The lace on this fan looks like the hand-made (but to a "cheap and nasty" standard) Bruge/Duchesse that was made in relatively huge quantities in the later 19thC and early 20thC, almost exclusively for the tourist and export markets. They (the original sellers) wouldn't have been lying, precisely, if they'd called it "real hand-made Belgian lace," or whatever. They probably never claimed it was top-quality, either. They didn't have to. Tourists still have a distressing tendency to buy just about anything as a souvenir, and to believe whatever story the (preferably picturesque) vendor feeds to them. (Not just tourists either. Who was it who had the link posted for an eBay auction for "Nothing"? I liked another "seller" of nothing who included a picture. And 3 someones bid on it!)
This kind of lace is really quite common, and every collector should have *one* example of it, if only to show that hand-made isn't always better. I suppose a fan like this wouldn't be the worst choice, if the price didn't go too high. The condition is good, and it's at least a usable piece of work. Just don't show it to any new lace-makers. :-D
The lady selling it is not a lace collector. She is a fan collector. Her other offerings are rather special, some quite unusual on the market these days. (Stop it, Beth. You're saving for a house!) Still, being priced off of the best things does allow a bit more marital harmony .... :-D
Yours in lacing, and drooling, and sighing, Beth Schoenberg in sunny downtown Fisher, in Canberra
On Tuesday, August 19, 2003, at 07:31 AM, Pene Piip wrote:
Would someone else verify that this fan is Honiton lace? I would have said Duchesse or Brugge.
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