Tea sample tins - a charity shop find

I am one of those people who find it hard to pass a charity shop without walking in for a quick rummage. It can be done but I genuinely do get a bit twitchy as I imagine that I have just missed picking up the bargain of the century. Not all charity shops are created equal. The ones in posh areas are a lot more expensive and true bargains are thin on the ground. I don't mind this in general as I am aware that part of the process is donating to charity. But I do get a bit irritated when I see items priced at around the same cost as they would have been new. This breed of shop I can walk past without so much as flicker of a twitch.

Yesterday I went into just such a charity shop close to where I work. (Truly posh part of town with an interesting juxtaposition of normal people who work there next to rich people who live there.) I have never bought anything there before as it was all beyond my means or absurdly over priced for what it was. However yesterday I did find what I consider to be a bit of a bargain in the shape of these:

 

I am pretty sure that these are tea sample tins used to send out samples of tea from plantations, each labeled with an  identification number so that the buyers could try before buying the tea at auction. Apparently the tin were also held onto until the order arrived so that the buyer could check they had got the tea they ordered.  

Why do I like them? They are interesting and practical. My two top essentials when I splash my cash.

I have seen these selling for a good £10 each in vintage shops so these were a true bargain at £1.45 each. Now I do have a slight moral problem with buying things that are really under-priced from a charity shop. They are there to raise money for a good cause at the end of the day. However closer inspection revealed that the inside of the tins were coated in a gluey gunk that only a fool would want to try to get off. Being a fool, I bought them.

A good hour of soaking in hot water and scrubbing and they were ready to store my odd bits of ribbon, sparkly things I think may be useful one day and other bits and bobs in my big crafty box.