Browsing France's Brocantes with Baxter

A brocante is a once-a-year second-hand market - anything from twenty to two hundred tables, piled with old clothes, childrens toys, furniture, motorcycle parts, early camera equipment, leather-bound books, period sheet music, turn-of-the-century engravings - whatever might turn a profit.

Traditionally, local people do the selling - hence alternative names like Vide grenier (Attic-emptier), Grand Balai (Big Sweep-out) or Foire a tout (Fair for everyone). But most of France's brocante sellers are semi-pros who cruise auctions during the week, or scavenge junk shops and dumps.

Check the monthly magazine Aladdin. It lists almost every brocante in France. Arrive early, and expect to spend the morning, with a pause at the stalls selling beer, or spicy North African merguez sausages with frites. Bring a large bag, ideally with a shoulder strap, and lots of 10 franc, ie $1.50 pieces. One of them will buy 60% of the items on sale.

My big finds? Two art deco armchairs from the twenties, solid Beech arms, legs and frames, for $50. Reupholstered, they dominate our living room. A World War I fund-raising badge by Rene Lalique for $1. A set of hand-painted 19th century lantern slides of Red Riding Hood for $5. And books: first editions of James Joyce, Henry Miller, Antoine de St. Exupery, Colette... You literally never know what you'll find. And that, of course, is the fun.

John Baxter is the Dean of Faculty in Paris for PTEE