100-year-old Red Riding Hood chocolates to be auctioned Published duration 8 December 2017

image copyright Hansons image caption The chocolates have a white sheen due to their age

A box of chocolates that were bought about 100 years ago as a Christmas present are due to be auctioned.

Eileen Margaret Elmes from London, who died in 2007, kept the Little Red Riding Hood themed chocolates all her life as they were too "pretty" to eat.

Hansons Auctioneers, in Derbyshire, said when the box is opened it releases a "delicious smell of cocoa".

They are due to go to auction on 19 December with an estimate of between £70 and £100.

image copyright Hansons image caption The chocolates were deemed too pretty to eat

Mrs Elmes, who was born on 17 November 1907, told her family that she had been given the chocolates sometime between 1910 and 1914.

Her niece, who did not want to be named, said: "The chocolates were so special to her she wanted other people to see them and asked me if I could do anything about it."

image copyright Hansons image caption The chocolates were wrapped in paper clothes inside the box

image copyright Hansons image caption The "novelties" were Little Red Riding Hood themed

Mrs Elmes hoped they could be bought by a museum and put on display.

The box contains four little chocolate figures including Little Red Riding Hood, a baby in a cradle, a man in a blue sailor suit and a lady in bonnet and dress.

They were made by James Pascall, a former Cadbury's agent who set up his own shop near Oxford Street, London.

image copyright Hansons image caption Eileen Margaret Elmes is pictured on the far right on her mother's knee, date unknown