Bric-a-brac

This article is about items of low value. For British television programme, see Bric-a-Brac (TV series). For the 2005 French album, see Bric à brac.

Bric-a-brac for sale at an antique shop in Kabul.

Bric-a-brac shop in Nantucket circa 1880.

Bric-à-brac (origin French), first used in the Victorian era, refers to collections of curios such as elaborately decorated teacups and small vases, feathers, wax flowers under glass domes, eggshells, statuettes, painted miniatures or photographs, and so on. Bric-à-brac was used as ornament on mantelpieces, tables, and shelves, or displayed in curio cabinets—sometimes these cabinets have glass doors to display the items within while protecting them from dust.

Bric-à-brac nowadays refers to a selection of items of low value, often sold in street markets. It is also sold in many curio stores and souvenir shacks along the famous U.S. Route 66. During the 1950s-60s Americans found a large interest in bric a brac and as a result it was sold in many "everything shops" such as Sears and Target.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Antique shop
• Discount store
• Variety store

References

Media related to Bric-a-brac at Wikimedia Commons