Bric-à-brac first used in the Victorian era

Victorian era

The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...

, refers to collections

Collecting

The hobby of collecting includes seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever items are of interest to the individual collector. Some collectors are generalists, accumulating merchandise, or stamps from all countries of the world...

 of curios such as elaborately decorated teacup

Teacup

A teacup is a small cup, with or without a handle, generally a small one that may be grasped with the thumb and one or two fingers. It is typically made of a ceramic material. It is usually part of a set, composed of a cup and a matching saucer. These in turn may be part of a tea set in...

s and small vase

Vase

The vase is an open container, often used to hold cut flowers. It can be made from a number of materials including ceramics and glass. The vase is often decorated and thus used to extend the beauty of its contents....

s, feather

Feather

Feathers are one of the epidermal growths that form the distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on birds and some non-avian theropod dinosaurs. They are considered the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates, and indeed a premier example of a complex evolutionary novelty. They...

s, wax flowers

Artificial flower

Artificial flowers are imitations of natural flowering plants, used for commercial or residential decoration. They are sometimes made for scientific purposes .Materials used in their manufacture have included painted linen and shavings of stained horn in Egypt, gold and...

 under glass domes, eggshell

Eggshell

An eggshell is the outer covering of a hard-shelled egg and of some forms of eggs with soft outer coats.- Insect eggs :Insects and other arthropods lay a variety of styles and shapes of eggs. Some have gelatinous or skin-like coverings, others have hard eggshells. Softer shells are mostly protein....

s, statuettes, painted miniature

Miniature

A miniature is a small-scale reproduction, or a small variation. It may refer to:* Miniature , a small painting in an illuminated text** Persian miniature, a small painting in an illuminated text or album...

s or photograph

Photograph

A photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...

s, and so on. Bric-à-brac was used as ornament on mantelpieces, tables, and shelves, or displayed in curio cabinets—sometimes these cabinets have glass doors to display the items within while protecting them from dust.

Bric-à-brac nowadays refers to a selection of items of low value, often sold in street markets.
It is also sold in many curio stores and souvenir shacks along the famous U.S. Route 66

U.S. Route 66

U.S. Route 66 was a highway within the U.S. Highway System. One of the original U.S. highways, Route 66 was established on November 11, 1926 -- with road signs erected the following year...

. During the 1950s-60s Americans found a large interest in bric a brac and as a result it was sold in many "everything shops" such as Sears and Target

Target Corporation

Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...

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