Vintage Brown & Polson Cornflour Tin c.1970s

This is an attractive and decorative piece of kitchenalia, originally containing cornflour produced by Brown & Polson and dating to the early 1970s.

The tin is cylindrical in shape with a tight-fitting lid. It is decorated on the exterior in bright shades of red, yellow and green. It reads ‘BROWN & POLSON PATENT CORNFLOUR’ on the front. The lid bears the original paper price label, although this has faded.

The tin is printed on the side with ’16 OZ NET – 453 GRAMS NET’. This error in the metric labelling (it should read 454 GRAMS NET) may make it less common.

These tins are erroneously labelled online as 1930s due to their somewhat old-fashioned design. The process for the extraction of cornflour was patented by John Polson in 1854, and given that the tin is labelled ‘CORNFLOUR MANUFACTURERS FOR OVER 100 YEARS’, that would put it at being from the mid-1950s at the earliest. In addition, this tin is printed with both imperial and metric measurements. Metrication of food products began around 1972, and according to the website metrication.uk, the sale of imperial packs of flour ceased on 31st August, 1978. 

It has a height of approximately 12.5cm and a diameter across the rim of about 9.2cm.

It has an unwrapped weight of 110g.

It is in good used condition, with tarnishing and wear to the paint in places. This gives it a lovely aged patina, and it would display very well in a vintage kitchen.