Briare

 

Look at these small coloured cubes.

  There are just plenty of them on the fronts of old stores in Nevers city, as well as in the whole ccountry.. .
Now, please take a double decimeter and measure them ..... They are 2.5cm by 2.5cm ? (or 1 inch x 1 inch ...) ....These are certainly tesserae made of Briare enamel . With  their standard size ( they are all also usually 2.3 mm deep)  they were mass-produced until mid- twentieth century to decorate the stores at a reasonable cost ( dairies , butchers, fish markets were the main users ...). The secret of their low cost (related to one would name today " perceived quality") is due to something special (in addition to being produced in large volumes ) : they are made based on " simple" colored glass paste to which was added .... goat milk .
  This invention by the Bapterosses brothers ; including Jean Felix , owner of the factory Enamels of Briare

( And incidentally great-grandfather of Bernadette Chirac, wife of former french president Jacques Chirac, who as a child would often spend his holidays in the area.)