Stories Collected While Living in France
French Antique Guessing Game
What is it?
An iron like tong with a long cord attached.
Every now and then I come across an antique at the brocante that I do not know what it is.
Do you know what it is, what it was used for? If so write it in the comment section, or if you do not know what it was used for, make up a response in the comment section. The first one to guess correctly will receive a gift as well as the most creative response.
A nose plug for the husband that snores at night. 😉
Attach to a kitchen wall to hold potholders or towel.
Tweezers for plucking an elephant’s eyebrows?
The woven loop goes around your wrist so you don’t lose the mini-grabber. The mini-grabber is used to transfer feral kittens from one place to another, just as the mother cat would bite the scruff of its neck. You place the round padded parts at the kitten’s neck scruff, slide the metal ring down to tighten it and then, by holding the mini-grabber, you transfer the kitten to a new home. That way your human smell doesn’t get on the kitten and frighten the mother away.
On closer examination I see that the padded part fits into the concave part. This is a very laborious way to transcribe a book into braille on damp paper…
It appears to be a rudimentary skirt lifter or chatelaine belt. I wonder if a decorative piece is missing from the slider? Since nothing but fabric would fit between the tongs it might be used to lift a curtain panel.
Well I was gonna say skirt lifter, but since that’s taken I’ll go with fin de siècle roach clip.
covered button maker for sure!
Piano Tuning Fork for the hearing impaired.
Enjoy, Paulette from DC
I think this was worn around ones neck. When travelling through areas where the odour was intolerable this gadget was used to pinch the nose so one could not smell.
Karen Heron
It looks to me like something that is used to clamp with the tongs
of a zipper tab of a long back zipper and with the loop around your
hand you could pull up the zipper if no one was around to help.
A candle snuffer?
I think it could be an early form of Spanish castanets!
How about used when making flower petals for hats and such??
A curling iron for the little princess in your life. 😊
Something for pressing small areas of fabric as in millinery flowers or ribbon.
I vote for a pill crusher.
Pill or sugar cube crusher used by a nurse or nanny?
First set of earbuds
Or…..when you don’t feel like really clapping out loud but still like what someone has said or done ….they get a mini clap. Not too loud!! Not too big!!!! You place it around your neck so you are always on the ready out with friends or in a public place. Lol
Close, instead of pinching roaches it’s the pinceur de nez Corey uses when she jumps dans une piscine. When she lived lived in Willows, she just used her thumb and index finger.
Cheek dimpler.
It was originally used for packing a smoking pipe with tobacco in olden times. Now however, I would use it to pull out nose or ear hairs that seem to be growing wildly after menopause!
pressing communion wafers…
Ha! Too funny. Good to hear your voice Franca!
Skirt train clip. Used when dancing so as to not step on train
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