Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1884-01-02
Relic Hunters.

!, The dealer in curiosities was turnin,
over with marked suspicion a lGrg
group of "relIcs." ga curiosity, salt
he, ''is interesting In itself; it mean
something, But q relic Is almos
always worthless fragment. 1
, Is the thing from which the relic i
taken, not the relic itself, which is in
teresting. The genuine relic hunters
though, are worth knowing; funnles
chaps you ever saw. They're a race o
beings by themselves. The man whC
sent these things here for me to buy
says he's got 1seven boxes more of th,
same sort, the collection of lifetime
Look az this chip. marked. "PIece o
the first sleeper laid for the Hadsor
River Railroad On the mans list i
Is entered, Bought 1880 cents.
II may be genuine-that is, if the com
pany used elm wood for their road-bu
if this chip is worth so cents, the wholt
sleeper must be worth several hundred
dollars, and the company ought to saw
it up and sell It, There's no logic in 6
relic hunter. The one who travelled
all over the world and brought bach
several trunks full of noses broken of
from ancient statues, had definite
idea. His followers are curiously dilu
ted specimens of their predecessor.
''Some of them, however, have spe
cialties not unlike that of the nose
breaker. One of the hveliest Of the
relic men collected the hats of celeb
rites. / don't believe he would have
given q dollar for Napoleon's grey over
coat; but the hat OF President OF the
United States had for him an almost
priceless value. II necessary, he was
was ready to suborn a great mans ser.
wants to get the wished for article.
Some years ago L saw his collection.
HIS finest specimens were at that time
placed upon the heads of plaster busts,
and arranged in long rows. He after
wards discarded this mode of arrange
meat, owing to the singular discrepan.
cies which often existed between the
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 a peculiar appearance to
his collection. One or two of his hats,
notably that of Thomas II. Benton,
were so small as to create a doubt IN
my mind as to their authenticity. L
learned afterwards that hotel servants
and others used to palm OFF their own
hats upen the collector.
One 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
winch Walter Scott wrete Waverlg,
and in the old country Bobby Burns
drinking glass might almost be called
a staple article of commerce. When
my poor father first took me into
business he gave me an awful talking
to because L bought three locks OF
Byron's hair from a relic collector,
although L only paid sixpence for the
three. The trouble was they were all
of different shades. Poe's hair used
10 be sold largely, but you can't t dis.
pose of it now unless you mount II
very extensively in old gold; it takes
best IN mourning rings or pins. There
was SO much OF Poe's hair sold that
the relic trade In hair has suffered
ever sIuce. There was a time when
a hair relIc-hunter would make an eff
fort to secure lock from the head OF
great man, even if the latter died as
tald rs the American eagle.
BLESS me, if here isn't one OF the
twenty-five million canes that have been
ufactory. 1t is marked From tue
grave OF Washington And this fellow
wants 81 ior it. What's this? From
the Colosseum, Rome How's that for
a rock? Here's a rag from the dress of
Marie Antoinette as she was being led
to execution, and this hard-lookiug nap.
kin IN a glass case Is marked dipped II
the blood of Lady Jane Grey. executed
in the Tower of London, August -,
1853. Value 50, see. Now, sir, II
you'll Just take look at that pile over
there, which l haven't exam med yet,
you'll see a glass tube, sealed NJ both
ends, and containing q burnt stick.
Wait a minute and Ill tell you what it
is without reading the label. LIS a
piece of charred fagot found on the
spot where Joan of Arc was burned.
An! L thought so; I've seen cords OF
them III my day. This Is the most
precious lot of plsyed-out relics I've
seen for some time. Yet there are pc o.
pie i'll this city who are looking for Just
such articles. and will pay heavily for
them.
MANY relic hunters 60 N only for
mementoes, and a precious loi OF rub
bish these memeutocs almost alwa avs
are. If man has fancy to gather a
| flower from the grave of Keats, in
Rome, or few leaves from Dry burgh
is well enough. But an idiot who goes
around with hammer clipping of
pieces of famous bridges or churches,
and even gravestones, ought to be sent
to iunatlc asylum. know q man who
has a collection of bricks. Some oae
gave him a Babylonian brick one day,
and 1t set hum crazy. The second b.icd
came from the Old South Church, In
Boston, and the third from Indepen-
dence Hall, Philadelphia. lie picked
up enough of them in Rome to bdild a
csImney with. Two years ago lie got
into trouble in Pompeii for taking some
rubbish from there; but when the au-
thoriues found he only wanted brick
or two and was willing to pay well, they
settled amicably. He always carries a
heavy steel bound trunk with hun, and
he and his peculiar curiosities have
causet much anxiety among Custom
House officers. 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 Col
umn of TIsjsn, and the other from the
fine old Roman triumphal arch IN Mar
seilles. He used to hire men 10 pull
them out for him whiie he remained In
a doorway at convenient distance.
By the way. the old gentleman lost a
box OF fire ol | br cGs year ago; 1t was
thrown overheard by some sailors, who
thought it was dynamite. Itseens that
stowaway had screwed the cover of
in the beli1f that it contaiued gold. He
then made a confidant of one of the
sailors aud persuaded them that 1t wa: