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    Princess Mary?s Christmas Box for the troops in


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    Gentlemen,

    here comes a scarce item.

    It?s an original Princess Mary Box from 1914 INCLUDING the cigarettes, the Princess Mary xmas letter and the tobacco !

    This beautiful box reminds me always of the famous christmas truce in 1914. British soldiers changed these boxes and the cigarettes for german belt buckles.

    It?s pretty rare, because you find them normally without the content. I hope this is the correct section. But this box is definitely a part of the british equipment, isn?t it ?

    Unfortunately I?m a non smoker...

    Best regards;

    Flyingdutchman

    For more infos about the christmas truce 1914 please see:

    http://www.worldwar1.com/heritage/xmast.htm or

    http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/christmastruce.htm

    About the box:

    http://www.kinnethmont.co.uk/1914-1918_fil...as-box-1914.htm

    Edited by Flyingdutchman
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    I think these tins are great, I also have one with a full opened pack of cigarettes and another with only 4 cigarettes. The packs of tobacco are never open but it's hard to find an unopened packet of cigs.

    I also have the bullet pencil set, they are much more common.

    Where did you find the Kitchener cigs?

    Tony

    Edited by Tony
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    These boxes are really nice, especially when with contents, and especially when you consider what the troops who got them were about to experience. Especially rare -- I have only seen one -- were the boxes given to Sikhs (who do not smoke) where the tobacco was substituted with chocolates (not such happy choccies after all these years, but ....).

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    These boxes are really nice, especially when with contents, and especially when you consider what the troops who got them were about to experience. Especially rare -- I have only seen one -- were the boxes given to Sikhs (who do not smoke) where the tobacco was substituted with chocolates (not such happy choccies after all these years, but ....).

    Ed,

    There was a non-smokers tin, have a look at this thread http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=1491&st=0

    I don't know if Indians received their Christmas pressies. Were they in the line by Christmas 1914? As far as I know the bullet pencils were issued later in the year, if you look at the cards they read "Happy New Year 1915" instead of the Christmas greeting. The set with the lighter is even rarer.

    I don't know about chocolate but why not, the troops in the Boer War received a presentation tin with a lump of chocolate inside.

    I haven't looked at Flyingdutchman's links above yet, we might find more info there.

    I also have a Princess Mary Fund book which was sold on the home front, probably to raise cash for the tins and their contents.

    Tony

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