Word: vigne
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...medieval shop signs, kitchen utensils, 3,000 keys, 700 padlocks, 600 door knockers, and more than 100 pairs of scissors, including one shaped like a pelican with the blades forming its beak. Coffee mills designed to grind the precious beans in the 17th century, when Madame de Sévigné purportedly scoffed that "Racine will pass-like coffee," bear little resemblance to the streamlined models sold in France today, but their shape is basically the same. A craftsman's implement bears the doughty motto: "I am Jacques' chisel. Let me lie. I'll work...
...reasons for the rise of junk are not hard to find: a yearning for hand-crafted individuality in a mass-produced world, the increasing rarity of genuine antiques of all kinds, and the prohibitive cost of beautiful ones. So, as Mme. de Sévigné might have put it, "If one can't be beautiful, one can at least be amusing." And, used sparingly and with imagination, these humble relics are often amusing indeed...