Shopping List for Provence Buying Trip - Tresor #3 French Ephemera

Tresor #3 - French Ephemera

ephem·era

noun \i-ˈfe-mər-ə, -ˈfem-rə\

plural ephemera also ephem·er·ae \-mər-ē, -rē\ or ephemeras

Definition of EPHEMERA

ephemera plural : paper items (as posters, broadsides, and tickets) that were originally meant to be discarded after use but have since become collectibles

Ever since I was a little girl, I've loved old letters, postcards and paper items.  I think it goes back to when we lived on a farm in Delaware.  There was an old milk house attached to the barn.  My parents rented the farm and the farm owner told them that the milk house was off limits to us.  Of course that little detail only made "us kids" (I'm the youngest of seven!) even more intrigued about it. I snuck into the milk house often and can only surmise that the reason they wanted us to stay out of it was because they had stored boxes and boxes of old "stuff" in it. I got into the boxes and found hundreds of old postcards, tickets and travel memorabilia.  To this day, I wish I could see all of it again. I know there were some really interesting things there. I'd sit in there for hours looking at the postcards and wondering about the places shown on them and the people who sent them.

Today, trading in ephemera is big business.  Especially collectible today is French Ephemera which I'd guess is partly due to the increase in Francophiles like me out here in cyberspace.  (A Francophile is, by definition, a person with a fondness for France and things French.) One of my favorite blogs recently had a photo of several old, beautifully scripted love letters in graceful gilded frames and arranged in a wall grouping.  They were unbelievably beautiful. 

I also love to decoupage plates and will use some of the original French letters, receipts and cards that I find for decoupage.  Even if I don't immediately get around to "doing anything with them" I simply love the look of old letters and post cards.  Oh, and not to forget, I do hope to sell my ephemera finds when the My Faux French Chateau web store is up and running!



Toast or letter holder with old letters and old French Post Card



Au revoir, Mitty