'Early Mist'.

If there is no name visible you could try the type of biscuits that the tin once contained - for the below tin you would try 'Cocktail Assorted'. Finally, if all else fails, try typing in a prominent detail from the design on the tin. In the case of these two examples, 'horse', 'tray' or even 'shaker' would find them. The results will include details about other objects in our collection, from trade cards to photographs, but - with luck - you will locate your tin.

Dating tins

The dating of tins is often based on the trade catalogues that were regularly produced and some times on information that came with the tins in the Huntley & Palmers collection. Many of the tins are on display at Reading Museum, so if you are in the vicinity then pay us a visit.

Continue exploring

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