LABELS FOR SNOBS

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 151, 29 June 1931, Page 7

LABELS FOR SNOBS

Some of the most curious trades in Paris are carried on with a minimnm of impedimenta on the boulevards between the Madeleine and the Opera. Re&ently a -well-dressed man has been seen there offering for sale, not Persian nigs or necklaces, or mechanical toys, but simple labels. His collection of labels is unique, but it is not to the collector's instinct that he appeals. His most valuable clients are snobs (says the Paris correspondent of the "Daily Mail")- When it seems clear to him that he is talking to a client who is more interested in his motives and his methods than in his wares, he will offer an explanation cheerfully. He points out that he "stocks" the luggage labels of almost every expensive hotel in Europe. He has little difficulty in discovering large numbers of people who are delighted to have an opportunity of impressing fellow-travellers simply by purchasing several of his labels and sticking them on their trunks and suitcases. "Employees of the hotels obtain these labels for me," explains the label man, "and in some cases I have the labels specially printed. My prices vary according to the importance of • the hotel and the stupidity of the purchaser. Sometimes I get a few shilings, sometimes as much as 10s for one label."