A century-old box of chocolates thought "too pretty" to eat has beat the estimate price at auction.
A box of Little Red Riding Hood Pascall's Chocolate novelties were given to Eileen Margaret Elmes between 1910 and 1914.
The little girl from London, born in 1907, loved the chocolates so much she refused to eat them.
She thought they were "too pretty" to eat and kept them for her whole life until she died in 2007 at the age of 99.
Without a bite having been taken out of them, the now-inedible treats - sculpted as characters from the fairy tale - remain intact.
And on Wednesday, December 20, Eileen’s niece, who has asked to remain anonymous, sold them at Hansons Auctioneers, in Etwall.
The lot smashed its original estimate of between £70 and £100, going for an incredible £230.
The buyer was NHS manager Helen Moss, who lives in Allestree, Derby.
Miss Moss, 52, said: "I am really pleased to have managed to buy them. They will be well looked after. I have been a collector of dolls and juvenilia for around 30 years.
"It was the Little Red Riding Hood theme that drew my interest."
Charles Hanson, owner of Hansons Auctioneers said: "If Eileen is looking down on us from above, I’m sure she would be thrilled that thousands, if not millions, of people have seen pictures and videos of her treasured chocolates and read her story.
"Websites and newspapers in America, Australia, and Europe and, of course, the UK have told her Christmas story.
"We even had a news agency from Berlin, Germany, ask to film the chocolates.
"People have been fascinated by them because they were so unusual.
"The box contained four chocolate figures, including Little Red Riding, a sailor, a baby in a cot, and a lady in a bonnet, with clothing made out of paper.
"I think people were also touched by the fact that a little girl resisted all temptation to eat them – and kept them for 99 years.
"In an age of instant gratification and consumerism, Eileen’s story gave us a gentle festive reminder that it is good to value things."
£230 worth of chocolate
Do you think £230 is a lot to spend on chocolate? Well, this is what could have been bought for that money.
Staying in Burton, independently owned Oddfellows, based on Dallow Street, sells exotic-tasting chocolate, ranging from Himalayan pink rock salt to scorpion death chilli.
Their range of 16 bags of chocolate are sold for £2.40 a bag, or five bags for £10.
So, for the princess of one 100-year-old boxes, you could have bought 115 bags of weird and wonderful chocolaty treats.
Hansons Auctioneers
Other favourites, like a tin of Celebrations chocolate, can be bought for £5, so 46 tubs for £230.
Terry's Chocolate Orange is as festive as chocolate treats come, for the £230, you could buy 115 of the orange balls of zesty chocolate, priced at £2 each.
Typically, a classic bar of Cadbury Dairy Milk will set you back 60p, so you could buy 383 bars, and still have 33p to spare.
