Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-04-11
CONFESSION OF A BRIC-A.DRAC
DEALER
Clever limitations OF ClOisonne and
Ivory-Japanese Goods Made i'm Biz
minHham.

Clever limitations OF ClOisonne and
Ivory-Japanese Goods Made i'm Biz
minKhaln.
From the New York Sun.
"a word as to buying cheap limitations of
articles which are not susceptible OF being
fairly reproduced" said the old dealer in brio
a-brac. To purchase an imitation of clio isonne
ware, for example, is to make bad error in
taste, for It's beauty depends. not upon its form
or color, but upon Its exquisite handiwork, a
quality of which no imitation can give the least
idea Here is piece Of imitation Japanese
coisonne. 1t is Of copper, like the genuine,
! and, for cheap enamel, has rich appearance
Now examine 1t beside an original piece. The
! imitation. you observe, becomes duh and tawdry
looking. and the colors do not appear fresh or
distinct. 1t s, however. in its base imitation Of
tracery that the thing shows cut really false and
Accountable; the lines of gold or brass are daubed
| on with a brush. In the genuine article the
markings between the colors and all of the
traceres are firm and clear for the point in coi-
some is to tool little cutters of metal in the COP
per, and press in the fine wires. golden or brazen
No imitation can give any idea of the effects to
be gained in this way.
1.-THE bit OF imitation cloisonne have shown
yon is Of home manufacture, and is bad enough
to protect the buyer; the really dangerous imi-
fations are made 10y the Japanese themselves:
for it is a sad fact that the American demand
for cheap art goods has demoralized the best
artists in the world in this kind Of work Be-
ware OF cl0iSonhe. The most deceptive thing in
Drlc-a-brac ever saw was a so-called cloisOnne
vase sold as damaged. The injury consisted of
break IN the metal only half an inch long but
suffcient to disclose the fine threads of the
tracery, which had in fact been torn from their
oeds: AS the break was susceptible Of perfect
repair, the object brought a high price On ex-
animation it was found that apart from the
threads laid bare. there was not Il single cloi-
some wire In the vase all the rest of the
tracery had been painted on. the break having
been especially made to show a construction
which did not exist in fact The article was
worthless.
There is one point In the purchase of bric-a-
brac in which we Americans are egresiously de-
ceiyed. We import large quantities of several
KINDS OF Japanese and Chinese art goods which
had previously been imported into those coun-
tries from the manufactures of Birmingham,
England. The fact does not speak well for our
Wanted acuteness. Even the hammered bronzes
OF CHINA and Japan are often but clumsy speci-
mems of English stamped work Birmingham
manufacturers do not object to helping one-haif
the world to deceive the other half provided
the material part of the work is done In their
shops
"As for Sheffield manufacturers. they show a
bodness in the manufacturing of sham art
work which exceeds all their proverbal mpu-
dence IN turning out sheet-iron razors. Some
OF our young 'blOods acquire In Paris a taste
Tor old arms. few years ago they ransacked
New York for them, and many an old Dutch
carving knife, under fancy name, found its
way to the glittering circles of cutlery over
their mantelpieces. The Sheffield manu-
lecturers noted the demand, and We were soon
hooded with an unseemly lot of polished iron.
was obliged to keep some of it. We had
terrible looking corkscrew swords. Turkish
cimeters, weighing twelve pounds. flashing
cutlasses, Spanish daggers, Italian stilettOs,
French fOils and Damascus and Toledo blades in
abundance. They We're mere toys, harmless
things that would hardly penetrate cloth, but
they sold at high prices. Let me show YOU a
true blade. Here is a fine Toledo dagger ex-
quisEey engraved and Damascened. It is small
and light. running down to a long fine point:
yet when l place this English penny piece on
the taole-so-l can drive that point down
jured. blow like that would bend up those
Damascus dOggers from Sheffield like SO many
fish hooks. This fashion has now given place
to passion for collecting bad firearms-guns
which never seem to- hit any one except when
they go off by accident. Some of the old Shelf
field arms may still be seen in the Bowery ac-
foundations OF pawn shop bric-a-brac
Ivory gOods?" The old dealers ewes
twinkled Il Just happend to think" said he
ol an order had three years ago for half
dozen ivory diptychs and an assortment of
Etruscan carvings That was about the most
preposterOus order ever received was irri-
tated at first, but grew amazingly cheerful as l
Thought OF my customers greenness. Some men
imagine that money will buy anything, old or
new. in existence or out of 1t. 1t is true that
some fine specimens Of ivory taken from Etrus-
can tombs are still preserved. The British Mu-
scum has dozen of them, and some are extant
which were known to be in existence at the
time Of Moses. But as to buying them as Won
would abootjack-
"a diptych, you know, consists of two carved
ivory covers, each from 8 to IA inches long and
proportionatey wide. The Greeks used them
for writing tablets, and the Romans gave them
to c0nsuls for presents; that is how the fashion
arose OF giving portfolios to cabinet ministers
They were rare even in their day and as the icono-
cfasts destroyed all the ivory carvings they could
lay their hands on you may imagine how scarce
they are at the present time. Even European
museums count themselves fortunate when they
possess half one; SO the six diptychs ordered
by my customer would have made a bad hole in
his fortune.
II think it was in the spring Of 70 that a
greatly dilapdated fellow called on me and
door and took from under his coat 1 14u,n u
dfptych which he offered to sell for 81 800 Had
he offered me the Vatican or st. Peters for a
like sum shouldn't have been more surprised
knew there was something wrong, but could
not say where. The marks of age. &C.. were
perfect, and the work stood the magnifyine
glass wonderfully well. When at last deter
mined to take off the frame and backing the
man went down on his knees and begged me
not to expose him; he had stolen it from Pa
Wan monastery, he said. 1t proved to be carved
on new ivory, ingeniously pieced out and fairly
we'll cut; it had been manufactured in a
garnet In Pisa by man who makes business
of 1t. l let the fellow go; he did not lie any
worse than dealers are often obliged to do, and
was only like us, selling goods for something
else than what they are. The rascal also had
two replicas in his pocket; the three articles
worth only about $50. Five years afterward /
saw one of them In well-known private library
IN Bath street. but made no sign.
''There are many methods of making imita-
tion ivory carvings. Sometimes the material is
sawed in thin Sheets steamed in softening va
pors, and pressed into moulds It is then stained
Tor age, cut, filed, or otherwise tortured into
shape. and. after being filled in with cement, is
backed with an ivory veneer and offered for
sale. Relief figures are made from a COMPOST
ton of ground bone and gum, and then cast and
polished. But lack of luster and grain betrays
them to careful observers. If you buy 'Japa-
nese' cabinet work, 0rnamented with raised
ivory carvings, handle it carefully, for sharp
rap will often powder the bogus ivory Look
out, too, for imitation mother-of-pear It Is q
comparatively new sham In ornamental art, and
liable to damaging accidents upon very small