45 antique French ceramic borders in beautiful crisp colours

45 antique French ceramic border tiles, 14.2cm sq.

The tiles were produced in the early twentieth century by Manufactures de Carrelages Ceramique Simons & Cie, Le Cateau. We include a scan from their period catalogue showing the tiles.

Linear length of 6.4 metres / 21ft.

The tiles have cleaned well revealing crisp colours, some displaying edge nibbles and the occasional groutable small chip

Perfect to frame a complimentary modern ceramic or as a splashback, in a chimney hearth, inside a shower.

NOTE
Antique tiles were most commonly made in single or two tile moulds. Before current computer automation methods their moulds were made my hand and the colour slips mixed by eye. Kiln temperatures could also be variable, as could the firing time. The result is that often tiles display subtle size and thickness variations and there can be tonal variations in colours, owing to the slip mixing and/or firing time. All of this makes these handmade tiles unique and adds to their charm. Some floors display their subtle variations in size and tones, some not, but when photographing we always take a random section of the floor so that it is representative of the whole. A tiler should always dry lay a section of the tiles to familiarise himself with them before starting to fix lay.