Monday, November 17, 2008

Vintage Tins

Cute vintage tins are one of those items that I always keep my eye out for whenever I'm browsing at thrift stores. I recently picked up these two lovelies to add to my growing collection. The one with the girl and her dog is a Thorne's English toffee tin which I got for 99 cents at Angela's Attic and the winter scene tin, former home to a Christmas fruitcake back in the 70's, was 50 cents from the VNA Hospice Thrift.

Some flickr TIN-spiration (all photos link to source):







A few pretty tins I saw for sale on Etsy (photos link to source):







I know that tin collecting is quite popular among those of us who love thrifting. I'd be curious to know if any of you have collections of your own and what you do with them? While I do love the way they look, I'd like to come up with some ways to use them other than purely as display items, which is what I have a tendency to do with them.

With the holidays quickly approaching, I was thinking they would make perfect vessels for giving out yummy homemade baked goods, maybe not fruitcake though ;)

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

thats what i use mine for...goodies!

Anonymous said...

Some neat ones in there! I am always drawn to pretty tins when I am at the bins (bins tins!) but I try not to buy them too much because I run out of places to put them since we don't have a lot of shelf space in our house.

Anonymous said...

I have a serious tin addiction! My flea market friends don't let me buy them anymore! Maybe someday I'll make use of them, but I mostly use mine for display as well!

What we four say said...

I love vintage tins, I collect them as well, They are great for storing things in the bathroom and sewing room. These are all gorgeous! Thanks for sharing!!

Eyeliah said...

I've had some over the years, it's so sad when they rust.

Andrea Eames said...

How lovely! I collect vintage tins as well, but when my collection started to get out of hand I limited myself to ones with cats on. :)

Anonymous said...

I don't collect them myself, but these tins remind me of the floral tin my mum uses to keep tea in. It's divine.

Heidi Ann said...

I love and collect vintage tins, also. I get so excited whenever I find a good deal on one in a thrift shop. My favorites are probably old Christmas ones and ones that have floral designs, especially roses. Sometimes, I think maybe I should just display them on shelves on their side so you can see the front, or even put the top only on a plate stand!

Milla said...

Hhhmmm...this post is giving me ideas...

I love vintage tins, we've had a bunch since I was kid and I still have some of them, like a huge green one with a gentleman and a southern bell on it...

would love to posses any of these too.

Brittany said...

I put mine to use in a couple of different ways. One is to keep my kids' arts and craft supplies in them (or any grouping of small items like odd game places). I also use them as gift boxes throughout the year... it adds a cool factor to gift giving and is much more environmentally friendly than wrapping paper!

loveology said...

GORGEOUS!
You know how much i love vintage tins.

That one with the birds on the second pic is a dream come true!

roberta jane said...

I love vintage tins! My mom has a huge collection I am hoping she'll get bored with them and give them to me! haha!