Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-11-21

my mind as to their authenticity. / learned
atterward that hotel servants and others used
to palm off their own hats upon the collector
zone OF the greatest troubles with relics is
that they seldom bear the least evidence within
themselves OF their genuineness have seen In
my day several hundreds of the pens with which
Walter Scott wrote Waverly,' and in the old
! country Bobby Burns drinking glass might al
most De called staple article of commerce.
When my poor father first took me into bust
ness he gave me an awful talking to because
| bought three locks of Byron's hair from relic
| COLLECTOR. although only paid sixpence for the
three. The trouble was they were all Of differ
ent shades. Poes hair used to be sold largely.
but you can't dispose of it now unless YOU
mount it very extensively in old gold it takes
pest in mourning rings or pins. There was so
much of Poe's hair sold that the relic trade in
hair has suffered ever since. There was time
when hair relic hunter would make an effort
to secure lock from the head of a great man.
even If the latter died as bald as the American
eagle.
BLESS me, if here isn't one of the TWENTY-FIVE
million canes that have been turned out of the
Mount Vernon manufactory. It is marked From
the grave of Washington And this fellow wants
S2 for it. What's this? From the Colosseum,
Rome How's that for q rock? Here's a rag
cut from the dress of Mary Antoinette as she
was being led to execution and this handbook
Ing napkin In glass-case is marked dipped in
the blood OF Lady Jane Grey, executed i'm the
tower Of London, August %. 1853 Value. s..
| see. Now, sir. If you'll just take a look at
that pile over there, which l haven't examined
yet. you'll see glass tube, sealed at both ends,
and containing burnt stick. Wait minute
and LII tell you what it Is without reading the
label. It's piece of charred fagot found on
the spot where Joan of Arc was burned All. |
| thought SO; I've seen cords of them in nv day.
This Is the most precious lot of played-out relics
I've seen for some time. Yet there are people
in this city who are looking for lust such arti-
Giles, and will pay heavily for them.
MANY relic hunters gOin only for mementoes,
and precious lot of rubbish these mementoes
almost always are. II man has a fancy to
gather flower from the grave of Keats in
Rome, or few leaves from Dryburgh Abbey,
and makes up little album, it is we'll enough
But an idiot who goes around with hammer
chipping off pieces of famous bridges or churches
| and even grayestones, ought to be sent to a lu-
matte asylum know man who has collec-
ton of bricks. Some one gave him a BabylOnan
brick one day. and it set him crazy. The second
brick came from the Old South Church in Bos.
ton, and the third from independence Hall, Phil
adelphia. He picked up enough of them in
Rome to build a chimney with. Two wears ago
he got into trouble in Pompeii for taking some
rubbish from there; but when the authorities
found ne only wanted a brick or two and
was willing to pay well, they settled amicably.
He always carries heavy stee-bound trunk
with MIN. and he and his peculiar curiosities
have caused much anxiety among custom-house
o1llcers He told me the other day, with great
solemnity, that two of his valuable bricks had
been broken by an Inspector. One was from the
Column Of Trajan. and the other from the fine
old Roman triumphal arch in Marseilles. He
used to hire men to pull them out for him while
ne remained in doorway at convenient dis
lance. BY the way. the old gentleman lost
box of fine old bricks year ago; it was thrown
overheard by some Sailors who thought 1t was
dynamite. 1t seems that a stowaway had
screwed the cover off in the belief that it con-
tanned gold. He then made a confi6ant of one
OF the sailors, and persuaded them that it was
All explosive. They promised him food for the
voyage If he would throw the bricks into the
sea- This collectors brick from the house of
Columbus was lost in this way.
1.-The most costly Of all the collections of use
less things ever saw was one which consisted
wholly of what purported to be the bones of
celebrated men. man who ever gets this
mania Is lncurable and will often go without
the comforts of life to Crafty his craze. OF
course such collections are seldom heard Of for
the practice OF rObbing graves is dangerous.
Canadian gentleman who used to call on me
twice year tor fine 'rattlers'-thats what they
call these cheerful relics-tOld me that he got
the taste through hearing in his youth graphic
story about the stealing Of bone from the
grave of the Rev. George Whitefeld, the cele-
brated English preacher, who died near Boston
few years before the revolutionary war. SIM
pose this Is true. At any rate Boston was con-
sldered at one time headquarters for dealers in
frst-cass 'rattlers.' There is not now much
call Tor them openly, except among collectors
OF morbid articles connected with great crimi-
nails. The Canadian once had bitter fight with
fellow collector, who, on visiting him. found
in his possession the skull Of Gen. Kleber. who
was assassinated in Cairo in the wear 1900 Now
as the visitor had himself procured in Egypt. at
great expense, a skull Of the general the col
lectors became highly excited. and an anatomist
was called in Science decided that one of the
skulls contained piece of integument whose
chemical changes proved it to be considerably
less than six years old, while the formation of
the other not only showed decided Egyptian
origin, but contained the teeth of person of
twenty years. kleber was about fifty. But the
funniest part OF 1t, though did not dare laugh
over 1t when the report was made, was that one
OF the collectors had been cherIshing the skull
of a woman.
1t is very singular how easily relic hunters
may be fooled. Neither of those two men
would buy any OF the religious relics so common
In Europe. But take almost any kind of a bone.
boil it carefully to take the fat out. dry it for
several days by gentle heat In an oven, and
color it yellow with tumeric and Vandyke
brown, and you have a fair basis for die er
with the best of the relic hunters. The inscrip-
ton must be very carefully made on old vellum,
and odd private marks, partially Obliterated
must appear here and there on the bone Some
dealers use q mixture of mineral acid and
water on parts OF the bone, to make them crum-
bic easily. The articles must be kept in heavy
glass cases made for them, and. ii mounted
must show costly work: The price asked must
be large, and rigidly adhered to. These devices
may appear immoral, but it is better to use
them than to rob grave.
''Of course most of the relic hunters aim to
get general collection. They will take bot
tie of water from the river Jordan, a piece of
rotten stone from Vesuvius, gulf weed from
the Atlantic ocean, or piece of old bark from
Hyde Park. With equal calmness they will
break piece of stone from statue or public
building; they would steal great mans hair
brush, or split of piece Of mahogany from
his writing table. A list of their varied collec-
tions would be rather long for the average
compass OF mans life. Even the specialists
would make tremendous list have known
men who took shell or pebble from every
well-known beach they ever visited, or noun
tain they ever assembled. One Of them had
q stone from the streets Of every important CITY
in Europe. The number of collectors of pipes is
quite large. A Brooklyn minister had hand
some collection Of meerschaums Knew one
gentleman who cared for nothing but old clocks,
and another who had between three and four
hundred old-fashioned eyeglasses and specta-
cles. man who lived in Broome street several
years ago delighted In an enormous collection