Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Vintage Chinese Luggage Labels
Among the many treasures in the "Art of the Luggage Label" Flickr collection is an entire section dedicated to vintage China. Few things encompass the adventure of the Golden Age of travel like a well worn suitcase bearing labels commemorating hotels, ships, and airlines from around the world. Beyond their aesthetic pleasures they also make excellent investigative resources, providing a trail of clues about where someone has traveled.
Didn't fall in love with any of the Art Deco ones?
ReplyDeleteOne of my early memories is of my parents' suitcase - a pale tan, faux leather fibreboard affair with leather straps and handle. It sported a number of labels including Cunard Line, Red Funnel Line, one from Paris and a couple of others that I don't recall.
ReplyDeleteNothing I have seen from later travels says "globetrotting in style" quite the same way.
The holiday luggage we had in the 1970's just had the elastic bits from luggage claim tags irrevocably tangled with the case handles.
I would love to see these labels back in use.
oh, and incidentally ....
ReplyDeletethe appropriate glue is a thin smear of shellac gum applied to the luggage.