Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1883-11-11
40 sxLuc HUNTERS.
reanss 0dd Collectors.
rNew York Sun.

1855 odd Collectors.
New York SUM-
a.sler in curiosities was turn
Inc Nth marked suspicion q
rs Over nr of relics" "a curios-
NE aid be, lis interesting 10 itseii ;
~ .,,esns something. But 2 reno Is
m ~ WAYS worthless fragment.
anus he thing from which the relic
usr sn not the relic itself, which is
r..ss,inp. The genuine relic hun.
i though. are worth knowing;
sEsnn;est chaps you ever saw. They're
ace Of beings by themselves. The
s Who sent these things here for
n buy says he's got seven boxes
I've of the same sort, the collection
lifetime. Look at this chip,
.rked. Piece OF the first sleeper
"a for the Hudson River Railroad.
N the mans list it is entered.
Tougbt 1880 cents. II may be
ssruine-that is, If the company used
I'm wood for their rosd-but If this
rhip is worth fifty cents, the whole
deeper must be worth several hun.
Sred dollars, and the company ought
q saw 1t up and sell 1t. There's no
loric in relic hunter. The one who
trsyeled all over the world and
hrought back several trunks full OF
noses broken off from ancient stat.
ues, had a definite idea. His fol.
lowers are curiously diluted speci.
mems of their predecessor.
Some Of them, however. have
specialties not unlike that OF the
nose breaker. One Of the liveliest OF
the relic men collected the hats OF
l celebrities. don't believe be would
have given a dollar for Napoleon's
orav oyercoat. but the hat OF Presi-
dent of the United States had for
him an almost priceless value. II
necessary. he was ready TO suborn q
vrest mans servants to get the
.Tished for article. Some years ago
/ saw his collection. His finest spec
linens were, at that time, placed
upon the heads of plaster busts, and
arranged in long rows. He after
wards discarded this mode of arrange
mcnt, owing to the singular ciscrep-
sucies which often existed between
Inc size of the two articles. He told
me that he had tried scraping down
The busts, which were generally
much larger than the hats. but the
result was to give apeculiar appear
nee TO his collection. One or two
n his hats, notably that of Thomas
a. Benton, were so small as 10 create
adoubt in my mind as to their au-
thenticity. | learned afterward that
sotel servants and others used to
pslm off their own hats upon the
collector.
zone of the greatest troubles with
ralics is that they seldom bear the
jsast evidence within themselves Of
their penuineness l have seen in
~ dsy several hundreds of the pens
gith which Walter Scott wrote Wa.
verly.' AMI in the old country Bobby
Burns's drinking glass might almost
be called staple article OF CON-
nerce. When my poor father first
iook me into business he gave me an
avful talking to because bought
three locks OF Byron's hair from Q
seIic collector, although | only paid
drnence for the three. The trouble
~ thew were all of different shades.
Poets hair used to be sold largely,
81 you can't dispose Of 1t now un-
less you mount it very extensively
il old gold; 1t takes best in mourn
ins rings or pins. There was 90
much of Poe's hair sold that the relic
irade In hair has suffered ever since.
There was q time when hair relic
hunter would make an effort to
secure q lock from the head of
neat man, even II the latter died as
bald a. the American eagle.
Npless me, IL here isn't one of the
tventy.five million canes that have
BEEN turned out OF the Mount Vernon
! mandatory. It is marked From
he grave of Washington!' and this
fellow wants 90 for it. What's thiss
From the Colosseum, Rome. How's
that ior rocks Here's rag cut
from the dress of Marie Antoinstte
Is she was being led to execution
and this hard-looking napkin Ia q
eisss case Is marked dipped Ia the
blood OF Lady Jane Grey, executed
u the Tower of London. Aug. %,
1862 Value, %, | see. Now. sir,
! L you'll Just take q look at that pile
over there, which haven't examined
Jet, you'll see glass tube, sealed at
both ends, and containing burnt
stick. Wait q minute, aud Ill tell
you what II is without reading the
label. It's . piece of charred fasot
found on the spot where Joan Of Arc
W burned All! I thought so; I've
ZEN cords Of them in my day. This
+ the most precious lot Of played-oht
relics I've seen for some time. Yet
thsfe ere people In this city who are
boxing for Just such articles, aud
vii pay heavily for them.
MANY relic hunters 60 10 only for
usmsutoes, and precious lot OF
rubbish these mementoes almost al.
vays are. If . mau has q fancy to
eathsf . flower from the grave of
keats In Rome. or few leaves from
Dtybureh Abbey, and makes I'D .
nttle album, 1t Is we'll enough. But
- tolOs VINO cues AROUND with o
hammer chipping pieces OF famous
hrtdges or churches, or even grave.
aonso, ought to be sent to q lunatic
alylun. know Q man who has .
collection of bricks. some one gave
hin Rsbylonian brick one day and
kset him crazy. The second brick
came from the Old South Church in
Boston, and the third from Inde-
peadence Hall. Philadelphia. He
picked up enough of them Ia Rome
y build : chimney with. Two years
80 he got into trouble Ia Pompeii
!or taking some rubbish from there;
eut when the authorities found he
only wanted Q brick or two and was
Wiling to pay well, they settled ami.
caely. He always carries a heavy,
/ eseelbound trunk with him, and he
end his peculiar curiosittes have
caused much anxiety among Custom
House officers. He told me the other
gay with great solemnity that two of
els valuable bricks had been broken
"a IN Inspector. One was from the