Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-06-14
Beware Of Rric.a.Rrac.

From the New York Times.
Beware Of bric-a-brac. It Is a snare and a
delusion. II the tricks of the most astute of
dealers fool even the Frenchman In that great
art center Of Paris, how can we hope that the
simple American. even though he be New
Yorker or Bostonian, can be cute enough to
escape the snares 30 warily set for hiu2 When
we see that the directors Of the Metropolitan
museum Of art have paid over a hundred thou
sand dollars for the veriest trash, and are still
delightfully."- unconscious Of their having been
humbugged, how may we expect that less pre-
tentious individuals should escape the fleeing?
In China, enamels. bronzes, worries, arms, coins.
the bric-a-brac trapper is always around. and
his victims are many. France manufactures,
most especially for her home market, for Eng
land and America, her old ROuen ware and
Sevres. She can turn you out SAKE in quantity.
at months notice, adapted to the particula ar
wants OF the ceramic maniac. Limoges enam-
els are especially dangerous. A manufacturer
works on them by the wholesale, initiating the
old subjects. He il honest enough to sell them
on their own merits, but when the Limoges gets
into the hands Of the interruptions dealer, he
buries them In moist earth for . month and
then they date back from the fifteenth century.
There is that famous Henry III. ware Their
number Is limited The original pieces you can
count on your fingers. Still, new ones are al
ways turning up. These are manufactured.
The brand-new objects are treated to duorhy-
dric acid, and in 10 minutes they acquire an old
look. This little trick, which costs not more than
10 cents to accomplish, increases marveously
the cost of such ware. From vase being
worth, say $5, the price augments at Jump to
$1,000. Be on your guard, ye American travel
ers who go to Paris, as to the purchase of real
old Regency clock. Such clocks in bronze are
cast by the ton every day in Paris, and then
touched up by tools 80 as to resemble the work
of Boule Antique furniture with worm holes
In 1t is the verest Of catches. All that is neces-
sary is to get an old piece Of wood load gun
with mustard seed. that finest grade of shot
used for obtaining archaeological specimens, and
then, with good charge of powder, fire at a
slight angle into your vieuX chene. The illusion
Is complete. These holes In the wood were
made by worms, which enjoyed themselves in
the time of Catherine of Medicis. The old work
Is then closely initiated, and bahut which is
not two weeks old you pay SCOOP for, believing
that it dates back from Henry w. Wood which
has been eaten into by real worms has its
value, and when an old house is torn down in
Europe, such ancient timber brings higher
price for the antique furniture business
than fresh wood. Paris is not alone in the
us that the speciality of Vienna is the making of
jewelry of past centuries. Florence is distin-
guished as a manufacturer OF antique arms
London turns out old Sevres In Berlin, Roman
pottery, older than the time of Augustus, is
furnished by the crate; Amsterdam produces
irOn-work which antedates Quentin Matsys, and
Rotterdam, the most deceptive deli. As to New
York, the art of humbug, with that increasing
love of brio abric has created artists of singular
Skill whose inventive genius is quite equal to
that of their European contemporaries. We
turn out any number Of quite creditable false
antique coins and quantities Of sham old furni-
ture. We do a fair trade in homemade old
arms. We are dabsters at Queen Anne furni-
ture Yankee ingenuity only wants to be called
on to respond at once to any demand. Most
iol ic %fv,,<r %
manufacturers of spurious goods. Then the
bogus wares are shipped to Newport New Bed
ford, Saratoga, or wherever people with full
pockets and little brains congregate.