Help Identifying Antique Tobacco Jars

[admin]

Pipe collector and author, Rick Newcombe sent this over via email hoping that the community here might be of assistance.
The original Tinder Box in Santa Monica closed down in May and I bought two old tins from the store that had been sitting empty on a top shelf for years. It looks like they hold two pounds of pipe tobacco each. An employee in the store named Tudor said they were made in England in the 1920s — he thought — but I’d like to find out for sure who made them and when. Tudor said he found that information on the internet, but I have not been able to find anything and I have lost touch with Tudor.
I have asked Frank Burla, Ben Rapaport, Tony Hyman, Eugene Umberger, Sykes Wilford and Ken Barnes, but none of them know the answers to my questions. So I am wondering if a reader of pipesmagazine.com might know — or if someone can find this online and post a link.
The top photo is labeled “Sweet Returns,” and the other is called “Honey Dew.” There is an Indian painted on the sides of each of these tins (bottom picture). They are lined with pottery or ceramic and are surprisingly heavy. They weigh three pounds each.
Any help your readers can give me would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Rick

 

[philobeddoe]

Possibly a connection to a Brunts Tobacconists in Taunton, England. Also found a sister blend called Rival Mixture.

 

[philobeddoe]

Found another sister blend called Birds Eye.

 

[didache]

I think philobeddoe is almost certainly right.
Here is a link to an auction site with two virtually identical jars described as from Brunts:
https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/greenslade-taylor-hunt/catalogue-id-srgr10045/lot-58cee650-5771-49ab-ac72-a4a700c203f4
Also, I can tell you that if it is Brunts, the pottery is probably Poole Pottery which is quite famous in that part of England.
Incidentally, I used to live about 10 miles north of Taunton, in the county town of Bridgwater.
Mike

 

[rnewcombe]

OMG!!! I have been searching the internet and asking old-time pipe historians for days and it took less than a few minutes to find the answer once Kevin Godbee posted my inquiry! (With all due respect to the old-timers -- they did give me a lot of interesting tips and tidbits of information). You guys are the best!!! Now ... I don't know anything about Brunts. Is there a place on the internet where I can find out? I am especially curious about their years of operation, so I can begin to date these containers, which have no markings whatsoever. If Brunts is known for its pottery, that explains why the jars, lined with pottery inside, are so heavy. I discovered a third painting opposite the Indian -- this of the man with a turban and a super-long meerschaum pipe. The artwork on the link to that auction site is identical to the containers that I have. Thank you all again!!!

 

[condorlover1]

Brunt's sounds about right and I have seen a 'Birds Eye' jar in an antiques market many a year ago but without pottery insert. Very desirable and collectable these days although this stuff often surfaces when an old time tobacconist closes down. Sadly the chances of finding one of those jars is very remote as they get snapped up by the interior decorator crowd.

 

[jguss]

Hi Rick,
This finds me traveling, so very little information is readily at hand. I can tell you that C H Brunt is the actual name of the tobacconist in Taunton (Somerset, England), and that it was started no later than 1925, and in existence through at least 1975. I can probably refine those dates when I'm home in a week or so.
The founder was named Charles Henry Brunt (1887-1954). He was married twice, to Alice Mary Cann in 1910, and after her death in 1918, to Florence Ellen Davis in 1918. He had a son named Charles Henry Norman Brunt (1912-1985) by his first wife. Offhand I can't recall whether the son carried on the business after the father's death in 1954, or whether it was sold.
Incidentally, Brunt served as a town councilor in Taunton from 1929 until mid-1939, when he resigned in a huff over a policy dispute with his fellow local politicos.
Somewhere I have a Taunton newspaper ad for CH Brunt from the 1930s showing a tobacco jar just like yours. I'll dig it up when I'm back from my trip.
Best rgds,

Jon

 

[rnewcombe]

Thanks so much, Jon, and everyone else in this thread. I have been a fan of pipesmagazine.com from the start, but this story illustrates how game-changing these forums are for the collecting community. So many readers have knowledge and are willing to share it -- I am just in awe of this forum. In the old days, we relied on hearsay and guesswork much more than today, and it usually took months to find out things that we learn in minutes or days because of this forum.

 

[oldmansmoking]

Ace tins how much did they cost?

 

[rnewcombe]

I paid $125 for each tin, which was what the store told me they paid nearly 20 years ago.

 

[sablebrush52]

This is Jon when he doesn't have much information at hand because he's on the road. He's positively frightening when he's got his sources in front of him. When I first became acquainted with Jon I wondered if he was in the Intelligence business. He is. He's the most intelligent guy I know!