Up in Scotland for the next few days, visiting Begg, Mackintosh and Robert Noble. Driving rain for the drive yesterday, but a beautifully cold and sunny morning today. My favourite weather.
Vintage crocodile suitcase from Bentley’s. It only gets taken on car journeys, being too precious to check in. Beautiful though, with delicate brass locks and relined in Alcantara. The rest of the time it sits in a corner of the room, as decoration and sweater storage.
The same could be done with any vintage suitcase of course, and I recommend always checking out local vintage shops (outside London) whenever you spot one. Just make sure any prospective purchase is in good nick – often the repair work will be more expensive than the piece itself.
Carmen Masson at Robert Noble is very helpful and friendly.
Bentleys seems so expensive Simon … cant help thinking you are paying for the postcode and rent & rates there, there are dealers of vintage luggage who are half the price outside of exclusive mayfair.
It’s certainly cheaper elsewhere, yes. The only thing I would say is you get top, consistent quality and perfect refurbishment. The further you look outside expensive shops, the more hunting you have to do for good stuff and good quality. Also, you can still buy an attaché case at Bentleys for 890 quid, which is great value compared to a new case of the same quality
Simon
If you could recommend a leather stitcher/repairer to repair vintage leather attache cases i would be most grateful. The one recommended to me from the man i purchased mine from did the repair which subsequently split again some weeks later!
Love your case – very stylish and timeless.
Regards
Bradley