Circa 1950’s Brexton 4 Person Picnic Set

~ Circa 1950’s Brexton 4 Person Picnic Set ~

A wonderful set for the vintage motorist.

This is a picnic hamper made in England by the company Brexton. Brexton was the trade name of the Company Brookes & Sexton. The hamper comes with: 2 food containers, 4 large gilder porcelain plates, 4 small gilded porcelain plates, 4 gilded porcelain cups, 4 Bakelite plastic cups, 4 butter knives, 4 forks, 4 teaspoons, a circular glass beaker and a glass jar.

The exterior of the hamper is red coloured Rexine. It has two cream coloured plastic clips that must be turned horizontally to open the hamper. The handle is made from the same plastic and it reads “Reg No 856837 Made In England”.

The interior of the hamper has 3 compartments in the bottom that are separated by Rexine covered dividers. The roof of the hamper is cream coloured and possibly Rexine as well. It has a label which reads “Brexton Made In England”.

The Bakelite plastic cups have “Bandalasta 165 Made In England” embossed on the underside and one of the jars which has no visible mark. The plastic cups neatly stack inside one another and the smaller cups have the letters “A”, “B” and “C” after the number “165”. Bandalasta products were used extensively in high quality picnic sets, assembled by other companies such as Brexton.

The spoons and forks are stamped as “Brexton Made In England Chrome Plated” and the knives are “Brexton Made In England Stainless Steel.” The knives have cream Bakelite plastic handles.

The porcelain plates and cups are cream coloured with a gold floral pattern.

The cups and plates have the number “7333” along with the name “Brexton” and “Made In England” printed on the bottom in the same gold colour.

The food boxes are made of tin and have been a cream coloured enamel finish. They each have two clips to hold the lid. “Brexton Food Box” is embossed on the lids of the boxes.

The glass jar and beaker have cream Bakelite plastic lids. The jar has “W93-3 Brexton UGB” embossed on the underside. The beaker has a faint marking embossed that is mostly illegible from production error but it finishes with “UGB” also.

One side of the hamper has four steel feet studs for when it is lying flat and there are another four studs on the base for when it is stood up. There are two steel hinges on the exterior of the base adjacent to the studs.

~ Dimensions ~

The case has a height of 5.25 inches (13.5 cm), a width of inches (49 cm) and is 14 inches (36 cm) deep.

The total weight of the set is 6 kg.

~ Condition ~

All items have seen use and would benefit from a wash. The exterior of the hamper has some small speckles of white paint and other general age wear.

The feet studs and exterior hinges have begun to rust.

There is a small amount paint loss on the exterior of both food boxes where there are raised parts or where the box meets a surface. The interior of the food boxes have some blackening and some small patches of rust.

One of the small plates has an 11cm long hairline crack. For reference, the small plates are 1 cm tall with a diameter of 14.5 cm.

Two of the cups have small cracks. The first has a single 1.5 cm crack down from the rim. The second cup has two 3 cm hairline cracks running parallel down from the rim of the cup.

All the items in the hamper appear to be the original ones included in the set with no replacements.