Great Shabby-Chic Decoration for Kitchen, Family Room, or Den...or for a Gourmet Shop.... Rare early 20th century embossed tin sign advertising the products of Claudot-Deschandeliers in Ruffec (a town in the Charente department between Poitiers and Angoulême). It was clearly designed to hang in the windows of grocery and gourmet shops. It is eye-catching and brightly colored with gilt borders...

Rare antique glass from a French bar used to serve absinthe. This style is known as an East glass because it was supposedly used in the East of France, in areas around Lyon. This is a heavy, hand-blown glass with a polished pontil. It has a dose mark marking the level to which it was filled with absinthe. Water was added to the liquor, making a cloudy drink. I personally like the glasses with dose marks because you can be sure they were used for a drink like absinthe to which water was added...

Antique blown glass topette with eight rings from an old French bar. Each ring represented a dose, or one drink, of absinthe, which was diluted with water, often poured over a sugar cube, before drinking. The bar patron was charged for however many doses were consumed. This topette was hand blown in heavy lead glass, has a nice polished pontil on the bottom and shows the wear marks on the bottom one likes to see on antique pieces...

This is the first time we have had a yellow topette, the special type of decanter used in a French bar to serve measured doses of absinthe. The drinker was charged for the number of doses consumed. This one is molded and probably dates from the later years of the absinthe era or a bit later when it might have been used for other drinks that were diluted with water such as pastis or gentian flavored potions. It is 9 3/4 inches tall.

Rare antique blown glass topette with ten rings from an old French bar. Each ring represented a dose, or one drink, of absinthe, which was diluted with water, often poured over a sugar cube, before drinking. The bar patron was charged for however many doses he or she consumed. This is an unusually large one; those holding 10 doses are quite rare...

French absinthe era bar saucer with 5 franc price and scarce silver-gilt rim and line decoration. Less saucers were made with high prices on them and are consequently harder to find. Most saucers of this pre-ban period had considerably lower prices on them. This is a guaranteed genuine turn-of-the-century saucer or soucoupe from the Belle Epoque when poets and artists drank the addictive wormwood-based drink absinthe, which was banned in France in 1915...

Bin labels were used to identify sections or bins in wine cellars. This is a vintage French enamel on metal bin label, dating from the early 1900’s, for CHAMPAGNE. Bin labels for champagne are among the most desirable. It was used for decades and shows some chipping to the enamel (which is usual on enamel labels, especially around the holes where nails were used to affix them). On this one there is some in-painting to some of the damage on some letters...

French absinthe era bar saucer with 4 franc price and scarce silver-gilt rim and line decoration. This is a guaranteed genuine turn-of-the-century saucer or soucoupe from the Belle Epoque when poets and artists drank the addictive wormwood-based drink absinthe, which was banned in France in 1915. When you ordered, each drink was served on a priced saucer...

French absinthe era bar saucer with 3 franc 25 centime price and scarce silver-gilt rim and line decoration. This is a guaranteed genuine turn-of-the-century saucer or soucoupe from the Belle Epoque when poets and artists drank the addictive wormwood-based drink absinthe, which was banned in France in 1915. When you ordered, each drink was served on a priced saucer...

French absinthe era bar saucer with 1 franc 75 centime price and scarce silver-gilt rim and line decoration. This is a guaranteed genuine turn-of-the-century saucer or soucoupe from the Belle Epoque when poets and artists drank the addictive wormwood-based drink absinthe, which was banned in France in 1915. When you ordered, each drink was served on a priced saucer...

French absinthe era bar saucer with 2 franc price, blue rim decoration and gold gilt hairline circles inside. This is a guaranteed genuine turn-of-the-century saucer or soucoupe from the Belle Epoque when poets and artists drank the addictive wormwood-based drink absinthe, which was banned in France in 1915. When you ordered, each drink was served on a priced saucer...

French absinthe era bar saucer with 2 franc 50 centime price with yellow rim and gilt line decoration. This is a guaranteed genuine turn-of-the-century saucer or soucoupe from the Belle Epoque when poets and artists drank the addictive wormwood-based drink absinthe, which was banned in France in 1915. When you ordered, each drink was served on a priced saucer...