** TINS of TASTE MUSEUM ** within the NationalBreadMuseum.org
GERMANY -- Lebkuchen-Schmidt
formerly known by it's founder's name:
E. Otto Schmidt Lebkuchen
The used-to-be, commonly-known, "Otto Schmidt" Lebkuchen Company began in 1926 according to their history info on this following website: do a highlight, copy, & paste of this because it won't connect in a link: https://www.lebkuchen-schmidt.com/en/about-us/company-and-history/ In 2017, they put out a 90th anniversary Festive Chest. They have had a history of packaging Lebkuchen in beautiful tins at least since 1956, which is the earliest year for their largest tin named the Festive Chest. Possibly, prior to then, there could have been an untold number of other tins &/or chests, but it's hard to determine. (I know there are 2 chests of the same size with 730/1 and 730/2 numbers on them and were most likely prior to 1956. Possibly they were used to see if people would purchase a larger quantity and variety at one time?!? So it's possible that those two were issued in 1954 & 1955.)
The company told me they kept no records, nor photos (just a typed list which they gave me on a visit in 1990, of Festive Chest descriptions since the first in 1956). It was in 1990, when they produced their first catalog for the 1990/91 holiday season, and the new Lebkuchen-Schmidt name was used with their "Zollhausstrasse 30" address in NΓΌrnberg. Until the 1980s, very seldom was there an identifying date on most tins/Dosen and chests/Truhen. This changed when the ingredient list was required in the 1980s, and then all the ingredient info was printed on the bottom of the "tins/Dosen," and a sell-by date was stamped on.
But for the Otto Schmidt Lebkuchen chests/Truhen, a sell-by date is stamped on the box, and a separate ingredient info paper is inside. So again, prior to the change in the 1980s, it's extremely difficult to accurately date almost every tin & chest before then, and even since -- especially the ones considered "chests," not only for Otto Schmidt, but for all Lebkuchen companies because very seldom is there a date on the tin, itself.
A rare exception used to be the "Festive Chest"/Festtags-Truhe up through 2020, which today is translated into English on the website as the "Holiday Chest," but then in 2021, there was no date (!), nor in 2022!! Also, because the date for chests is only stamped on the box, dating empty chests for the resale market is virtually impossible without a resource of the original box or verifiable company documents. Part of the purpose of this website, throughout future years, is to help with that.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
For documentary purposes, the photographs follow what everyone should use as the standard photographing system of a tin:
A - the cover; + sometimes a cover detail; The cover determines the shape & some of the size of the tin.
B - Beginning with the seam on the left, designs on the tin are in the sequence of turning the tin clockwise. For website viewing, not all designs on every tin are always shown, but the photos will begin with the seam to the left and photos going around to the right, turning the tin clockwise. (With 99% of the tins, there is only one seam for the side panels, but there have been a few exceptions with large rectangular or square tins having 2-4 seams. If so, I try to note such.)
C - Also, if there are repeats of designs on the front & back, or the two side/or end panels, there won't be duplicate photos, but then I do try to give that info. If a tin has no identification on the bottom, it won't be shown, and there are times a photo of the bottom (with insignificant stamped info) will also be omitted to conserve space on this page, but yet have the art designs large enough for viewing.
Description Info given: Identifying the name and/or style of the tin if there is one known & the year.
If there is a (ToT#xxxx), it is the museum's internal catalog #. Pay no attention. Those #s are not sequential w/dates. If there is a 2nd # in (---), it's the company # - from a Lebkuchen-Schmidt catalog or on the tin itself.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
This website page displays Otto Schmidt & Lebkuchen-Schmidt chests, tins, & some related info according to the following INDEX:
Festive & Nuremberg-named CHESTS (truhen) -- New ones are filled with gorgeously decorated bags, boxes, & containers of many various flavors of Lebkuchen, & some other traditional types of holiday cookies, etc.
All Other CHESTS (filled when bought new, with decorative bags, boxes, or wrappers of various varieties of Lebkuchen and related cookies)
All Various TINS (dose/n) which originally held 4-to-8 Lebkuchen cookies per tin. Lebkuchen are unglazed, white-glaze coated, or milk- or dark-chocolate coated.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
1 - Festive Chest - Q: How old are you?!? A: 68 in 2023 (above - Lebkuchen bakers - 1972 - #17)
(NOTE: # 4-5-6 info, below, was updated/corrected on Nov. 13, 2023, for continued accuracy as facts of dates are discovered.)
(1) Since 1956, there has been a new design each year.
(2) The cover is hinged with a flat top, curved or sloping
edges, a flat rim, & squared-off corners.
(3) Sometimes the design has a 3-D surface on the cover &/or
frame. (Both are on the bakers above.)
(4) 1956 (735/01) - 1997 (735/42)(more?) there was a "735/xx" number on
the outside center back of the flat edge of the cover.
(5) 1984 - 1997 (maybe more) the year was also pressed into the bottom of the
tin, so each had double identification.
(6) 1998 - 2020 the year
continued to be pressed into the bottom of the chest, but sadly 2021 & 2022 have no dating. The "use/sell by date" is stamped on the outside of the box, as it is on
all other "chests." 2023 the date was again pressed into the bottom.
(7) Each Festive Chest had and still has a companion 6-stuck tin
inside. (Pronounce stuck to rhyme w/spook.) That means there were 6 Lebkuchen/cookies inside it.
(8) Since sometime in the 1980s, the ingredients & a "sell/use
by" date have been printed on the bottom of tins/dose (but not on chests/truhen). Therefore, the previous year is the date of the tin when it was filled with its contents. (Some companies have continued to use the same designed tin since I first saw it in the 1980s, but rarely does Lebkuchen-Schmidt repeat a tin.)
2 - Enclosures - Maybe from the beginning in 1956, until around 1995 - 2000, a parchment with the history of the tin art design was included - - glued to the inside of the cover. When the glued-in parchment was discontinued, a colored art print (which could be framed) was included each year through 2010. (I won't know specific dates until the glorious day when all of the tins can be unpacked! There were no photos of this item in the catalogs.) In 2011, a tin plate "Wall Calendar" was included for 3 years. In 2014, these tin plates were made as a wall hanging which were still part of the Festive Chest series in 2022.
*Also, at least some years during the 1980s, a small, wooden, springerle (spring' er lah) cookie mold was included in each Festive Chest. Springerle is a traditional German cookie, flavored with anise (licorice). One of the molds in its original packaging shows an enclosed insert telling of some carved wooden mold history:
seasoned wood of fruit trees, mostly apple or pear. The cookie designs are colored either before or after baking.
In this small insert it's said that there would be a new mold design each year,
P.S. Look at how the eye deceives you. It's the same mold! You press it on the dough for an imprint.
The following is a portfolio of some of the Festive Chest covers between 1956 and 2022. During the 1988-91 years of going to 1-5 flohmarkts a week, I was able to collect all but 6 of the Festive Chests. Also, during the times I've scrolled through thousands of Lebkuchen tins for sale on the German eBay, never once have I seen these missing chests; although, I have seen all of the other years I already have. Very strange! Does anyone "out there" know??
The number is on the center back of the outside of the flat rim of the cover.
2019 - the 64th year of this Festive Chest - The house of Albrecht Durer (a famous German painter, 1471-1528) is on the cover. It's at the northern end of the Old Town area of Nuremberg which is surrounded by a medieval wall with castle towers: in the 2nd photo. There's a Youth Hostel in these ancient (500+ yrs.) castle walls :).
2018 - Festive Chest - 63rd year -- "The Artist" - Albrecht Durer as the artist & his house on the sides/ends.
2017: 90th Year Anniversary of the Otto Schmidt company - Year 62 -- The Night Guard/Town Crier Tin Plate
1991: 36th Festive Chest
1990: 35th Festive Chest - 1st year of a catalog with color photos of the tins for the Christmas season. Cost 72,50 DM = $48 in Germany
1978: 23rd Festive Chest - extra colorful; representing a huge segment of central European history in the 1300s.
1958: 3rd Festive Chest (735/03)
ABOVE: Festive Chests (Began with a 735/xx number system in 1956).
BELOW: - A 6-stuck companion tin was in each Festive Chest.
1. Festive Chest 6-stuck companion tins
Index from here to the end:
"Nuremberg" Chests in alphabetical order, & then descending by date:
2 -Colorful Nuremberg Chest
3 - Historic Nuremberg Chest - hinged cover
4 - Old Nuremberg Chest - hinged cover
5 - Picturesque Nuremberg Chest
6 - Small Nuremberg Chest (Kleines Nurnberg Kastchen)
7 - Nuremberg Arched Chest (half a circle - removeable cover)
8 - Nuremberg Elisen Chest (large oval - removeable cover)
9 - Nuremberg Gift Chest
10 - Nuremberg Night Chest
11 - Nuremberg Winter Chest
Various -- "One of" or limited-named chests (not with "Nuremberg" in the name):
12 - Art Chest & Art Tin
13 - Globe Chest
14 - Winter's Evening Chest
15 - Winter Village Chest
Begin "Dose" - means "can" - (not a "chest" which is with or w/out a hinged cover)
16 - Advertising Pillar - Large
17 - Mini Pillars
18- Diabetic 6-Stuck Tin
19 - Elisen Tins -- Christkindlesmarkt-2018, Christmas City, NΓΌrnberger, Mini, Small (or various other names)
20 - Emperor's (Kaiser) Elisen Tin -- 5-stuck
21 - Giant (Grosse) Elisen Round Tin -- Began at least in 1999 (or earlier?)
22 - Hexagonal Elisen Tin (4 7/8" point-to-point; 7 1/8" tall)
23 - Music Box Tins
24 - Rotating Tins - Carousel
25 - Suitcase - Elisen (large - still in 2020 ) & (small/mini)
26 - Telegram Box Tin (a cylinder)
P. S. There were additional names of tins which I never got. In time, I'll add those names as I go through the catalogs.
"Nuremberg" Chests in alphabetical order, & then descending by date.
2 - Colorful Nuremberg Chest 2018 -- first year for the "colorful" name (7" x 11" x 5 3/4")
3 - Historic Nuremberg Chest - hinged cover
4 - Old Nuremberg Chest - hinged cover (8" x 12 3/3 x 6 1/2" high)
5 - Picturesque Nuremberg Chest 2009 - 7" x 11 7/8" x 4 1/4" high (from 2007-10; & 2017) (2008, 09, 10, have 3-D pop-ups) - (no tins by this name in 2011-16) - (2006 was a "Pictorial" Nuremberg Chest name)
6 - Small Nuremberg Chest (Kleines Nurnberg Kastchen) - still made in 2023; (removeable cover)
7 - Nuremberg Arched Chest (half a circle - removeable cover)
8 - Nuremberg Elisen Chest (large oval - removeable cover)
9 - Nuremberg Gift Chest
10 - Nuremberg Night Chest
11 - Nuremberg Winter Chest
Various -- "One of" or limited-named chests (not with "Nuremberg" in the name):
12 - Art Chest & Art Tin
13 - Globe Chest -- In 2008 it was a gold world, tan water; 2009 was a tan world, light blue water;
This is the 2013 globe: a caramel world, deep blue water. (Euro 25,90 filled w/Leb.. . . about $35.00 that year in Germany @ $1.35/Euro, & maybe a total of $50-55 w/shipping that year if ordered directly from the company, OR if you had a military connection who'd buy & mail to you; but if there's a profit to be made by a retailer, the cost in the USA would & still will be at least double & up to triple-or-more the company's Euro/exchanged-into-dollars retail cost for almost all imported products.)
14 - Winter's Evening Chest
15 - Winter Village Chest
The "Dosen" begin here - means "cans" or just "tins" -
(not a "chest" which might or might not have a hinged cover).
16 - Advertising Pillar - Large (4 1/2" round x 8" tall) with 10 Leb. -- Began in 2008 (2022 = 15th Edition)
17 - MINI PILLARS (2 5/8" round x 7 1/8" tall) with 6 mini round Lebkuchen; Bottoms have the printed Otto Schmidt logo & content info and the stamped "use by date."
18 - Diabetic 6-Stuck Tin (Dose) - What's great about this tin with raised embossing is that the cover has a date!
19 - Elisen Tins -- Christkindlesmarkt-2018, Christmas City, NΓΌrnberger, Mini, Small (or various other names)
20 - Emperor's (Kaiser) Elisen Tin -- 5-stuck
21 - Giant (Grosse) Elisen Round Tin -- Began at least in 1999 (or earlier?)
22 - Hexagonal Elisen Tin (4 7/8" point-to-point; 7 1/8" tall)
23 - Music Box Tins
24 - Rotating Tins - Carousel
25 - Suitcase - Elisen (large and mini sizes: began ?xxx?; 2020 last year )
26 - Telegram Box Tin (a hinged-cover cylinder)
