Thu 28 October 2021:
“Wow!” In front of us, dozens, hundreds, thousands of metal boxes. This barn is full of them. Of all colors, all shapes, all brands. There are cookies. Further on, chocolate. Above, boxes of toffee and also caramels. Some are simply rectangular.
Others are shaped like maps of the world, handbags, planes or trains… There, we recognize the royal family. Next to it, it’s Santa Claus or the Disney characters… We can’t help but be speechless in front of such a collection. Or let out a speechless exclamation cry.
Welcome to Yvette Dardenne, to the lithographed tin box museum, in Grand-Hallet (Hannut).
Today, it has almost 60,000 lithographed tin boxes, spread over four buildings located at the end of a small road in the heart of the Hannut countryside.
“At the beginning I told my husband I would stop at 10,000, but now we are very far from it. And it’s from the press that I know how many boxes I had at such a time. I don’t have fun counting them. But since I put a little tag with a number on all the boxes, that’s how I know how many I have. “
Yvette Dardenne’s massive collection in Belgium includes thousands of old lithographed tin boxes that were used to contain items ranging from chocolates, toffees, coffee, and rice to tobacco, talc, and shoe polish. The vibrant tins, which come in a variety of shapes and sizes – including one in the shape of a boat – and include enthralling lithographs, originated from as far as India.
Since she began her collection 30 years ago, Yvette Dardenne, 83, has amassed around 60,000 vintage tin boxes from all across the world.
Belgian collector Yvette Dardenne has accumulated almost 60,000 vintage tin boxes from all over the world since starting her collection some 30 years ago https://t.co/az1dt4e5Uv pic.twitter.com/USGZkvtHAM
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 6, 2021
“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 in Belgium’s Liege province.
An beautifully designed box from 1868 depicting an emblem with two horses on top, built to hold biscuits made by Huntley & Palmers of Reading, England, is one of Dardenne’s finest treasures.
It is considered to be the first box to have been lithographed, according to Dardenne, whose collection can be visited by appointment.
Her boxes, Yvette loves them all. And she decided to share her passion. Its museum is open on demand by reservation.
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