M&S has sold biscuits from the very early days of the business, so there are lots of empty biscuit tins in the M&S Archive collection. Some tins follow traditional designs, whereas others are more unusual. 

The design of the 2012 biscuit tin below evokes 1950s family life; past TV programmes, games like Dominoes and the very British custom of 'tea time'. It also uses the words 'compendium of biscuits' which relates to the games theme. 

For Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012 M&S produced two biscuit tin designs,

For Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022 M&S produced a biscuit tin and another new design was released in 2023 to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III.  

The 2011 tin below is decorated with images of classic books. Titles such as Boys' Own Stories, A Christmas Carol, Christmas Classic and writers such as Lewis Carrol and John Keats are all familiar favourites. 

The 2010 tin in the shape of a book uses a collage of images from the M&S Archive suggesting travel, landscapes, fairy stories and having fun. 

The 2006 tin below uses a font and style very similar to those used in the signage of the  original M&S Penny Bazaars. 

In 2024 M&S designers took inspiration from the Archive, using photographs of Penny Bazaars to create a range of food packaging. The range included this Penny Bazaar All Butter Shortbread Biscuit Tin, based on the Penny Bazaar at Kilburn, London in the 1910s. 

Glossary

Collage - collection, sometimes an art style
Compendium - an example of different types of one thing (in this case biscuits)
Custom - a particular traditional practice
Evokes - reminds you of something
Penny Bazaar - name given to the first M&S shops in 1884
Tradition - a way of doing things that is passed from person to person or generation to generation
Vintage - of a particular time or period in the past