About

Trésor Bleu is French for Blue Treasure.  Blue pendants were made as pilgrimage tokens for visits to Catholic French sacred sites from WWI until the late 1950s.  Since 2017 we've brought back this lost art, in hand-crafted replicas and vintage originals.

Bleu, particularly the intense cobalt blue called "Bleu Outremer" or "Out of this world" blue, has been the official color of Mary since 200 AD.  Marian bleu is captured in beautiful vitreous enamel pilgrimage medals people of faith would receive when they would visit pilgrimage locations like Lourdes, Sacré-Cœur, Basilica of Lisieux, Domremy and others.  While pilgrimage medals were made since the 1800's, the vitreous enamel blue was indicative of the era spanning post WWI through 1958.  Vitreous enameling became popular during the post-war era, an artistic process also used by famous design houses like Lalique and Fabergé.  

After 1960, the enameling of pendants for pilgrimage medals and Catholic items of devotion all but went away.  It's been replaced by resin coatings (plastic) and silver or gold medals.  

Catherine Bennett, the owner of Trésor Bleu, came upon a bleu enamel pendant from Lourdes when she visited a Brocante (flea market) outside Paris in 2002.  Just over .5 inches in diameter, it still attracted the attention of friends and family, because of its beauty, history, and intense Marian bleu color.  

In 2017, Catherine Bennett founded Trésor Bleu by making multiple trips to France and finding vintage versions of medals, crosses and pins.  Her online website was launched in November 2017, and became popular for Christmas gifts, bridal gifts (something blue), Communions, Confirmations, and other lifetime milestones.  While the online store did sell a high number of these medals, the consumer appetite for "perfect" bleu pendants far outweighed the supply.  

In August, 2019, Trésor Bleu began producing its own vitreous enamel pendants, in keeping with the time-honored French art, but at the same time adding modern improvements like rhodium coating on silver to prevent tarnishing, and adding new glass enamel colors that weren't available decades ago.  

In September 2019, Trésor Bleu launched three medal pendant designs:  Apparition at Lourdes, Miraculous Medal (verso) and Saint Benedict.  October 2019 will bring in more designs, culminating in 12 medal designs for the 2019 Holiday Season.