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A miner’s food box made by George Scammell.

George Scammell learned the craft of tinsmithing from his father in his workshop in Ebbw Vale in the 1920s. Like other tinsmiths in the industrial valleys, they mainly made items for coal miners and factory workers. In 1938 he set up his workshop in Abergavenny, and worked there for thirty years. George Scammell made lunch boxes and drinks containers for local workers. He also made domestic items such as cake tins, milk cans, oil lamps and containers for storing and the oil. By the time he retired in May 1969, he was the last working tinsmith in Monmouthshire.