Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1876-10-19
THE CENTENNIAL.
CuriOsities In the German Sec
ton.

The collection OF jewelry in the Ger
man section is relatively very inferior !;
there is little of a pleasing shine in it,
and less of art; indeed, it is only of re-
cent years that Berlin and the other
large cities have advanced artistic
claims in connection with such orna-
mental wares. The chains, rings.
breast-pins, brooches, lockets, &C., are
of a uniform sort, quite unelaborated,
heavy, dull, homely, turned out for
very outlandish countries, such as those
of South America and Oceanic regions;
hence, articles made to suit rather
coarse tastes and at rates to suit scant
pockets. The so-called articles of art,
such as goblets, vases, &C., are adapted
to the taste of the country to which
they wont to be shipped, as more
of a merchandise than aught else, re-
gardleSs of invention and finishing for
arts sake, or for the capricious exac.
tions of luxurious, idle societies. The
manufacturers from Hanau, Prussia,
the oldest center of German jewelry,
do now claim to do work of all kinds,
from the smooth English styles to most
fanciful Etruscan limitations, to be
fluent in filagrees, settings of gems,
canoes, &C.; but the exhibitions do not
substantiate the pretension, either in
variety, grace, taste, or any of the re-
quirments called for by genuine, artis-
tic workmanship. A large majority of
the jewelry establishments in the EN-
pire are of quite recent origin. The
only one for cutting and furnishing
brilliants in the whole country is of late
growth in Hanau. The jewelry trade
foots up only in the modest sum of
eleven million collars per annum.
Pfrozheim and Gmund are the other
two principal goldenish centers. The
sections stock will not bear comparison
with those of Italy, England, France,
the United States, and several other
lands moreover.
The display of toys and s'small
goods" from Nuremberg Chiefly make
some amends for deficiencies in Jewel
ry. The Germans favor more the de-
lightful vanities of the innocent young
ones than the splurging affectations of
grown up sinners-and doubtless from
this higher civilized standpoint the
Fatherland knows and sees what's best
for the peoples and their wives and
children. Glass jewelry is relic OF past
barbarism, still delighted in most ar
IDENTIFY and sincerely amongst the ma
tives of the Gold Coast, and numerous
out-of-the-way islands and Hottentot.
oom; clearly as the inner progress is
evolved, the shining relics must fade
hnally to be laid aside entirely, soonest
In old centers. In the Fatherland this
kind OF thing is being rapidly under.
STOOD and acted upon ; and hence most
oil the jewelry made there goes outside
exported to the far-off marts, where
outward shine most tickles the human
eye. But If the Germans do not Law
much stress on rings and things, they
90 ON children, and the pastimes of
these, and the furnishing them with
toys have long been an Indispensable
business in famous Nuremberg. The
latter town and Furth are the chief seat
OF the trade in toys and small goods.
for the domestic and foreign market.
the hrst possessing more than a hun.
dred, and the second over fifty, export
ing houses, doing an annual business ofI
million of dollars. Toys of wood.
pasteboard, sheet iron and fin. and
small goods of bone, ivory, shell and
horn, are particularly manufactured i'm
these two centers in great quantities at
low prices-prices and goods uneaualed |
elsewhere, and the consequence il that
German toys spread everywhere. and
have long taken the young world bv
storm.
Only in rare instances is the TOW man.
uIacture carried on to any large extent
by single houses; for the most part it is
followed as source of income by each
separate family, like knick-knack /,