Cotillon items

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Cotillon items , usually shortened as cotillons , are effective, decorative, factory-made paper goods that were distributed to the dancers on balls at the cotillon in order to be given away between the couples.

The cotillon

The popular especially 1860-1914 Cotillon (also cotillion, Eng. Cotill i on ) at the time was the high point of each ball. It consisted of an eventful sequence of contretances, including polkas and waltzes , which got their charm from changing groupings, partly free choice of partner and teasing games. The numerous tours were announced by a celebratory organizer and enriched with flower donations to the ladies, paper medal awards to the gentlemen, crackers and other surprises that required all kinds of props, mostly made of cheap (paper) materials.

The cotillon articles

These cotillon items, known as cotillons, have hardly survived in material terms, we know about their wealth of variants mainly from the sales catalogs of manufacturers and wholesalers. The cotillons used at dance events included: fans , ball donations , dance cards , crackers , cotillon medals, paper flower bouquets , dance controllers , in the broader sense also other festive items such as paper caps, garlands , lanterns , paper sashes , paper bows and much more. Many of the carnival articles comparable to the cotillons were offered by the same manufacturers.

literature

  • Konrad Vanja : Cotillon article In: Christa Pieske : ABC of luxury paper, manufacture, distribution and use 1860-1930. Museum for German Folklore, Berlin 1983, ISBN 3-88609-123-6 , pp. 104-106.
  • Fritz Bernhard: Ball donations. The bibliophile paperbacks No. 127, Harenberg Verlag, Dortmund 1979, ISBN 3-88379-127-X