Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-12-07
CRAYON FRAUDS.
How the Public is Imposed On by Imi-
tatiOn CrayOn Portraits.

!
Pihsburg Dispatch.
"There are few who can tell when they
| they are getting crayOn portrait these
days." remarked an artists supply ware
/ house proprietor yesterday.
Are there many cOunterfeits"
Come now-but how is the general
public to know, to be sure?" resumed the
gentleman. "Of course there are frauds
practiced in crayon portraits. There is a
fine picture. That is a genuine crayOn,
and is worth $40. Its size Is 30x50 inches.
The high lights are the pure whiteness OF
the paper, and every bit Of the shading is
done only with crayon."
SHOW are the limitations made?''
by what is known as solar prints.
Some twelve years ago il was discovered
that small card photograph could be en-
larged TO any size by any application of
the same scientific principles as were
used in taking the likeness of any person.
The difference was, instead of reducing
ife-siZe by mathematical and accurate
proportions TO the object reproduced on a
small card, this diminished object could
be enlarged by a reversal of the lenses.
You look through a telescope and by one
way 1t enlarges and by the other dimin-
lshes the object toward which it is
directed. Solar prints are the enlarge
ment OF card photographs, and they are
made by a reversal OF the contracting
lenses. The artist, or more likely
canVasser, gets an order for a crayOn,
and the photograph from which the
picture is to be taken is sent to New
York or some other point where this work
is done, and it returns inside of week or
so enlarged and ready to be touched up
with cTayOn. The solar print is a photo
graph and the nigh lights of the picture
are therefore of blush tint. The first
thing TO be done is to destroy the tell-tale
work. 1t is done by taking a quantity of
pulverized crayOn and rubbing it thfnly
and industriOusly over the tinted places
with piece Of Kid or soft cloth. Posi-
bly, the background is shaded, or tinted
with India ink or water cOlOrs. Three
minutes work with brush does that, and
then comes the shading of the
likeness. The photograph may have
been sufficiently shaded already
SO the first process of rubbing the picture
with fine crayOn dust has finished that
part of it. The clothing and dark lines
are heavily marked with cTayon where
needed, and toned down here and there
until a very little bit of work has con-
verted the photograph into so neat a
craYOn portrait that l defy any one but
an expert to detect the fraud. Not one
out OF twenty of those pictures are genu.
inc crayOns. There are two processes
AOA AAC a4dnlAeCtult VI sDAdI DIluAss L ue
old way is on silver, but the newer and
better process is the platinum. They are
said to last longer, and will not turn vel
low so readily"
'.Then the solar print is an inferior ar.
ticle?'
while the likeness may be better, very
frequently they do not keep their color,
and are sure to fade after being in use
about ten years or so. But they are SO
cleverly made that few can tell the decep-
ton. They do not cost so much, and there
is a larger profit in them. We get them
made for So apiece, the size being 30x5O
inches, but when we order a number TO-
gether they cost much less. Counting
the work of the artist, and then rating the
sale of the article at $50 and up to 500,
there is a liberal margin. A number OF
the ladies VINO are art students do a great
deal of this work, but the artists and
photographers are the ones who make
fine profits out Of them. The genuine
crayOn sells for no more, and the profit is
that much greater on account of the saw
ING Of time, painstaking and labor. The
Eastern prints are much better, and are
clearer than those made here, and for that
reason are preferred.'