Treasures

I know people who spend hours every week-end chasing bargains at flea markets and garage sales.  They should do the "vide grenier" circuit in Corrèze.  During the summer months, every little town takes its turn to host such an event and this week it was held in Clergoux.  Every attic, garage and trunk had been scrounged and foraged to put on the best sale ever.

 

"Bêtises" are a French boiled sweet made in Cambrai.  Bêtise is French for "nonsense" or "stupid mistake" and the sweets are said to have been invented by accident by the son of a confectioner named Afchain.  The original flavour is mint, but many others are now produced.  This tin box is a very old one, possibly one of the originals.

A "commode".  Once the back is folded over, it looks quite discreet. 

 

Stacks of "records", those old 33 rpms.  Yes, young readers, there was music before iPods, CDs, cassettes, 8-tracks.. all the way back to record albums!

All sorts of embroidered cloths, jumbled together.

 

What I would consider a beautiful antique chair now outside and used very casually by the sales lady.

Perhaps from a precious doll collection? 

 

 

Warming pans for those cold, damp beds.  The upper right one is particularly interesting since it has the emblem of a dragon on it.  Hot stuff!

Candle holders, bells, inlaid boxes, lanterns and a very old clothes iron.

 

 Karl loved this coffee grinder since it has a pastoral scene on all four sides.

Precious and not so precious, all jumbled together.

 

 

This 80 year old gentleman was awesome!  He has been collecting coins and very unique cigarette lighters for 50 years.  Once he realized we were genuinely interested in his wares, he spoke at length of his collection.

These are all lighters made with spent cartridge shells.  The wounded soldiers made them during convalescence to while away the time.  As Monsieur said, the active soldiers were too busy fighting a war to have time to do such delicate work in the trenches.  Some of these lighters are crafted with incredible finesse.

 

 Once the tip of the shell is lifted, the lighter is exposed.

 

 

This lighter fits between coins.  Napoleonic coins no less!

 

 

 

This fragile-looking woman was tough as nails.  She had just taken a fall and shattered a vertebrae, but insisted on being at the community sale.  She had so many old items, some that had belonged to her grand-mother, and she explained every single item.  It was like having a private tour of a very specialized museum.

 

Here she is explaining the "pendaison de crémaillère", or housewarming party.  Literally, it means to hang the chimney hook, which comes from medieval times.  When the construction of the house was finished, it was customary to invite all those who participated in its building to eat dinner as a vote of thanks.  The food was prepared in a large pot, the temperature of which was controlled by a chimney hook, which could adjust the pot so it sat higher or lower over the fireplace.  This hook was the last thing to be installed in the new house, marking the beginning of the thank you meal.

This is also a very old "roasting tub", more than 100 years old according to Madame's estimate.  When there was no coffee to be had, the men would put embers at the bottom of the lower compartment where there are air holes to keep the embers going, and put some grains in the upper tub which would then be constantly turned.  Once roasted, the grain would be ground and they made coffee.  Much later, this roasting tub invention was used to roast chestnuts.

 
 
Interesting tools.  The two at the extremities were used to peel bark off trees.  The heavy one in the middle was a cleaver which butchers used to chop pieces of meat, then the weight and the flat of the tool used to pound and flatten the meat.

 

 



A piece of wood empty on the inside attached to a "paysan's" belt and carrying a sharpening stone to whet a scythe when cutting crops.

There were many treasures to be bought, to bargain over, to simply look at and admire.  I think that the elderly from Clergoux, the "golden years seniors", are the true treasure of this village.