First World War Princess Mary Gift Tin

The Princess Mary Gift Fund box is an embossed brass box designed by Messrs Adshead and Ramsay that was intended as a Christmas present to those serving at Christmas in 1914 and was paid for by a public fund backed by Princess Mary.
It was Princess Mary's express wish that 'every sailor afloat and every soldier at the front' should have the present. The gifts were devised in October 1914 and intended for distribution to all who were serving overseas or at sea, in time for Christmas 1914; afterwards, with the fund in surplus and many feeling they had been ‘left out’, distribution was extended more widely – to all who were serving, whether at home or abroad, and to prisoners of war and the next of kin of 1914 casualties. This widened eligibility to an estimated figure of 2,620,019.
Princess Mary's original intention had been to pay for the gifts from her private allowance but this was deemed impracticable, and a proposal was made that she lend her name to a public fund, which would raise the necessary monies to provide the gift. From the outset the young Princess took a deep personal interest in the work of the Fund and in a letter release by Buckingham Palace, signed by the Princess, she explained the purpose of the Fund.
"I want you now to help me to send a Christmas present from the whole of the nation to every sailor afloat and every soldier at the front. I am sure that we should all be happier to feel that we had helped to send our little token of love and sympathy on Christmas morning, something that would be useful and of permanent value, and the making of which may be the means of providing employment in trades adversely affected by the war. Could there be anything more likely to hearten them in their struggle than a present received straight from home on Christmas Day?
Please will you help me?"
The personal appeal by the princess proved a great success. In five days, the fund raised more than £12,000 in donations. By the following week, the amount had risen to £31,000. By the time the fund closed in 1920, it had raised £162,591 12s 5d, or the equivalent of about £18 million in today’s money.
The tins contained various gifts, such as tobacco, confectionary, spices, pencils, a notebook, postcards, and a picture of the princess. But the large number of tins that were needed, made it impossible to manufacture, supply and distribute all the gifts by December 25.