BATCH FABULOUS ANTIQUE FRENCH SHOP CHEQUES DATED 1898

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....brimming with delicious vintage French shabby chic treasures.

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I had completely forgotten that I had this huge box of old 1898 invoices and paperwork for the emporium of widow Veuve Palla. Some of you may remember that when I discovered them last year I did some research to try and locate her shop to see if the building was still there. I did also uncover a wonderful old postcard ( see below) with Madame standing outside in her bonnet! For those of you that did not see the details first time around I have reprinted it below.

This auction is for a batch of 8 large cheques all in madames handwriting for various textile and epicerie manufacturers that supplied her shop. All these wonderful cheques would frame and display so beautifully and could be superb for decoupage or scrapbooking. All in good vintage condition they are wonderful nostalgic pieces of costume and social history.

Each cheque is written in sepia ink on the headed cheque paper of the company to be paid. Each one has the banks cashing stamps on the reverse and are all and all are approx. 27cms x 11cms

MADAME VEUVE PALLA

May 2008: -I have recently been lucky enough to undertake the attic clearance of a large bourgeoise house here in Normandie where I discovered a number of old shop invoices for a Madama Palla. There was a large batch of them - and you will see why I stayed up into the early hours sorting through them; they really are a wonderful collection of fascinating, old documents.

The batch was still wrapped in brown paper and tied tightly with string when I found them. The only information I could possibly glean as to its contents was from the date, 1898, which had been written on the outside of the parcel in sepia-coloured ink. It seemed almost a crime to have to cut the string after all these years to find out what the secrets the parcel held - but when it was open I was delighted to find these wonderful old receipts, all dated 1897/8 referring to the purchase of costume, textiles, boots, shoes, handmade clogs, furnishing fabrics and many more amazing items by the said Mme. Palla.

I had already been told that Madame Palla had had a reputation as an extravagant spender on her large house but all of these purchases in one year seemed a little excessive even for her. There were receipts for clothing, footwear, textiles and shoes - but I simply could not understand why such a fine lady would order so many pairs of handmade "galoshes" , the  wooden clogs which were traditionally worn by the farming folk here in Normandie.

 After sorting through the documents for over an hour it all became clear. I found a receipt headed "Madame Veuve Palla"  from "Grandcamp les bains" which shows that  she must also have had her own shop in the town. Madame Palla was raised in Paris and had probably decided to bring some Parisian style to the small seaside town of Grandcamp here in Normandie. I am going to do my best to try and unearth a postcard or photograph of the store (if one exists) as I can just imagine it would have been a stunning place brimming with amazing items -   just like a smaller version of the huge Paris department stores of that time.

Her store must have been an amazing establishment because her receipts show that she stocked fashion clothing, shoes, household textiles including linen sheets, dressmaking fabrics , ribbon trims, hats, hardware, cigarettes, sailing & fishing equipment, enamelware, porcelain & glassware, curtains & draperies, childrens toys, faience pottery, cutlery - the list goes on!

I have started to list the receipts which are stunning in their own right. Some have accompanying letters from the representative that would have visited Madame Palla to take her order; many have bankers drafts/cheques attached and some even have textile samples attached.

There is a stunning fashion poster advertising childrens seaside sailor outfits and some fabulous paperwork from the more famous textile wholesalers of the period.

Do please watch my auctions over the coming days. It will take some time to list all the paperwork , particularly as I have found it such a joy to read through them myself and gain such an insight into running a shop in what was clearly a more elegant era.

I shall be listing other old trade cheques from this 19th century emporium in my other items!

Fabulous  and unique antique French treasures from simply-chateau!

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Postage costs:

UK/ Europe  by airmail £1.50

All other worldwide destinations £2.50

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For all other destinations please email  for a postage quote. I am happy to ship two or more purchases together to reduce postage costs.

I offer a 10% shipping discount for combined items and sometimes larger items can be shipped at a better rate by courier from the UK...please ask for details.

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