I have just returned from a holiday to Belgium and I couldn’t resist visiting the wonderful chocolate shops selling an array of delicious hand made delights. My idea of heaven! 

This reminded me of a very unusual collection of 1000’s of chocolate wrappers that we sold a few years ago. Every brand you could think of was represented with examples from Continental Europe as well as the well known English brands such as Cadbury and Rowntree dating from the present day way back to the beginning of the last century. The chocolate wrappers created a lot of interest in the auction with buyers from all over the world. One collector travelled all the way from Switzerland to attend the auction and eventually buying several lots to add to his own collection.

The origin of chocolate bar wrappers dates back to the late 19th century, when chocolate first became widely available. At first, these chocolate bars were wrapped in plain paper, wax paper or even tissue paper. This was an effective way to protect the chocolate from dirt and moisture but it was not particularly attractive. As chocolate production increased so did demand for creative and eye catching packaging. By the 20th century manufacturers began printing their names and logos on the wrappers to make them stand out on the shop shelves. Often featuring bright colours in geometric shapes and clean lines. At this time the wrappers were often larger than the chocolate bars as the manufacturers had yet to perfect the art of folding the wrappers to fit correctly. Around the same time foil wrappers were introduced to prolong the shelf life of the bars.

There are three main types of chocolate wrappers the strip wrapper which just covered the inner packaging, an envelope wrapper folded to cover the bar completely and a cellophane or foil wrapper.

Over the years the designs became more elaborate and since the 1960’s information like the date of manufacture and ingredients used had to be added to the labels. 

It is certainly an unusual area of collecting but a very interesting one for a chocolate lover like myself. Why not collect wrappers from your favourite brand to see the changes to the wrappers throughout the years. For example Cadbury’s  launched their first milk chocolate bar in 1897 and their wrapper was very different from the one we know today. It featured six ladies surrounded by the text “Cadbury’s Chocolate made at Bournville”. Then in 1905 they changed to a pink label with red text with the initials “CDM” to the centre. It wasn’t until 1915 that the ionic purple wrappers which we now associate with Cadbury’s chocolate first appeared. The layout altered over the years such as the price added in 1961 and the glass and a half of milk motto first used in 1990. 

Our collection was beautifully displayed in around 50 albums and divided down into around 25 lots realising in excess of £5000 in one of our quarterly Fine Art sales.

So if you have an unusual or quirky collection of something do bring it down to us here at Sheffield Auction Gallery and we would be pleased to take a look at it for you.