The Collectors
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Friday 26 October 2007
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If you asked Daryl Mills what’s missing from the way we travel nowadays he’d say it’s the style, the romance and the exquisite luggage people once used, compared to modern travel which he claims is all about getting from A to B with your seatbelt fastened.
Daryl is a dealer who is also a collector of vintage luggage and travel memorabilia. His collection boasts Louis Vuitton travel trunks, crocodile-skin suitcases, gorgeous hatboxes, luggage labels and umbrellas, with many pieces having wonderful stories behind them.
A trunk he shows us has the inside of its lid covered in ocean liner labels revealing the various destinations the owners have travelled to during the trunk’s lifetime. Because the typical ocean voyage involved weeks at sea, people often took extra luggage and accessories such as special toiletry cases. One such piece in Daryl’s collection was made by Hardy Brothers in 1922 and features a range of elegant beauty products in enamel and sterling silver.
Instead of using the internet like many collectors, Daryl buys items privately and through auctions and markets, people also bring him items because they know he is interested. Most of his acquired pieces require many hours of work which involve the use of waxes, steel wool, and boot polish, but it’s a process he doesn’t mind as he looks forward to the end result.
Being a dealer as well as a collector, Daryl finds it hard to decide what to keep and what to sell. Nevertheless he loves to pass things on for other people to enjoy.
