I don’t know about you but chocolate never lasts long in my house whether it be a Christmas selection box, a birthday box of chocolates or an Easter egg. Imagine our surprise when a customer recently brought in an unopened 1960’s Easter egg in its original packaging and outer cardboard box. The large egg is wrapped in pink foil and applied with artificial yellow roses.

The vendor discovered it in the back of a cupboard when they were clearing their late Mother’s home. They had forgotten all about it but after telling other members of the family of their find they remembered their Mum telling them many years ago that she still had an old Easter egg that had been given to her by her grandmother. It looked so beautiful that she never wanted to break it up and eat it.

The first chocolate Easter egg in the UK was introduced in 1873 by the famous family run company Fry’s. Traditionally at Easter people would exchange chicken’s eggs which were hard boiled and then hand painted in bright colours. Other chocolate companies copied Fry’s idea of a chocolate egg and Cadbury’s made their first Easter eggs in 1875.

Many European countries especially France and Germany had been making chocolate eggs for many years before the UK but these were made of solid chocolate. Fry’s were the first company to make hollow eggs with the chocolate paste poured into moulds. The earliest chocolate eggs featured the crocodile design which covered any imperfections or cracks.

Our egg was made by the firm of C.Kunzl Ltd and who were founded in the early 1920’s by a Swiss chef called Christian Kunzl who had worked at the House of Commons. He opened a number of restaurants in Birmingham and a cake factory on Broad Street. They specialised in statement cakes such a “Showboat” cake and a “Crown” cake for Royal coronations as well as Easter eggs like the one we are selling. Their products became very popular and were sold in Marks and Spencer, British Homes Stores and Tesco eventually selling out to Lyon’s in 1968.

Mr Kunzl was president of the Birmingham Children’s hospital in the 1930’s and did many good works in his lifetime including sending sick children to his home in Davos, Switzerland to recover in the clean mountain air.

The Easter egg is to be included in our next Fine Art sale to be held on 22nd March 2024 and carries an estimate of £50-80.