This biscuit tin was made in 1912 for the Co-operative Wholesale Society by the Carlisle Company, Hudson Scott & Son. They gave this tin the trade title 'Gypsy Van'. The title is repeated in this record as historical information and to aid retrieval of the record. 'Gypsy' is a term used to describe members of the Roma people or, more generally, one of a stateless people whose communities are traditionally thought to have originated in India, entered Europe in the 14th or 15th century, and are now dispersed across Europe, Russia, Turkey and the Americas. Some Roma people consider the term pejorative as it can refer to the negative stereotyping of traveller peoples while others have reclaimed the term as a marker of ethnic pride. The museum does not support the use of discriminatory language.

The British biscuit tin came about when the Licensed Grocer's Act of 1861 allowed groceries to be individually packaged and sold. Coinciding with the removal of the duty on paper for printed labels. It was only a short step to the idea of printing directly on to tinplate. The new process of offset lithography, patented in 1877 allowed multicoloured designs to be printed on to a vairety of tin shapes. The most flamboyoant designs were produced in the early years of the 20th century, just prior to the First World War. In the 1920s and 1930s, costs had risen substantially and the design of biscuit tins tended to be more conservative, with the exception of the tins targeted at the Christmas market and intended to appeal primarily to children. The designs, generally speaking are a barometer of popular interests.

The advent of the Second World War stopped all production of decorative tin ware and after it ended in 1945, the custom never really revived.