Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 93, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 April 1910 — MAKING “PHONY” ANTIQUES. [ARTICLE]

MAKING “PHONY” ANTIQUES.

There la a Large and (ironing Baalneiia in Industrial Fppg;ery. From the very earliest times men have been occupied both in forging and in tampering with antiquities, and during recent years this branch of swindling has blossomed into a vast and flourishing industry, employing excellent artists and craftsmen, wh'o would be capable of creating works of their own; if encouraged. The London Globe says the art of “duffing,” as it is called, may be divided under two heads. First, there is forgery, %hich is an imitation of antiquity, ii e., something made In the true style of a former time. Second, there is counterfeiting, or the manufacture of something so like the genuine article as to deceive the person who thinks he is familiar with the original. No metal lends itSelf to forgeries so easily as gold, owing to the fact that when It Is pure it oxidizes little, even after the lapse of centuries, and takes io patina. It is, therefore, a favorite substance for the operations of swindlers. For some years past the forgery of gold objects has been increasing, and has extended to countries where “ruffing" was once hardly known. On all other metals, as well as on porcelain and wood, every kind of known patina can be produced In all respects Identical to that of the action of time. Patina is the peculiar surface, texture or color produced on an article after a certain amount, of exposure to the weather, or after burial beneath the ground, or gained through the action of time. The imitation of ancient glass and marbles, however, still defeats the forger. He can not chemically reproduce in glass the iridescence caused by long burial in the earth, while on marble he can simulate neither the growths nor incrustations produced underground by the roots of trees and plants, nor the calcareous concretions formed by the influence of the soil. In this country the forger's field embraces more especially china and earthenware, prints, plate, coins, seals, furniture, needlework, armor, weapons, missals, leather-jacks, horn bogks and flint Implements. It is not generally realized of what comparatively recent origin is the passion for collecting several of the above objects, the demand, of course, creating the spurious supply. The specialised study of antique furniture, for example. Is a Very modern development Prior t» the ’Bos the -styles of Chippendale. Sheraton, etc., were rarely, mentioned

In an auction catalogue, and unless the piece had a pedigree its size and material were of more Importance than its artistic merit and significance. On the other hand, the rage for collecting certain articles goes back a very long way. Of all tastes, that for pottery and porcelain has been from time to time most prevalent. “Chinaearth” collecting was in fashion In the day of the Stuarts, and forgeries and counterfeits were rampant at the same period. Well-hidden secrets are furnished by the forgeries of pilgrims’ badges and Saxon and Norman seals, both of which have baffled the investigators for the last fifty, years.