** Tins of Taste Museum ** within NationalBreadMuseum.org
GERMANY - Wicklein, Gottfried
https://wicklein.de/en ~ ~ ~ "Baking Art since 1615" is on their website.
Wicklein ~ ~ ~ In their MENU, under FLAGSHIP STORE,
you can book a GINGERBREAD WORKSHOP!
(How I'd love to be there for one!!)
Street Address of Store: Hauptmarkt 7, 90403 Nürnberg , Germany
The tins are photographed beginning with the cover which identifies the shape, & then with the seam on the left, turning the tin clockwise, the circumference (a round) or panels (a square, rectangle, etc.). Since sometime in the 1980s, the ingredient & other info has been required on products which also includes the sell-by date. In Europe it is day-month-year, i.e. 3 05 87 = May 3, 1987. So that tin was sold for the prior Christmas holiday season in 1986.
When I note a (TTM#xxx) in the info, it has no significance to the dating of the tin whatsoever. It's the personal reference # of when it was cataloged.
Information such as the following is on the bottoms of tins (vs. chests): #1-2: that it's Lebkuchen from the Gottfried Wicklein company & the % of nuts in the enclosed Lebkuchen; #3-4: the weight of the contents, an Article ID#, & the stamped sell-by date; #5: the product was made & packed in Germany & another Article ID#.
The German Fairytale Land as in Castles, Literature, & Lebkuchen ~ Art on Tin
Some artists, with their gorgeous art on tin, can just capture the essence of the wonderland history of Lebkuchen created & baked since the early spice-trade days (1300-1500s). With this tin it's as if you could walk right in and smell the Lebkuchen baking! The roof is the cover. The punch-out star holes are for the light of a votive candle!
If someone knows more about the item in the bakers' hands in the 2 center pictures (below), please email me at breadmuseum@aol.com & tell me about it, how/why it's being used, etc. I'd like to know. Thanks, Donna, Founder
2022
It was quite interesting in 2022 when I saw 2 companies using a decorative cardboard container for round, 6-stuck (rhymes with "spook") Lebkucken containers. About 6 years ago I saw 2 very, very old cardboard Lebkuchen containers on eBay.de, being sold in Germany! During the past 30 years there have been some "decorative - colored boxes" in various shapes & styles designed for Lebkuchen containers (by the Lebkuchen-Schmidt and other companies), but nothing special to me for the aspect of Lebkuchen history (until 2023, when I saw & ordered 5 gorgeous boxes from the Feyler Lebkuchen company in Coburg. I've also seen 1-2? noteworthy boxes by the Gebr. Fraunholz Elisenlebküchnerei {Gingerbread Bakers} of Nurnberg, but still don't have one of them.).
In the 1990s, after we came back from our 9 years in Europe (via the military), many U.S. candy-cookie-food companies had tins made at that time for their products for the Christmas season. I believed that the U.S. "tin run" would last about 10-or-so years hence & then gradually revert back to paper, plastic, etc., for the majority of products, which is exactly what happened. Therefore, I've often wondered how far into the future the German Lebkuchen companies might continue with "so many various actual tins" they continue to produce each year, just as they have been doing in the past?!?
Well, so far it seems as if they've continued to keep the tin production going at pretty much the same speed, if not even more some years. So to see an actual Lebkuchen company make a decorative, same shape, cardboard container in 2022 for one of the "standard size" Lebkuchen products normally sold in a tin (the 6-stuck, i.e. 6 round Lebkuchen cookies), it was a step to note for history! And I was thankful I was able to order the above Wicklein 6-stuck for the record for Tins of Taste.
(Note: Seems to be the "former" Matthias Stielfried company, also made a 6-stuck cardboard container in 2022.)
2021
2019
4-stuck; 4.5"rd x 3.75"; (TTM#3668)
7" x 11" x 5" domed cover; (TTM#3665)
2018
This tin was reminiscent of Canterbury Tales, but in German history, this depiction represented the nut, spices, & honey caravans which traveled to Nuremberg to sell their products to the Lebkuchen bakers. In this particular painting, it was possibly a king or other high-ranking nobility who was doing the traveling.
(5.75" x 4.25"; a 5-stuck tin; TTM#4304)
Albrecht Durer's self portrait; His "Praying Hands" & the "Rabbit" are very famous art pieces. (TTM#3728)
2017
2014
2012
2009
2007
a 3-D raised design, domed cover; 4.5"rd x 4.5"; $2.47 eBay.de + $4.30 S&H; in 2025 (TTM#4461)
2002
2002; Art. #43; a 2nd Article #50 70 14; 4.25"rd x 3.75"H; new & filled $4.46; (TTM#2715) (info printed on the bottom)
1995
5-Stuck - 4.25"rd x 4.75"; $2.47 eBay.de + $4.30 S&H; in 2025 (TTM#4411)
1994
a BIT OF WHIMSY re the clowns on the cover ~ 4.25"rd x 4.75"; $2.47 eBay.de + $4.30 S&H; in 2025 (TTM#4417)
1990
Unknown date - but prior to 1990
A very unusual shape for a Lebkuchen tin! This was "Made in W. Germany" & because it has the imprinted ingredient info on the bottom, the guess is that it was between 1980-1988. ~ a tall 4.25"sq x 6.75"; $17.88 eBay.de + $4.30 S&H; in 2025 (TTM#4426-66) ~ ~ ~ 4 famous men who are on many of the Lebkuchen tins ~ ~ ~ Also, I'm sure there must be a special meaning to the "English Greeting" & 2-women symbolism on the cover - Who knows?
Unknown dates - Prior to 1980-'82
6-Stuck lithographed tin; 4.5"rd x 4.75"; $3.24 eBay.de + $4.30 S&H; in 2025 (TTM#4414)
a 6-Stuck (A reminder that "stuck" rhymes with "spook.")
Below: Other than the info on the cover, this turns out to be an exact tin also used by Haeberlein-Metzger 1 year!
A repeat of the above 6-stuck, only in brown. On German eBay.de in 2025, it was $6.61 + $4.30 S&H; (TTM#4466).
This chest of the bygone days held 10 Lebkuchen when new. It's 5.25" x 7.78" x 4.58"H; E 11,00 from eBay.de in 2020 (E6 cost + E5 S&H in Germany); (TTM#4331)
I first saw this Wicklein tin on eBay.de sometime between 2018-'21, with some family in Germany, so I could buy to add to the TTM collection (below, left - the whiter version). I was so glad I could get this because something about the art work pulled at my heart, remembering our years back in Germany & getting to go to some medieval walled cities from way back in time. Maybe it was the colors, or the simplicity of the buildings with a wavy line here & there which is reminiscent of fairy-tale-book drawings & the dreams of being in those places again☺. In any case, I was very thankful I was able to get it. (The date? Probably sometime in the past 65 years. That's since 1960.)
Above right: The Lebkuchen-Schmidt company (owners of Wicklein since 2015) re-issued this art work on their Gift Chest in 2024, with more vibrant, burnt-orange colors which enhanced it tremendously. It was like going from the 1500s into the 21st century (with a new coat of paint)! But either one is a treasure in my book!
ABOVE: This was a "bid" item on eBay.de, going from my first bid of 2 Euro to my 2nd bid of 22 Euro! With S&H inside Germany, it ended up at $31.99. I hope my "dream" of getting this Tins of Taste Museum "into a home on the land," comes about, so in 50 - 100 - 200 years from now🤔, this history will still exist. (11.75" x 16.5" x 5.25"H) (TTM#4341)
BELOW: By the Lebkuchen-Schmidt Co. as their "Gift Chest" in 2024, the logo says, "Imperial Castle of Nurnberg." 10" x 14" x 5.25"; new & filled in 2024: E72,90 in Germany; (TTM#4180)
The Tins of Taste records show that there are more than 70 GOTTFRIED WICKLEIN tins from years past for the historical preservation and representation of this looooong historied Lebkuchen company. Today it is owned by the Lebkuchen-Schmidt company, & every so often in recent years, a tin is put out under this name. Since I don't live in Germany, & I have no contact with this company, & don't know how to buy directly from it, it's difficult to know if a new tin is out for the current Christmas season!