**  TINS of TASTE MUSEUM  **  within the NationalBreadMuseum.org

  GERMANY -- Lebkuchen-Schmidt
  formerly known by it's founder's name:
E. Otto Schmidt Lebkuchen

The used-to-be, commonly-known, "Otto Schmidt" Lebkuchen Company began in 1926 according to their history info on this following website:  do a highlight, copy, & paste of this because it won't connect in a link:  https://www.lebkuchen-schmidt.com/en/about-us/company-and-history/    In 2017, they put out a 90th anniversary Festive Chest. They have had a history of packaging Lebkuchen in beautiful tins at least since 1956, which is the earliest year for their largest tin named the Festive Chest.  Possibly, prior to then, there could have been an untold number of other tins &/or chests, but it's hard to determine.  (I know there are 2 chests of the same size with 730/1 and 730/2 numbers on them and were most likely prior to 1956.  Possibly they were used to see if people would purchase a larger quantity and variety at one time?!?  So it's possible that those two were issued in 1954 & 1955.)

The company told me they kept no records, nor photos (just a typed list which they gave me on a visit in 1990, of Festive Chest descriptions since the first in 1956).  It was in 1990, when they produced their first catalog for the 1990/91 holiday season, and the new Lebkuchen-Schmidt name was used with their "Zollhausstrasse 30" address in Nürnberg.  Until the 1980s, very seldom was there an identifying date on most tins/Dosen and chests/Truhen.  This changed when the ingredient list was required in the 1980s, and then all the ingredient info was printed on the bottom of the "tins/Dosen," and a sell-by date was stamped on the boxes of chests.  This date is the year following the Christmas season in which that tin was sold, to reflect the "sell-by" time.   

With the Otto Schmidt Lebkuchen chests/Truhen, besides a sell-by date stamped on the box, a separate ingredient paper with the required product info is inside.  But all of that only began in the early 1980s.  So again, prior to that change, it's extremely difficult to accurately date almost every tin & chest before then (for every company), and even since -- especially the ones considered "chests," not only for Otto Schmidt, but for almost all of the Lebkuchen companies because very seldom is there a date on the chest/tin, itself.  Also, without the box, or a company/catalog record, an old dated advertising poster, or some other identifying information, etc., the date will never be known.

A ray of light in all of this is a rare identification exception which began on the Otto Schmidt Festive Chest in 1984.  The actual year-date was punched into the tin on the bottom of the "Festive Chest"/Festtags-Truhe from 1984 up through 2020.  Today that name is translated into English on the website as the "Holiday Chest," but is still "Festive" in the English-version catalog.    Then all of a sudden in 2021, there was no date (!), nor in 2022!!  But in 2023, the year was again on the bottom of this chest, & I hope it continues.  So for the longest-running series of any style/name of a chest that I'm aware of, there are 2 years now that the Festive Chest has absolutely no identifying number or date on it.  

A NOTE OF CAUTION if you're either buying, but especially if you're selling, a tin on the internet.  Ignorance could lead to a lot of trouble for sellers when they flippantly attach the adjectives to the tin they're selling, saying it's
- - - "vintage" (means at least 20, but generally 40+ years old; think of Mom or Grandma in their young years),
- - - "old" (When are you "old?" - already at 5-10-20 years??? - should be more than vintage!), 
- - - "rare" (Webster says scarce or unusual, but I see "dozens of similar-designed," OR even some of exactly the same as what someone is selling, on the same website!), or
- - - "an antique" (must be 100 years old or more).  

Today (Nov. 2024) 3 Lebkuchen-Schmidt chests were on eBay, being advertised as "vintage & rare." They were a 2022, 2023, and unbelievably, already this 2024 season's chests!!!  I wrote to the sellers!  I couldn't believe it.  So unless there is verifiable, factual evidence to back up a claim, sellers beware - - - just state a description.  And to buyers - - if it's important that you need to know the date for some reason, then it's up to you to also have a way to verify.  And hopefully, all my years of learned info from collecting, & the untold number of hours of research for this website, & time put into it to build it, will help inquiring minds.

~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~

For documentary purposes, the photographs follow what everyone should use as the standard photographing system of a tin:
A - the cover; + sometimes a cover detail;  The cover determines the shape & some of the size of the tin.
B - Beginning with the seam on the left, designs on the tin are in the sequence of turning the tin clockwise.  For website viewing, not all designs on every tin are always shown, but the photos will begin with the seam to the left and photos going around to the right, turning the tin clockwise.  (With 99% of the tins, there is only one seam for the side panels, but there have been a few exceptions with large rectangular or square tins having 2-4 seams.  If so, I try to note such.)
C - Also, if there are repeats of designs on the front & back, or the two side/or end panels, there won't be duplicate photos, but then I do try to give that info.  If a tin has no identification on the bottom, it won't be shown, and there are times a photo of the bottom (with insignificant stamped info) will also be omitted to conserve space on this page, but yet have the art designs large enough for viewing.

Description Info given: Identifying the name and/or style of the tin if there is one known & the year.
If there is a (ToT#xxxx), it is the museum's internal catalog #.  Pay no attention.  Those #s are not sequential w/dates.  If there is a 2nd # in (---), it's the company # - from a Lebkuchen-Schmidt catalog or on the tin itself.  

~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~

~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~

The following is a photo portfolio of some of the Festive Chest covers between 1956 and 2024.  During the 1988-91 years of going to 1-5 flohmarkts a week, I was able to collect all but 6 of the Festive Chests.  Also, during the times I've scrolled through thousands of Lebkuchen tins for sale on the German eBay, never once have I seen 3 of these missing chests (3 of #s 5, 8, 10, & 11 - one I've seen, but don't know the #);  Does anyone "out there" know??  

The former E. Otto Schmidt, now the Lebkuchen-Schmidt "Festive Chest"

2019  -  the 64th year of this Festive Chest  -  The house of Albrecht Dürer (a famous German painter, 1471-1528) is on the cover.  It's at the northern end of the Old Town area of Nuremberg which is surrounded by a medieval wall with castle towers:  in the 2nd photo.  There's a Youth Hostel in these ancient (500+ yrs.) castle walls😉.  See Dürer's self-portrait on the cover of the 1971 Festive Chest, above.  

2018 - Festive Chest - 63rd year -- "The Artist" - Albrecht Dürer as the artist & his house on the sides/ends.

2017:  90th Year Anniversary of the Otto Schmidt company -  Year 62  --  The Night Guard/Town Crier Tin Plate

1991:  36th Festive Chest

1990:  35th Festive Chest - 1st year of a catalog, & with colored photos of the tins for the Christmas season.  Filled tin cost 72,50 DM = $48 in Germany.

1978: 23rd Festive Chest - extra colorful; representing a huge segment of central European history in the 1300s.

1958:  3rd Festive Chest (735/03)

ABOVE:  Festive Chests (Began with a 735/xx number system in 1956, printed on the outside, center back, flat rim of the cover.  This # continued at least through 1997, & maybe 1-2 more years.  I won't know until all the tins get unpacked someday, OR someone checks their Festive Chest & tells me by email😉.)    Included in each one was a companion 6-stuck (rhymes with spook) tin which is this next group of tins.  They are from newest in date (when known) to oldest.  If you're trying to identify a tin you have, & it is this size & shape (around 4.5" rd. x 5.5"), it might also be in the "Dose = tins/cans" category nearer the bottom of this page.

End of the "Festive Chest" Category with the included 6-stuck tins.

This next INDEX is the company's other chests.  Following this section is the INDEX for the Dose, or "tins & cans."

"Nuremberg" Chests in alphabetical order, & then descending by date:

2 -Colorful Nuremberg Chest
3 - Historic Nuremberg Chest - hinged cover
4 - Old Nuremberg Chest - hinged cover
5 - Picturesque Nuremberg Chest
6 - Small Nuremberg Chest (Kleines Nurnberg Kastchen)
7 - Nuremberg Arched Chest (half a circle - removeable cover)
8 - Nuremberg Elisen Chest (large oval - removeable cover)
9 - Nuremberg Gift Chest
10 - Nuremberg Night Chest
11 - Nuremberg Winter Chest

Various -- "One of" or limited-named chests (not with "Nuremberg" in the name):
12 - Art Chest & Art Tin
13 - Globe Chest
14 - Winter's Evening Chest
15 - Winter Village Chest

P. S. There might be additional names.  They'll be added as we learn of them.

"Nuremberg" Chests in alphabetical order, & then descending by date.

Various -- "One of" or limited-named chests (not with "Nuremberg" in the name):