Gifts and Collectibles #1of8

Ceramic tile was being removed from the floor in a large room in a building near St. Francis’ Basilica, in Assisi, Italy. I picked up a small broken piece and “asked” the workmen if we could take it to California as a souvenir. But the workmen happily insisted we take a full piece of tile (20 centimeters, or about 8 inches square) as a memento of Assisi. It’s right beside my computer, used every day as a coaster. A picturesque reminder of an incredible city. We also selected pieces of the special pink stone quarried from Mount Subasio, and used to build much of Assisi. The colors of this stone come alive after a rain shower, turning red in the warm light of sunset.

We bought a “food warmer” with a place for a couple of warming candles. It is made from very shiny copper, about 16 inches long, oval shape, 9 inches wide in the middle, 4 inches high, setting up on four legs, or feet. The business card says, “Louise Chapelier Brocante, 87 Avenue F. Roosevelt, 77260 La Ferté Sous Jourarre.” Emmy was very disappointed to find that she did not notice that one handle was missing until after we had paid our money and left.

A few miles from Fougéres, France, we stopped in a nice Brocante/antique shop, and bought two large copper trivets. One about 12 inches in diameter, and the other an oval 10 by 14 inches or so. The lady said they were from the 1920’s or 1930’s. I pointed to the Visa Card imprinter and asked, “Antique?” She laughed and said, “No, pratique.”

In the town of Métsovo, Greece, we shopped the many little tourist and antique stores in town, but the only thing we bought was an old market scale. Usually a market scale has a long horizontal bar with a weight that is moved along that bar to determine the weight. This one is different, there is a heavy lump of brass on one end of the bar, and the whole bar is moved, rather than moving a weight on the bar.

The weight system is not pounds or metric, but may be the old Ottoman (Turkish) weight and measure called the “Oke.” This scale has the date “1938” stamped to indicate it was approved as accurate. We had never seen one like this before, but the very next day as we walked in the street market in Tríkala, we discovered several elderly women using the same kind of scale. It may have been new to us, but not to them.