Tobacco tin makes Canadian history at New Hamburg, Ont. auction

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Tobacco tin found during renovations at Ontario home worth thousands

Vancouver collector bids big in New Hamburg, Ont. auction for rare tobacco tin

A tobacco tin in Ontario can now be considered a piece of Canadian history.

The tin is being packed up in New Hamburg, Ont. before it hits the road to its new home. The small piece fetched an eye-popping price at auction, making it the highest selling tin in Canadian history.

“This is a record in Canada: $55,000. With buyer’s premium, $64,900. There are some tins in Canada that have certainly hit five figures, but this is an exceptional result,” Ben Lennox, Head of Sales at Miller & Miller Auctions Ltd. said.

What some may think of as just an old tin from the early 1900’s, is worth more than a brand-new vehicle to the right collector.

“This is a piece that you look for many, many years to find. And I don’t know if we’ll ever find an example quite like this,” Lennox said.

It’s known as the 3 Strikes Cut Plug Pocket tobacco tin. It stands vertically, has a flip lid, and features a baseball player with the Erie Tobacco Company Factory logo on his jersey. It’s considered one of the last known examples of this type.

“It’s the best-known example found of this tin rarity. We talked to somebody who’s been in the advertising collectible business for 50 years, and this is only the seventh one he knows of. Then that crossover appeal to the baseball community. Baseball and tobacco go hand in hand all the way back to the early 1900’s,” Lennox said.

• MORE: “It was love at first sight”: Vancouver man buys tin from New Hamburg, Ont. auction at historic price

The tin sold during an auction on Sunday, but almost never made it to the block. According to Lennox, it was discovered by the sellers while they were doing renovations and didn’t know what to do with it.

“At one point, the people were considering taking it to Value Village. It was just a tchotchke that they had in their house on display,” Lennox said. “The daughter-in-law did some due diligence and tracked down an old auction record and recognized that there was some considerable value.”

In the end, it sold for much more than the predicted sale price of between $10,000 and $12,000.

The buyer is tin can collector Glen Paruk, who is a lawyer in Vancouver.

Lennox said there is an American counterpart, the Ty Cobb Tobacco Tin, that has sold for similar prices. But he’s happy to say this piece of Canadian history is staying in the country.