Released for the coronation: a 122-year-old chocolate bar will be sold at auction (4 photos)

A chocolate bar made to celebrate the coronation of King Edward VII in 1902 is expected to sell for hundreds of pounds.





An uneaten 122-year-old chocolate bar made to celebrate the coronation of Britain's King Edward VII could sell for hundreds of pounds at auction. The vintage chocolate was made by Rowntree's in 1902 and was sold in a tin decorated with portraits of King Edward and Queen Alexandra of Denmark.

The original owner showed remarkable self-control not to eat it at the time, and only a few vintage chocolate bars from the period are known to survive.



The chocolate is still wrapped in silver paper, but it is not recommended to try it.

Bath auctioneers Auctioneum Ltd valued the chocolate at £200, saying sweets and chocolate were still "relatively new" at the turn of the 20th century.

"It's quite remarkable that the chocolate remained uneaten for so long, especially as it was considered a real treat at the time. Sweets and chocolate were relatively new then, and it must have been a real challenge to give them up," the auction house jokes.

They note that the chocolate looks good for its considerable age.





Edward, Queen Victoria's eldest son, became king in 1901 after the death of his mother. He reigned for only nine years and died at the age of 68 due to health problems caused by smoking.

During his reign, Edward was known as an ardent Francophile and made many private visits to Paris.

Nicknamed "Tum-Tum" because of his ever-expanding waistline, he enjoyed the local cuisine, cabarets and courtesans.

Edward's pro-French stance had its political advantages, as it paved the way for the Entente of 1904, which cemented the Anglo-French alliance a decade before World War I.



It is noteworthy that the great-granddaughter of the last mistress of the king "Tum-Tum", Alice Keppel, also became the lover, and then the wife of the Prince of Wales - this is Camilla Parker Bowles, the second wife of King Charles III. It is officially believed that her grandmother was born from Alice's husband. Edward VII did not recognize any children as his own, except for those born in a legal marriage with Alexandra. The couple had six children, five survived.