Empty chocolate box makes £1,700 with Hull collector involved in international bidding war'It has the appeal of being quite a conversation piece - the date of the Coronation is wrong!' View 3 Images The little chocolate box that sparked a big bidding war (Image: davidduggleby.com)An empty Rowntree’s chocolate box went for £1,700 after sparking an international bidding battle when it went under the hammer in an auction in Scarborough on Friday (August 7). The initial prediction was that the chocolate box could make £800-£1,000 but that estimate was passed by advance bids days ahead of the sale. For a moment it did look as if the chocolate box was about to take the 6,000 mile trip to Tokyo but, at the death, the Hull collector came in with the winning £1,700 offer. "They had not only been manufactured but all distributed - including some rather special silver chocolate boxes that went to just a few very lucky recipients.”