Creme of the crop! World’s only surviving original Creme Egg from 1963 goes on show for the first time

The world’s only surviving original Creme Egg has been unearthed and gone on display for the first time – although experts admit they don’t know what it tastes like.

Chocolate company Fry’s launched the Creme Egg in 1963 before it was later rebranded by Cadbury when they took over the company in 1971.

But the only surviving original example of the original Creme Egg has now been found in Cadbury’s archives.

Researchers unearthed the egg so it could be displayed in an exhibition called Chocolate! at the M Shed museum in Bristol.

The egg has not been unwrapped since rolling off the production line 50 years ago – and no one knows how it tastes.

Graham Tratt, archivist at Bristol Records Office, spent six months researching chocolate for the exhibition.

He said: “This is the original, it is how the Cadbury Creme Egg started. We don’t know what it tastes like because we don’t want to unwrap it and spoil it.

“The Fry’s eggs were launched in 1963 and rebranded as Cadbury’s in 1971.  The Cadbury’s egg was very similar, although possibly a little bigger than the original.”

Chocolate eggs filled with cream were first manufactured by the Cadbury Brothers in 1923 but the Creme Egg in its current form was not introduced until 1963.

Modern Creme Eggs are now the best-selling confectionery item between New Year’s Day and Easter in the UK, with annual sales in excess of 200 million.

Chocolate! displays a history of chocolate and the part Bristol played in it and runs at M Shed until May 6.

There are 15 different brands of chocolate on show, including a tin sent out by Queen Victoria to a soldier during The Boer War.