We can’t be 100% sure this is a Cresta rucksack since the label is missing, though where it is missing from is usually where Brown Best put their labels. The Cresta reigned supreme back in the 1960s though, rather confusingly, everyone called them ‘bergen’, since Bergens of Norway had captured the market earlier, to the point where ‘bergen’ became the generic term for all rucksacks, a bit like we call a vacuum cleaner a hoover, even though Hoover might not have made it.

Some faded writing tells us the rucksack was made in Britain and at one time seems to have belonged to John Clough, Hitchin, Herts. How it found its way to us we are not sure.

The sewn on badge with an Edelweiss indicates that the owner – presumably John Clough – was a member of the Austrian Alpine Club.