Belgian collects 60,000 vintage tin boxes

The colorful 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. They come from as far away as India. The 83-year-old has accumulated almost 60,000 vintage tin boxes from all over the world since starting her collection some 30 years ago. The collection, which now occupies four houses, began with a Cote d’Or chocolate box illustrated with a painting of a blond-haired 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. Later, the tins just came to her, she said. “I haven’t been anywhere. I was not traveling. People still think I have traveled a lot. It quickly became known (that I collected boxes). Sometimes, right after my husband left for the office, someone would show up to offer me something,” said Dardenne, who lives in Grand-Hallet, a village about 60 km east of Brussels. Her collection can be visited by appointment. (Reuters) This article was provided by The Japan Times Alpha.