Antique Provence Pharmacy Boxes hold just the right medicine!

If only the medicine to cure today’s ills came to us in such lovely containers! Imagine getting your prescription filled at a pharmacy that uses delightful boxes like these. 

Made of parchment-like cardboard and wrapped in brocades and ribbons of the most lovely colors, these boxes also serve to advertise the pharmacy itself. This one happens to come from a pharmacy that existed in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s in the town of Beziers France, not far from the south-western border between France and Spain. Beziers is best known as a center for brocante and antique shops. The village hosts markets and faires and events throughout the year. 

I was lucky enough to find a woman selling a box full of these containers in several colors. I use them to hold fresh lavender seeds, jewelry, or even—imagine--pills at my bedside!  

Then of course there are the more 'common' pill boxes with lovely, whimsical, or elegant designs made of everything from porcelain to brass and ivory.