15m2+ of antique French damier tiles, early 20th century

15m2+ / 160 sq ft of antique French ceramic tiles in a damier style, produced by St Paul, Rainvillers in the early part of the twentieth century. St Paul was mainly a manufacturer of tin-glazed hand painted wall tiles, and these were made on a light plastic clay body similar to delftware. These 14cm sq floor tiles, in a terracotta and cream palette, appear to be on a similar body which may have been extruded as the name is stamped on their tile edge. In production it was a simple matter to add a wheel to the output end of the extruder that impressed a name on the edge as the clay passed through the extrusion nozzle. This was a technique used also in the UK by several firms making similar "quarry" tiles; low fired with, in relative terms for ceramics, a soft body. Alternatively they made have been slop moulded and the name just impressed with a stamp. This is perhaps more realistic as the thicknesses of the tiles vary from around 10mm to 15mm in thickness, although they are most commonly 15mm within this floor. 

The tiles have had their old lime based mortar removed and their faces cleaned with a specialist alkaline based tile restorer and arrive ready to relay. As the high resolution photographs below show, they reveal a rich and beautiful patina, antique in every sense with some low level discoloration of some of the cream tiles and small groutable edge nibbles on others. 

Being a softer, lower fired tile we recommend interior use only for them and a sealing once laid to protect them as they have a higher surface porosity than highly fired ceramic tiles. Sealants are clear, low cost, easy to apply once the tiles are laid and do not change the colour or aspect of the tile.

Tile Quantities:-

Terracotta - 430 - 8.4m2 / 91 sq ft

Cream - 350 - 7m2 / 76 sq ft

Plus a large number of free tiles for use as halves and offcuts.