Broke in the City of Light? Pay a Visit to 'Auntie'

City-owned pawnshop has helped great artists and authors pay for Paris' pleasures
By Sam Gale Rosen,  Newser Staff
Posted May 12, 2008 3:37 PM CDT
Broke in the City of Light? Pay a Visit to 'Auntie'
Pawnshops aren't generally known for being glamorous   (KRT Photos)

The Credit Municipal of Paris, known about town as "Auntie," is pretty glamorous for a pawnshop. Since 1777, the city-operated institution has served Rodin, Monet, Zola, Verlaine, and Victor Hugo, who mentioned it in Les Miserables. The newest development? Auntie now accepts wine. "People can now exchange liquidity—for liquidity," the shop's director tells the Los Angeles Times.

"Coming here is the last solution," said one women selling her jewelry to raise funds for a power bill. "Nobody else would give me money." (More Credit Municipal of Paris stories.)

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