Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-08-12
The Demand for The Anfiaue.
DEALERS FRANK TALK ABOUT THE RICKHrY AM
ANCIENT IN FURNITURE

Il
| DEALERS FRANK TALK ABOUT THE RICKHTY AND
| ANCIENT IN FURNITURE.
From the New York Sun.
| 1--WE do considerable trade in June and july"
said dealer. People often come In from the
watering places to get the first chance at any
good things we have discovered at the May aue-
tions. 1t takes us some time to patch them up
| to suit the market. Yes there is always a Ger
tain demand for these worm-eaten hut pathetic
relics Of the infancy ofthe republic We sell to many
| nice people. who have taste for the ancient and
honorable In furniture. aud then We have
another class who buy freely and pay high
| prices. l refer TO the newly rich. During the
| past ten years many of them have taken a Kind
OF dislike to the word 'shoddy:' they have found
| OUT what IL means. YOU See As consequence
there arises regard for the old antique rs
they call it, which increases our sales and raises
our profits on everything classical and rickety in
| the way of furniture and decoratves. Folks
that cannot show a long line OF ancestors make
up for it by good collections Of not strictly re-
| liable tables and chairs. 4"
rs it in men or women that this mania pre-
dominates?'
Women. Men get the fever second handed
like. from their wives. We have 70 he wide
awake in selling. for we can't make sales With
out asking high prices. Some months ago a
hoStler came in with an old rag of rug to sell
| 1t was large, but an ugly queer faded-looking
| thing. evidently a worn-out imitation of those
they had been dragged through some retail
| paint shop. / gave the man a dollar for the
| article, and my porter gave il a half hours ex-
perience with club. Then cut a long breadth
out OF the threadbaPe center, squared up the
ends, and put a carpet sewer to stitching the
| pieces together. adding of course. heavy
| black fringe Within week two ladies called
| and being of the new artistic school, they of
course. picked ont that mat-the ugest thing
in the shop. How tender III color said one.
| and she about hit it. 1t was tender in other re-
spects too. if she had only known the fact "A
precious relic. indeed, said the other 'lsit Mos
lem, sir?' Pure Moslem. ma am' said /; all
wool-comes from the Adams family What Is
the price, she asked. Now. I'm an old dealer.
| but hesitated for fear shouldn't ask enough
to impress her. She took my confusion for a re-
lnctance to sell, and from that moment her mind
was made up She took careless turn around
| the room, and by that time my mind was made
up. too. No, no: wouldn't be willing to state
the figure we settled on. Ii was private rates. /"
| do you sell many of these old things?"
The sales are not SO very large, but the
profits are quite fair. quite fair Antique fur
niture is our main hold; it sells right along Tt
is hard to keep up really good stock. Here is
a fine old set--all mahogany. had to pick that
up piece by piece, and some of it was pretty web
smashed up. You see, it is finished in a
peculiar style; all the table and chair legs are
mounted on lions claw holding a brass ball
handirons to match. 1t is very rare and valua-
ble-worth 81 600 Some call them Hancocks -
After the General, of course-so solid and
heavy?"
''Oh. bless you. no. After old John Hancock.
governor OF Massachusetts, and signer of the
Declaration of Independence. There have been
at least thousand sets of that respectable old
gentiemans furniture sold here and in Boston
| Mine is the only original set and this is why /
nave taken the liberty to carve rudimentary
| II on the back of the rOomiest arm chair. Every
perfect set contains the old patriots fayorite
chair. We always put a handsome silk band
across the arms because We wish to retain for
the purchaser the sole right to sit i'm it, This
fine old piece is the chair known to have been
used by Gen. Howe during his somewhat pre-
cariOus residence In Boston at the revolutionary
period. have two letters strictly authenticate
ing it. regret to say, however, that from the
| number of Howe chairs i'm the market that
officer must have spent most of his time i'm
moving from one chair TO another, and done
considerable more sitting down than fighting
This one is genuine.
Certain lines of revolutionary articles are
always good; people are only too anxious to be-
lleve in them. Washingtons. however are diff
hcult to sell. The public must draw the line
somewhere, and it's generally at Washingtons
and JeffersOns. dealer spoiled the market for
Washingtons. You see he Sold secretary with
a contemporary certificate, and some fool held
| it up to the light and found the water mark to
| be 1850. Such manifest rascality Injuries
business; it wound up the WashngtOns, and
had to mark down Martha Washington bed
stead to an Aaron Burr. l did sell Jefferson
hat stand three years ago, but it stretches an
honest dealers reputation to make many very
ancient sales. MayfiOwers | cannot conscien-
| tiOusly handle; no amount Of swearing will
make them 60. De Witt Clintons and Haml-
tons are all sent to Boston Just now and they
send us b. Franklins and Adamses, all having
ancient certificates and Boston postmarks-in
short, the most reliable evidence. Some of the
letters, you will observe, are pasted under the
seat. Here is something from Philadelphia
chair which belonged to the hnored Penn. See
| Its strength and capacity-evidently made to
| order. Now here is the original stool which
Nathan Hale sat on just before his ex-"
II see. Have you any sale for foreign goods ?"
| "fes, but 1t doesn't do to keep more than
three or four distinguished foreign articles in
lie cannot swallow easily. As rule though, it
is safe for dealer to act up to the principle that
/ his goods are as likely to be authentic as not
If he doesn't know to the contrary it is fair to
affirm that his articles are what they look to be-
Very many buyers. though don't care for relics:
they want respectable old furniture that looks
as if 1t belonged to a wealthy old great grand
mother. Here and there you've got to remark
that an article was found in-well, almost in
Julius Caesars garnet. 1 had to sell Marie
a Hannah More, but had to mark it up to suit -
The sources Of supply-that is for genuine
| goods-is getting weaker and weaker. Grand
| fathers clocks, for instance, of good style and
III 1dlr Oruer. are scarce. L sold my last one for
$235. The customer told us plain out that he
wanted something that showed ancestry and
we let him have it. The New England states
have been travelled through and through for
them. Once in while one turns up. The old
carved book cases and chests of drawers
| mounted in genuine old-time brass. can be had
now and then. Carved oak mantels and CHM
ney pieces, tiles, tapestries. &c. are good when
| you can get hold ofthem. One trouble is grow
| ing greater every year. We cannot get any
| thing like full sets. Sometimes we have to
| wait year or more before we can decently
complete room. Such collections bring very
| high prices. know Of one that fetched So 200.
As for most of the ancient bric-a-brac It should
be regarded with suspicion. Revolutionary tea
pots were once leading article on account of
the firing of the tea overheard But regret to
say that the demand was broken up by an I'M
| principled dealer whose fraudulent methods
Knocked the life out of what was once a very
salable article
Eyes, personal relics are to be had Genuine
| ones are rare. There are dealers though. who
will sell you anything you want, from q Gen.
Putnam sword to the bulls eye repeater of
delegate to the first Congress. These last ar
| ticles are known to the trade as orphans
"Oh, don't speak to me about manufactures
of Our gOOda IL iSmOSt awful tn think Yas