IN 1902, confectioners Cadbury produced their first ever royal commemorative chocolate to celebrate the Coronation of King Edward VII.

Originally planned to take place on June 26, the Coronation was postponed because the King was taken ill with an abdominal abscess which required immediate surgery, so all of the school children who were expecting a days holiday, celebratory meal and a tin of chocolate were actually asked to pray for his swift recovery.

Soon after, on August 9 the Coronation took place and more than 100,000 children in Manchester alone as well as others around the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland received a free tin of Coronation chocolate.

121 years later, Charles Hanson, the auctioneer known by followers of several BBC Antiques programmes was entrusted with auctioning one of the few surviving and unopened tins by the family of Mary Anne, a little girl from Durham who was never tempted to eat the chocolate all those years ago.

The auction house put an estimate of £100 to £150 on the tin, but there was so much interest from around the world that the final price achieved on July 25 was an astounding £1,000 bid by expatriate royalist Mark Harrison, Managing Partner of Seagate Wealth Management based in Benijofar, Alicante, Costa Blanca.

Speaking about the purchase Mark said “My family and I are royalists. We flew over to London for King Charles’ Coronation just to get a glimpse of the royal family. I feel I am buying a piece of history.

“The box of chocolates are extremely rare and unique. I really wanted to win the auction and was absolutely delighted when I did. I’m lucky and blessed to own them and I would like to assure the seller that they will be treasured by me and my family.”

Delighted by the price the tin sold for Charles Hanson, said: “We had a crazy amount of interest in this tiny, century-old tin of chocolates. Emails were coming in from all over the world.

“It’s an astonishing result. The royal memento and the reason it survived melted hearts. These days, chocolates are lucky to last a day in most homes, let alone 121 years.”

Jump forward 121 years

For the Coronation of King Charles III in June of this year, Mars Wrigley UK took things a step further with a hand sculpted bust of His Majesty made from a selection of their Celebrations chocolates.