Those fantastic classic vintage decorations Sunburst Mirrors were also called “Witch Mirrors”. In fact, people thought they had magic powers! They first appear in the middle ages, and are also called convex mirrors. We can see some in many old paintings, like the one from Quentin Metsys (1465-1530) “Le peseur d’or et sa femme” “The golden weigher and his wife” which is exposed at Le Louvre museum.

Place in front of a window, it spreads the light all over the room inside houses. We could find a lot of those in the Flemish houses and since then, it staid a tradition in North Europe, a classic vintage decoration. It also has the nickname of banker’s mirror because it was helping the bankers, the silversmiths or the usurers, to have a look at the all room at one glance. Sort of early video surveillance, our CCTV monitoring! We also could find some in the Bourgeois’ home: a little distrusting towards their domestics, or by simple precaution, they were having a few in their interior. This special glass, circular and convex with a frame always made of gilt carved wood, has in its centre a top, crowned by an important crest. This quirky mirror also represents an item of power: only the wealthy customers were able to afford such an expensive item!

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Those galvanized steel buckets are just fantastic vintage decoration.

Jugs, coal scuttles, pots, pans, clothes boilers, tubs, waste bins, watering cans, feeding and water troughs, weathervanes, railings and stakes: from the late 19^th century the invention of sheet steel and galvanization gave rise to a whole range of items for cooking, cleaning the home, the garden, looking after livestock and agricultural production.

It was several decades before this process, which had been invented on the other side of the Atlantic, was industrialized in France. A young zinc worker from france’s Morvan region, Xavier Pauchard, the son and grandson of an itinerant roofer and zinc worker, developed an interest in 1907. In order to perfect his knowledge and to develop new uses, he ordered a generously illustrated book on the subject from the United Sates. Setting up on an abandoned plot of land far from prying eyes, Xavier Pauchard carried out experiments in the bottom of old pots. Neither the harsh climate nor successive failures, nor even the onset of poisoning, could stop him: he went on to master galvanized steel. Whether used for everyday items or for outdoor furniture, galvanization owes its pedigree to Pauchard’s tenacity.

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