Photos: Belgian collects a treasure trove of 60,000 vintage tin boxes

Yvette Dardenne started her collection some 30 years ago

Published: August 06, 2021 19:11 Reuters

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Belgium: The colourful tins piled high around Belgian collector Yvette Dardenne used to contain goods ranging from chocolates, toffees, coffee and rice to tobacco, talc and shoe polish, and come from as far away as India. Image Credit: Reuters

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Yvette Dardenne, 83, has accumulated almost 60,000 vintage tin boxes from all over the world since starting her collection some 30 years ago. Image Credit: Reuters

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The collection, which now occupies four houses, all began with a Cote d'Or chocolate box illustrated with a painting of a blonde girl in a blue hat, Dardenne told Reuters, standing amid the carefully arranged tin boxes in the medieval watermill she owns next to her home. Image Credit: Reuters

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Vintage lithographed tin boxes. Image Credit: Reuters

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Later, the tins just came to her, she said. "I haven't been anywhere. I was not travelling. People still think I have travelled a lot. It quickly became known (that I collected boxes). Image Credit: Reuters

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Sometimes, right after my husband left for the office, someone would show up to offer me something," said Dardenne, who lives in Grand-Hallet in Belgium's Liege province. Image Credit: Reuters

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One of Dardenne's greatest treasures is an intricately patterned box from 1868 showing an emblem with two horses on top, built to hold biscuits made by Huntley & Palmers of Reading, England. Image Credit: Reuters

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It is considered to be the first box to have been lithographed, according to Dardenne, whose collection can be visited by appointment. Image Credit: Reuters

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A metal vintage lithographed tin box in shape of a boat. Image Credit: Reuters

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