The Lost Art of Hotel Luggage Labels

We included some reproduction vintage luggage labels in October’s travel-themed Snailbox, and I was inspired to dig deeper into the story behind these neat little pieces of lost art.

Luggage labels are fascinating bits of hotel history from the golden age of travel, roughly the 1900's to 1960's. During this time these labels were used by hotels as advertising and eagerly applied to steamer trunks, suitcases and all sorts of luggage by hotel bellhops. 

Today, these same labels are highly desirable and sought after by collectors all over the world. Many of the designs were produced by some of the best poster designers from the golden age of travel like Roger Broders, Jan Lavies and Mario Borgoni.

And now I’m officially going down a rabbit hole because they are all so gorgeous and I can’t stop looking! Lord help me from starting yet another collection.