04 June 2014

De Villiers slimline organiser

I had a little nose around eBay the other day, as you do, and came across a binder with the title of 'red leather organiser 7.25" by 4.5" Well used Filofax inserts de Villiers'. I was a little intrigued and had a further look at the listing, laughing at the very honest 'seems also to have been used as a glass mat or coffee saucer' description! And I agree with their truthful statement...

However, the price was reasonable and it just struck me as having such character, that I found myself clicking on Buy It Now. 



Looking around online, I can find almost nothing about the De Villiers company (lots about the cricketer though), and all that comes up is an old Philofaxy post here and KateTPS has an A5 one, but also said she can't find much about them either.


On the inside left, there are a generous ten card slots (wow) and two full length pockets on the right hand side.


The Krause rings close with a healthy snap and it holds quite a lot for its size. I never feel very accurate at measuring ring size, but working on how to measure my Malden at 23mm, the De Villiers come up at a generous 17mm. 

It came with an interesting mix of inserts with different dates: 1997 world map, 2003 today ruler, some 2006 and 2008 pages and two 1999 maps of London.

Also, a De Villiers today ruler - showing fuel cost at 22p per litre!


I quite like the 1988 Lefax calorie guide UK, with some items that probably wouldn't be included on a similar list today, like caviar, roast goose or shelled lobster!



I don't know about you, but I love it when people leave little items behind in secondhand items, as it gives me a glimpse into what the previous owner might have been like. I found a receipt from Heathrow airport dated September 1999, and a slip of paper with the name of the luxurious Hotel Schatzalp, which is a former sanatorium in the Swiss mountain town of Davos. I wonder if the previous owner had it on the table next to them, whilst looking out over the Alps with a coffee?? Unfortunately the eBay seller knew nothing of the binder's previous history.   


I have tried out the slimline size before and as you can see below, it would be much slimmer to pop in my bag for when I'm out and about. However, I think I'm much too attached to my Malden and couldn't imagine using anything else as my main filo.


I'm not a fan of having filos that aren't being used & I really don't need another one, so I have decided to give this to Steve as a little gift to say thank you for all the hard work that he does for Philofaxy. Thanks, Steve! 

18 comments:

  1. Anita,
    GREAT post! I have to admit, my heart stopped a beat a little when I saw it was slimline. Love me some slimline goodness! Thank you so much for sending this to Steve. Maybe he can use it as his appointment book/guide book on meeting with the key manufacturers of our community!
    Jane

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    1. Thanks, Jane! I was tempted to keep it & have another go at using slimline, but that would be messing with what already works for me. If Steve didn't want it, you were next in my list of people to gift it to :)

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    2. Anita,
      That is incredibly thoughtful of you, but I'm delighted Mr. Philofaxy got first dibs. He has so much to do, and isn't compensated a penny, so when freebies roll in our community, I'm glad it's him.
      Besides, now he'll be able to have a slimline to do size comparisons in the future. It's a win win to me--yippeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
      Jane

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  2. Twenty-two pence a litre for petrol? Be still, my beating heart!

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    1. I have the same ruler, but in white from the 1990's it also says 20 pence a litre!

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    2. UK petrol hasn't been 22p per litre since the late 1970's. I remember filling up my first car - a Morris Marina 1.3SDL in early 1977 at 69.5p per UK gallon. It was certainly more than £1 per gallon (4.5 litres) by 1980.

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  3. Love the slimline style. Had one ages ago and still miss it. Am on the look out for one so am glad to know they are still around - somewhere. :-)

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  4. Such wonderful organiser and so funny that you should post this now as I was thinking of posting on Philofaxy a couple of days ago to see if anyone knew what happened to the DeVilliers shop.
    I used to shop there regularly in the 1990s and it was literally the best organiser shop in the world filled with every imaginable insert.The shop was run by a lovely gentleman and his son. They seemed to be able to get hold of almost anything organiser related and also made their own "DeVilliers". The shop was on Villiers Street in London and is the small road that runs from The Strand down to Embankment Station. The day I went to replace some inserts and found the shop had closed, I had quite a heavy heart!

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    1. It's great to hear more about the company & sounds like such a shame that they closed!

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  5. This is just the type of organiser that should appeal to the huge number of people who now mainly use tablets and smart phones but still want to write things down! It has slim (Krause - top quality) rings to carry just a few pages of data (such as password reminders) and for scribbling down notes. It has lots of slots for all the credit and debit cards, loyalty cards and membership cards we carry. It has full length pockets for leaflets, timetables etc. Clearly, they stopped selling well and presumably the reason why Filofax has been phasing out it's classy Slimline models in favour of yet more standard size floral patterns and pastel planners. I don't get it!

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  6. I have one slim binder made by Bosca a company that produces high quality leather products. I don't think they make leather planners anymore. Mine has no filler or cardboard. The leather looks and feels great. I guess people did not buy enough of these planners for the company to continue to sell them. I have not seen a slim binder with 17 mm rings. That would be roomy.

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  7. It's a pretty planner...

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  8. Um, I live on caviar, roast goose, and shelled lobster! Doesn't everyone?

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  9. What a lovely find. I would love to know what sort of journey this organiser has been on so far.

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  10. Awesome find. Great post. I love the color.

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  11. Bought my black leather deVilliers at a shop in Heathrow in Jan of 1996. Have been using it ever since with Day-Timer refills. Only difference from the red one pictured here is that the ten card slots are on the inside back cover and the two pockets on the inside front. Still has traces of the original leather aroma...or maybe that's just my imagination. Even in today's smartphone, tablet world, I still carry this planner with me at work.

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  12. I have a de Villiers credit card wallet that has served me well for 12+ years. I only found this blog as the wallet is looking a bit shabby and needs replacing. Maybe I'll just put-up with it for a while longer.

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