La Belle Brocante

Lisette

Saturday brocante at the place in Saint-Hippolyte. Perhaps 50 dealers, with their tables ringing the square. They have set up early, the bustle floating through the leaves of the plane trees, and in the third-story windows. Cool morning air, and the dealers nurse a drink at the bar in the café. 

Sometimes the pickings are slim. Worn children's clothing and old plastic toys. Video cassette recordings of movies you never wished to see. Tacky ornaments that are hideous in any language. 

There are those days.

But now and then, it's a different story. Stacks of handwritten books and music. Yards of lace and jet buttons. Café chairs. Rusty keys. Old calendars with tissue thin onion skin pages. Silver toast racks. Grey mattress ticking with red stripes.  

And these.

Two bundles of Lisette, a serial newsprint magazine for girls, from the 1930s. Each issue is 7½" x 11½", and has 8 pages (16 sides). The covers are in colour, and the inside pages are filled with articles, stories, cartoons, puzzles, patterns, etc. Also some great old advertisements. 

Multiple issues available, and each is unique. $5 per issue.

 

 

 

 

 

Solari

To comfort.

To console. 

Cam•el ⎢ Cha•meau

A camel is a large, long necked ungulate mammal of arid country, with long slender legs, broad cushioned feet, and either one or two humps on the back. 

Camels can survive for long periods without food or drink, chiefly by using up the fat reserves in their humps.

Genus Camelus. Family Camelidae.

The camel family also includes the llama and its relatives.

And possibly poodles.   

HMCS Naden

Our humble and heartfelt thanks to everyone who attended the Pearkes Show on Sunday. Your kind words, interest, and ideas were all appreciated. We hope you enjoy your treasures.

For brocante girls further afield, we will be posting a selection of small items for sale soon.

And what is an Antique & Collectibles Show without a little foraging? We limited ourselves to four special treasures:

• a 1920s sailor's hat from the HMCS Naden, based in Esquimalt, a gift for our latest girl with her long lashes and sweet, sculpted curls
• wooden letterpress blocks spelling out [J] I.T.T.E.R.B.U.G. for a future project involving locusts and an antique bottle of Repellant Insect
• a 1937 reprint of Audubon's Birds of America (originally printed in 1827)
• an antique camel, papier mâché and fur, with glass eyes, a lopsided grin, and just a hint of mange

Shadow Play

Late afternoon light slants across the valley. Dances amongst the apothecary jars. The funereal wreath. Oak leaves etched in shadow. Memories kept for another day.

Lucifer

Wilma wrote: tiny leg hold traps for unappreciated little visitors.

Kathy wrote: In medievil days one of the most common and painful injuries suffered by knights whilst jousting was the dislocation of fingers and thumbs. This handy little contraption was used to quickly and relatively painlessly reduce the dislocation so that the knight could continue on in the tournament and win the affections of his fair maiden.

Given the French historical/cultural interest in guillotines, it will come as no surprise to learn that these nifty little tools are guillotines souris. Marketed under the name LUCIFER. When the wee mouse pulled at the string to dislodge the tasty tidbit ... thwack! Instant decapitation. Much to the relief of delicate fair maidens everywhere.

Wilma and Kathy, please email us your favourite brocante catergory, in three words or less, and your brocante treasure will be delivered on Monday!

Fragment

The upright stance

Spit polished toes

Straight pressed tie

Eyes trained on the middle distance.

Every button

Buttoned.

Gentleman in training.

Serious business.

Nobody knew

Of the frog

In your pocket.

Light & Shadows: A Contest

What do you think these nifty little tools are for?

Be serious.

Be creative.

Leave your ideas in the comments section, and a little brocante goodness might come your way.

It's the luck of the draw.

Luck of the Draw

To have the 'luck of the draw' is to win something in a competition where the winner is chosen purely by chance.

If you have an ace up your sleeve, you have something that will give you an advantage that other people don't know about.

To let the chips fall where they may means that we shouldn't try to control events, because destiny controls them.

To go for broke is to risk everything, for potentially greater gain. 

 

Brown Paper Packages

Madame has been sending parcels from France. They have been stacking up on Brocante Girl's doorstep, champagne boxes and brown paper packages, jiffy envelopes and reams of bubble wrap.

And inside? Oh, treasures. A monogrammed table cloth, white on white. A stack of weekly newspapers from the 1930s, LISETTE Journal des Fillettes. A handmade birdcage. Paper ephemera. Wood and rusty metal bits.

An old wallet stuffed with ration cards from the 1940s. Cards for clothing and coal, milk and meat. Sheets of tiny numbers and dates, which were carefully clipped and recorded. 

The Pearkes Show is less than two weeks away.We are sorting and organizing, and we look forward to sharing our brocante treasures with you.

Merci, Madame.