Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1880-09-03
SharAs in Art.

NO one v no mas nnu occasion 10 maze
collections OF fine art or bric-a-brac but
has cried out many times with the poet
o !mitatorts, seIvum pecGs,
These iuitators have overrnn the en-
tire field and left the traces of their
base forscries in every nook. Every
one of the great masters has been cop
iel and counterfeited. or had ascribed
to him the pictures of other men, times
without number. The multiplication
OF these shams goes on continually and
the most clever devices are resorted to
to hide the deceit. People are mean
while such bad judges, and SO anxious
for specimens by famous and favorite
artists. that ready sale is commanded
by transparent frauds. In the matter
of drawings and engravings, the same
imposition is practiced. and bad copies
pass current for genuine originals.
Literature fares no better. Skillfnl
caligraphists every now and then, offer
for sale as genuine, beautiful manu-
scripts declared to be most ancient and
rare. Or they produce copies of more
recent documents, fortified. perhaps,
with signatures, and if real, worth much
money, but being forgeries are value
less. The trade in sham autographs
alone must be considerable. As for
books, there exists thousands of such
az are ascribed to writer's who never
wrote them. Those which have been
exposed by critical sagacity would
form large library, involving every
department of literature.
Sham antiques, avowedly from Greece
and Italy, Egypt, India. and many other
parts. are of everyday occurrence.
The forger shrinks from nothing; he is
equal to the beautiful cameo or intaglio,
and he is not above the semi barbarous
pottery Of the oldest nations and peri
DDS. He will emulate the art OF q
Grecian sculptor or sink to the level OF
q Flint Jack. This latter notoriety, we
may say in passing, not only counter
fcited implements in flint and stone,
but tried his hand at geological speci-
mems. such rs the remains of fossil
fish
Forgeries in metal are countless, and
have been common from a very early
date. There is reason to believe that
some ancient States counterfeited their
own coins, as when they palmcd off
plated copper for solid silver. The
manufacture of spurious coins and
medals has always been favorite occu-
patton, as it now is, and always iucra.
i've, even if sometimes risky. The col.
lector is perpetually encountering
hhams of this sort, and is at his wits
end to steer clear of the traps laid for
l,;v, Uo bro~ khot cor, a for0or;n o n re
worth more than genuine specimens;
but this is one of the eccentricities of
taste. At the same time, not few imi-
tation coins and medals have value
as beautiful works of art and skill, as
all must own who are acquainted with
the "Paduans." and even the recent
works of Becker and others. The
young collector should be ON his guard,
and not unadvisedly purchase the rarer
medals and coins Of Greece, Italy, Sic
lily, and Bactria, for example. Nor is
he safe with those of British, Saxon,
Norman, or later English. for there are
many make. believes abroad. The
rarer the coins of any reign or period,
the more likely are they to be counter
feited, either in their proper metal or
III bOWS UtuCLs 4uAtC xGOCutly We saw
a dozen Queen Anne's farthings for sale
at fair price. suppcsing them real;
bat on inspection every one proved to
be a well-executed modern sham.
Circular badges in lead and brass, often
with dates, and always forgeries, are
common, and so are quaint leaden cast.
ipgs of different sorts, and bronze dag
gers, figures, and other objects.
In glass and china, shams are as plen-
tiful as blackberries. Your fine old
glass. if in any quantity, almost inev-
itably includes examples of artistic
hypocrites. AS for your china. in all
human probability you have been made
q victim. That highly-prized Nankin,
fortified by marks of recognized an
tiquity, is, perhaps, comparatively
modern; for the Chinese are given to
the reproduction of ancient patterns,
and of the very marks which indicate
the dates. Still, there is no help for
you, and you must be content to be-
lieve that it is genuine oriental, and ex-
actly like the real thing. Even this
belief may not always be founded in
fact, because it is on record that the
skillful French artisans have not only
counterfeited the Chinese ware, but
actually exported it to the country of
the Celestials. A story is told of dill
igent collector in china, who was 80
deceived by quantity of the French
limitations that he purchased them and
sent them to Europe, where, of course,
the truth was soon discovered. To
what extent Chinese patterns have been
reproduced in Europe and sold for
genuine, cannot DO guessed. A similar
remark applies to Japanese goods and
Persian ware. Old Dresden is to all
intents and purposes forged at the orig
inal factory, and it has been copied by
several English and any number of Con-
tinental makers. 1t is Major Byng
Hall, in his pleasant book 1.-THE Brio
a-brac Hunter" who writes the follow
iog about supposed young English
lady who must buy some Dresden
china" because she is in Dresden:
"The cups and figures and 50 forth are
purchased, carefully packed. and treas
Rred as the exquisite old china we
bought in ORES len. my love-an enor-
nous bargain. though the price seems
very large to people who don't under
stand that kind of thing And poor