AN Easter egg given to Wiltshire bride-to-be as an engagement present in 1938 is set to fetch hundreds of pounds at auction after being left untouched for 86 years.
The Little Miss Muffet Chocolate egg was given by Jack Carter to his 17-year-old sweetheart Joyce Angell when they got engaged eight decades ago.
The couple were both teenagers when they met at Trowbridge’s United Reform Church in 1934 and married there in 1939.
But Joyce could not bring herself to eat the Pascalls egg and kept it in pristine condition up until her death in 2004 aged 84.
Her devoted husband Jack then also cherished the chocolate treat until he passed away in 2012 at the age of 95.
Together, the couple, who were married for 66 years, kept the egg with its original rose gold paper and blue bow for 76 years before it was inherited by their son.
He is now selling the unopened egg it in the hope it will be displayed in a museum and it will go under the hammer on Tuesday (March 19) with an auction sale estimate of £100-£150.
Hansons Auctioneers have described the chocolate gift as "the most romantic Easter egg in the world."
The seller, who lives in Warwickshire, said: “I was born in 1944 and for as long as I can remember the egg had been in a bedroom cupboard in its original packaging, after which we kept it in the coolest cupboard in our home.
"After 86 years in my family’s care, I feel the time has come to part with it. I hope a collector or museum will preserve it for future generations.”
Jack gave the egg to Joyce when he proposed to her on her big sister Iris’s wedding day on April 16, 1938. The following year on November 4, 1939 Joyce and Jack tied the knot in Trowbridge.
Jack served in the Navy during World War Two while Joyce worked at a cloth factory. The couple had one son and two grandchildren.
Hansons owner Charles Hanson said: “This egg was treasured for life to honour true love.
"It was given by Jack Carter to his 17-year-old sweetheart Joyce Angell when they became engaged on April 16, 1938.
“Jack, who said he’d married an angel due to Joyce’s maiden name, wanted to give her a special gift.
"With World War Two looming, luxury chocolate was such an extravagance Joyce couldn’t bring herself to eat it. That combined with its romantic importance in her life made her treasure it forever.
“When Joyce died, aged 84, in 2004 she’d kept her engagement gift for 66 years.
"When Jack passed away in 2012, three weeks short of his 96th birthday, the chocolate egg was still in his care. Together they had looked after it for 76 years.
“Jack presented the Easter egg to Joyce at a wedding. Her sister, Iris, tied the knot on April 16, 1938.
"The following year on November 4, 1939 Joyce, then 18, married 22-year-old Jack at The Tabernacle, formerly United Reform Church, in Church Street, Trowbridge.
"They had one son and two grandchildren and were fulfilled by a life of giving to others, hard work and simple pleasures.
"Joyce worked at a cloth factory and both did voluntary work.
“In 1989 their 50th wedding anniversary was marked in their local paper.
"The cutting stated that Jack, who worked for Hattersley Heaton engineering for 34 years and served in the Navy during WW2, said he’d ‘married an angel’.
"The couple put their happy marriage down to love, understanding, caring and faith.”
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