Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 February 1910 — ARTISTIC AIROCITIES and FAKE ANTIOUES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

ARTISTIC AIROCITIES and FAKE ANTIOUES

European manufacturer* of alleged antiques look upon the people of the United States as thejir best i-ustomers and their factories are running overtime in order that there may be produced sufficient specimens of the old and unique to supply the American trade. Some $9,000,000 worth of old tapestries were to he deli versa in this country befoi'e Christmas day that the buyer living under the Stars and Stripes may satisfy his artistic longings and point proudly to things said to have one time belonged to households which were modern, about the time that Charlemagne was ttie political boss of the world. u, ; ; _ - v-.-. —Ttre _ anuque business is not con lined to tapestries. It has assumed alarming proportions in almost every other line. It has become so widespread that the legitimate dealers are already sufte ing. for the cunning makers of the spui.aus articles have done their work so deftly that the casual observer cannot detect tin* difference. A Lrass ship's lantern made in London in tlie early nineteenth century at s'• .10 sounds like a bargain, as does an egg-boiler of the first empire at iI’JSTO, until you discover modern materia! therain. 1 bought a fine specimen of dagger in a Spanish colony and was mightily pleased with it until one day the handle slipped off and I found the mark showing it to be constructed of American cast steel. An odd bit of cotton cloth picked up in Hajti was also a valued possession until 1 learned that it was made in New England and shipped to the black republic in order that it might return to the United States in the hands of such unsuspecting purchasers as toyself. So widespread is the fraud perpetrated by unscrupulous dealers and So continuing is the imposition upon collectors who essay to pick up old silver, china and period, furniture in the United Kingdom and continental Europe that the United States Department of Commerce and Labor is warning Americans in its publications to beware of the frauds.

One of the crazes affected by some Americans just at present is the collection of miniatures and decorated snuff and match boxes. These and similar articles are manufactured by deft and dexterouj copyists and are sold by the* gross to dealers who represent them to be genuine, if the dealer happens to be a European devoting his time and attention to the American tourist trade. The manufacturer also ships these articles to this country for sale on their merits as copies of originals. “Old marks” on china are practically meaningless in this day of subterfuge and fraud. The amateur collector of china should beware of.the oily dealer in Europe. Genuine examples of Dresden. Chelsea. Worcester or Bow are worth more than their weight in gold. Many pieces purchased because of their refined decoration and simple gilding and because they tore the golden anchor have turned out to be fakes produced by well-known firms on the continent. Even examples of more recent china and pottery, early hineteenth century ivare, as Derby, Worcester. Spode, Coalport and Rockingham china and "Wedgwood. Spode, Mason and other potteries are faked and sold at exorbitant pUces as genuine. These do uot especially attract the collector, but they are freely bought by travelers. There is a way, however* of protecting one's self. Expert advice may be nought and a written guarantee demanded. The English courts have held, quite recently, that if a false- description of an antique is given in an invoice, the puichaser is entitled to full recovery. Any evasion, or hesitation on the part of a dealer to give such a guaranty may usually lie accepted as a token of his dishonesty. Forgery of old English silver is not common, owing to fear of the law. Sophistication of hall-marks in Great Britain -$B a hazardous occupation, ’men again, the amiost prohibitive price of old English silver confines its purchase ß to the wealthy. However, there are fakers who will remove a '“hall-mark from any old bit of silver of little value and insert it into a piece of modern manufacture for which an immense price may he obtained. For these. Americans are found who will pay about twenty times the real value.

Investigations by United States consuls abroad show tua: in Holland old chests, cabinets, desks and chairs of ttttle~value_Are collected; and. after beihg veneered wiFfi'~clT?apiy—mademarquetry. aie sent to England. Old oak beams frpru demol.shed churches and granaries/Ire likewise in constant demand for conversion into Jacobean refectory tables and Queen Anne furniture. Mid-Victorian pedestal sideboards are amputated into specimens of Robert conventional inlay suitable for Sheraton furniture-1s cut out by machinery and supplied in any quantity to those'’ who have the vkilL and inclination to fabricate an

tiques. Grandfather clocks are frequently made up of such incongruities us a modern dial with a forged maker's name and date, and old case patched up and set off with modern inlay, and perhaps works about 50 years old. The Stradivarius violins are almost as numerous as the modern instruments, while old armor and medals, all of modern make, are produced by the wagon load. Cheap and inartistic Japanese ware is flooding Europe for the purpose of interesting the Americans who like to buy such things, hnd more Chinese stuff, alleged to have been taken from the palace of the emperor during .the Boxer troubles, is for sale than has been produced in the oriental empire during the last- twenty years. it is a great' modern enterprise, this making of antiques, and the greatest practicians of the art are the shrewd European dealers who depend upon Americall purchasers? to fait their coffers. Were it not for the people of this country the industry could not exist.