honing the eye of the beholder

hi guys! hope you had a great weekend. as usual, i am in paris with all the wrong clothes. it was supposed to be in the 70s but it’s only 46 degrees and i have no coat or even long sleeve shirts. so i haven’t left the apartment yet today which gives me some time to catch up on work which is starting to snowball already!

part of the reason i came a little early was to revisit some of my favorite haunts like the vanves flea market (pucesdevanves.typepad.com), and also to check out some of the markets that i’ve always wanted to see but never made it to like the antique book market at the bottom of the post.

part of what i’m working on is resource guide so i want to make sure everything is in tip top order so whoever uses it will know there wheres, hows and whens if shopping the paris fleas and brocantes.

part of my obsession with the markets has always been finding bargains as you may know. so many people claim there are no good deals left in paris but i have a completely different view. i’ve come to realize over the years that the best things really do come in small packages and the fleas are where to find them. the trick is in looking in the least expected places and really getting down and dirty!

i love to dig in one and two euro boxes and look in tiny tins, on messy tables and in folders, underneath things, even in boxes that dealers haven’t unpacked.

i take my time to really go through each stand and ask questions, look at the workmanship and study tools i’ve never seen. there’s an entire world on each dealer’s table just waiting to be noticed.

anyway that was my ‘little’ obsession yesterday. vanves never disappoints and yesterday was no exception.

it’s so not about the size or the quantity at these markets of what you get, the tiniest things can make the biggest impression.  i got my clients an old postcard from the turn of the century of a view of their ‘new’ street’.  i can’t wait to give it to them!

this was the market i’ve always wanted to hit but never made it to, the antique book market in park georges brassens, aka Marché du livre ancien et d’occasion Marché Georges Brassens. it’s open saturday and sundays and is just a few blocks down from vanves. if you go, there’s a little tram that runs between the markets, sort of a cross between a bus and a cable car. i swear, no matter how many times i visit this city it feels brand new!

take the tram from vanves metro to the park georges brassens stop if you go.

talk about amazing collections and bargains, and dealers who have a passion for books and old papers. it’s a goldmine.

ok well i have to get out there and get my brocante magazines to see what’s on when this month, i’m charting every vide grenier, brocante, market and festival so my client’s apartment will be filled to the gills in two weeks with brand new old stuff. more soon!