Unopened chocolate engagement gift from 1938 set to fetch hundreds at auction
By James Smith 24th Sep 2023
An 85-year-old Easter egg was left untouched by a bride-to-be after her fiancé gave it to her as an engagement present - and now it is worth hundreds.
The Little Miss Muffet Chocolate Easter egg made by Pascalls still has its original rose gold paper and blue bow.
The treat was given by Jack Carter to his 17-year-old sweetheart Joyce Angell when they got engaged on April 16, 1938.
Joyce could not bear to eat the egg and kept it in mint condition up until her death in 2004 aged 84.
Following her death, her devoted husband Jack kept the egg until he passed away in 2012 just three weeks before his 96th birthday.
Together, the couple who were married for 66 years, cherished the egg for 76 years.
The couple's 79-year-old son inherited the egg and he is now selling it in the hope it will be displayed in a museum.
It is being auctioned with a guide price of £200-£300 but is expected to fetch far more when it goes under the hammer at Hansons Auctioneers.
The seller, who lives in Warwickshire, said: "I was born in 1944 and for as long as I can remember the egg had been in a bedroom cupboard in its original packaging, after which we kept it in the coolest cupboard in our home.
"After 85 years in my family's care, I feel the time has come to offer it at auction in the hope a collector or museum will preserve it for future generations."
Jack gave the egg to Joyce when he proposed to her on her big sister Iris's wedding day on April 16, 1938.
The following year on November 4, 1939 Joyce and Jack tied the knot in Trowbridge, Wiltshire.
Jack served in the Navy during World War Two while Joyce worked at a cloth factory.
They couple had one son and two grandchildren.
Bargain Hunt's Charles Hanson, who is selling the egg for the family, said: "This gift demonstrates true romance.
"A present bought to mark a magical moment a lifetime ago treasured forever.
"Times were hard in the 1930s and yet Jack splashed out on this Pascalls chocolate because he loved Joyce so much.
"Pascalls was founded by James Pascall in 1866. He set up a small shop off Oxford Street in London having worked for Cadbury's.
"Bear in mind they married just after the start of World War Two.
"They lived though times when people had little and took nothing for granted.
"And yet, despite years of rationing, Joyce never ate a morsel.
"That's because this chocolate, with its beautiful decorative wrapping, marked one of the happiest days of her life. It survives as a testament to their love."
The chocolate Easter egg is going under the hammer on September 26.
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