Chinese Opium Trays

[woolshed]

I have dug many pieces of flat brass with a Chinese stamp on them and never new what they were. Recently I discovered that they are the bases of Chinese Opium Tins. The Chinese stamp is the Brand name. Apparntly Opium is a sticky substance and they would cut down the used tins to put the opiun on before use. They called them , Happy Trays.






They are very thin and brittle, so I laminate them to keep them together.



Cheers, Woolshed

 

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[kevin hoffman]

neat find,sad it is still wrecking lives

 

[John_Deere]

Interesting find, from a historical perspective. Congrats and HH!

 

[kuger]

There are several chats on here just recently about them.I keep every one we find and have ammassed a couple hundred by now.Quite a shame how widely used it was during that time,and in some camps,it seems the whole camp partook!

here is one helpful link
Opium

 

[CC Hunter]

Woolshed,

Opium was a huge worldwide business in the 19th Century, and very prevalent in most all areas occupied by Chinese workers. The trade in opium was controlled by the British Empire, with the British East India Company being one of the most powerful players in this or any other business the world has ever known. Queen Victoria may quite possibly be called the greatest "drug dealer" in history.

The small portions of opium boxes or containers, that are imprinted with the Chinese charachters, are in fact the lids to theses boxes. The lid has a rolled edge of about 1/4" that fits tightly over the container. The bases and sides of these containers have no imprinted markings that I have even seen. Originally there was a paper label surrounding the outer sides, that was printed with information regarding the product and company. I have one recovered example of an opium box with remains of this label, showing it was red, black, and white, with Chinese charachter writing.


CC Hunter

 

[kuger]

Woolshed,

Opium was a huge worldwide business in the 19th Century, and very prevalent in most all areas occupied by Chinese workers. The trade in opium was controlled by the British Empire, with the British East India Company being one of the most powerful players in this or any other business the world has ever known. Queen Victoria may quite possibly be called the greatest "drug dealer" in history.

The small portions of opium boxes or containers, that are imprinted with the Chinese charachters, are in fact the lids to theses boxes. The lid has a rolled edge of about 1/4" that fits tightly over the container. The bases and sides of these containers have no imprinted markings that I have even seen. Originally there was a paper label surrounding the outer sides, that was printed with information regarding the product and company. I have one recovered example of an opium box with remains of this label, showing it was red, black, and white, with Chinese charachter writing.


CC Hunter

Dirty trick the British played indeed....intentionally supplied opium to the Chinese knowing its addictive qualities...and it worked!

There has been great discussion on the term"Fun tray",and I truthfully am torn....I,as said have dug hundreds of parts and pieces of the tins(including one example with orange paper remnants as well)and I know CC Hunter has as well....I personally can not recall digging any cut into the shapes that are described as these trays.....obviously they exist,Woolsheds one is a fine specimen.I cant see what other funtion they may serve,but given the rarity of us finding them,I just dont know.I have found at least one Blow Pan(was used to blow the lighter black sands from fine gold...seperating the two)fashioned from an Opium Tin.I have also seen repairs done to wooden Batea's or wood gold pans,using pieces of these tins.CC Hunter,and myself,have a close friend that has a "stone",tray that is supposedly a Fun tray as well.

 

[Zodiacdiverdave]

Very interesting find for sure. I live on the right coast (east) and we just don't see any of those tins around these parts. Although I am sure if I looked hard enouph I could still find the contents down town.
ZDD

 

[pippinwhitepaws]

the british, with opium an rifled cannon, drained china of their wealth.
for centurys', the chinese would not accept anything in trade for spice, silk, whatever, unless that person brought precious metal or gems.
the british changed this equation with cannon and opium...
the American, after the Spanish American war, and our involvement into Indochina, took over the opium trade.

those tins...while nice finds...will gain one the same effort of local IEO as an aluminum foil behind the local crack house.
I don't know of any method to clean the opium residue off the tin.

 

[kuger]

The British wanted China's tea,and needed something the Chinese wanted.

Secretcanyon....as said I personally have hundreds of these and NONE have any residue on them,they were not used to smoke it.I do have dish's and I know of one tin that was dug with full contents....the contents is now a dried powdery substance

 

[BosnMate]

Interesting finds. There were Chinese in this area, they dug the China Ditch and mined a local creek, but I don't know where their camp might have been.

 

[kuger]

Bosn,let your detector tell ya,Chinese coins and these tin remnants along with brown glazed pot sherds are always prevelant

 

[CC Hunter]

those tins...while nice finds...will gain one the same effort of local IEO as an aluminum foil behind the local crack house.
I don't know of any method to clean the opium residue off the tin.

secretcanyon,

There are countless examples of opium tins, along with a vast array of related opium trade material, in public museums and private collections all across the country and around the world. Furthermore, many of the antique bottles that are found and collected from the 19th Century and early 20th Century, once contained a host of "medicinal" and "herbal" remedies, that contained everything from cocaine to arsenic.

DEA has much bigger concerns than historic artifacts, and hobbyists!!!

CC Hunter

 

[kuger]

This is another of my favorite go-to sites
smoking

 

[surf]

This is another of my favorite go-to sites
smoking

Hello kuger,

Thanks for that link. You have either posted it before, or I blundered upon it before, but I had never explored the larger site. Great collection, there.

Here's a tin several leagues closer to woodshed: 1860 Gold Fields Chinese Opium Box | NSW Migration Heritage Centre

 

[kuger]

Yes,Surf its a good one,and I have posted it several times in the past.I once found 13 cash coins in one of these Tins too

 

[vpnavy]

Nice finds woolshed.

 

[kuger]

I ran across a pic of that blowpan I mentioned!The characters are marked in an odd location

 

[CoinandRelicMan]

What is that batman phrase , Gee-Wiz this post just blew my mind! I have been finding some folded up thin brass stuff occasionally will have to pay more attention to them now.