When collecting rhymes with passion

100 professional and amateur dealers, mainly from Paris, Nice, and Marseille, are holding stalls and exhibiting the fruit of their long and patient research. The public can thus buy, exchange, evaluate, compare, discuss, and have their treasures appraised. It is also an opportunity to find the items you are looking for or whose very existence you did not even know.

RESEARCH One in four French people is a collector. Whether we accumulate coins, stamps, postcards, dolls, or even model cars, it is the passion of collecting that drives us to search for rare items and treasure them. Always searching for new items to complete one's personal treasure is a way to spice up daily life.

Collectors all know this excitement and pleasure of finding new items, waking up at the crack of dawn so as not to let a good deal slip away. And if some change their specialty and start collecting new objects, they actually never stop collecting. If this is your case, rest assured: collectionitis is not a disease!

It is even said to have beneficial effects on morale!

• PLEASE NOTE... Sunday, January 25. Salle G rard Philipe, avenue Charles Sandro, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. non-stop. 04 94 08 99 18 or ddurand@ville-lagarde.fr Free admission and parking. On-site refreshments and food.

FOUR THEMES IN THE SPOTLIGHT: • Old paper: Postcards, magazines, newspapers, almanacs, drawings... posters, autographs, photos... • Old records: Vinyls of all kinds and from all eras, whether in 45 rpm, 33 rpm, super 45 rpm, or picture-disc format, all will pay tribute to rock 'n' roll, pop, disco, and all other forms of music.

Also to be discovered: artist posters, DVDs, video cassettes, sheet music...

• Old toys: A chance to step back into childhood by finding these unforgettable toys such as teddy bears, model cars, the famous Barbie dolls, and other celluloid bath dolls. Younger visitors will find heroes from the greatest science fiction movies and 80s cartoons.

• Advertising items. A quick trip to the local grocer or corner bistro with the biggest brands presented in a thousand and one formats: ashtrays, enamel signs, cardboard displays, pitchers, etc.

Whatever the theme, all these objects and their stories represent a true passion for many of us.