Yvette Dardenne has an unusual obsession: tin boxes. The 75-year-old Belgian woman has amassed some 56,800 of the objects from around the world.

For Dardenne, they are far more than mere containers. With their decorations commemorating major events and reflecting anything from politics, to religion, to shifting contemporary culture, she sees them as a historical document of the last two centuries. Round Sticker Printing

This biscuit box, made in Spain and designed in the shape of a wagon, is one example from Dardenne's vast collection.

She says her passion for the tins was first sparked 22 years ago, when her aunt gave her a decorated chocolate box from the late 1950s. Two decades on, her house in eastern Belgium is crammed with the objects.

Yvette Dardenne holds out a Japanese-made lithographed tin box, which contains a 16mm movie of Mickey Mouse.

A whole range of vintage Mickey Mouse tins are displayed at Dardenne's house.

She stands among hundreds of tins.

Elaborately decorated boxes are displayed on a table.

Dardenne stands in the midst of her collection, which contains boxes that have been turned to different uses, from toys to paperweights.

A range of tin lunch boxes form part of the huge collection.

Dardenne holds out a set of 20th-century lithographed tins, made to be used as toy handbags.

Quirky boxes in the shape of different vehicles stand on display.

Dardenne shows off a lithographed box, decorated to look like a car carrying members of the Slovenian Communist party.

She stands among her vast stacks of tins.

Dardenne holds out a 19th century tin box, decorated with an image of how the world might look in the year 2000.

Valentines Day Crystal Box A range of boxes showing different images of the Virgin Mary are displayed at Dardenne's house.