In and out of Florence; a new introduction to a well-known city . And all offer rareopportunities to those who know what they want, andsomething of how much what they want can bemade for. Silver teapots and cream jugs, sugarbowls and cake plates, silver pitchers, carafes, bas-kets, and what not are made in soft hammered sil-ver, all the work done by hand slowly and lovingly. It is on the Ponte Vecchio, too, and along theLung Arno that the old jewelry and the new jewelryin old designs mostly are. Here are uncountedthousands of uncut stones, and occasional won-der toys like that perfect little P
In and out of Florence; a new introduction to a well-known city . And all offer rareopportunities to those who know what they want, andsomething of how much what they want can bemade for. Silver teapots and cream jugs, sugarbowls and cake plates, silver pitchers, carafes, bas-kets, and what not are made in soft hammered sil-ver, all the work done by hand slowly and lovingly. It is on the Ponte Vecchio, too, and along theLung Arno that the old jewelry and the new jewelryin old designs mostly are. Here are uncountedthousands of uncut stones, and occasional won-der toys like that perfect little Ponte Vecchio birdwith moving Ivory bill, bobbing head, and flutter-ings wings, all covered with tiny bits of iridescent Florentine Shops and Shopping 265 humming-bird feathers, that pops out of a bejeweledgold and silver box and sings to you whenever youspring the cover. Copies of most elaborate antiquechains and collars, hair ornaments and bracelets, andthe rest, are shown, and to one who knows some-thing of stones and workmanship there are oppor- 1 ;vA~7^i^^^. On the Ponte Vecchio. tunities to buy the best work of this kind to be gotanywhere. Less expensive than jewelry, but no less attractiveto some eyes, will be the leather and parchment workof the little shops in the Via Guicciardini and else-where; book bindings, jewel boxes, card cases, photo-graph frames, smoking sets, menu and place cardsfor the table, and a score of other things in beautifulgilt or colored designs on colored leathers or dullwhite parchment. Here again, as in the wood-carv- 266 Florentine Shops and Shopping ing and silver-working shops, your own designs, yourmonogram or crest, your wildest fancies, will be sub-stituted gladly for the stock patterns. It is a kindof shopping in which you do more than choose; youcontrive, you plan and design, and deft, skilled handsmake your fancies real. The old furniture and picture frames, for whichFlorence is famous, exhibit themselves everywherein the city. The shops
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidinoutofflore, bookyear1910
