Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-01-27
MOCK ANTIQUITIES.
A Business Which is Thriving in Paris
Factory of ..OId Rouen Ware"


AFactOry of 'OId Rouen Ware"
The picture dealers have hardly finished
quaking at the exposure OF the tricks of
their trade before the dealers in faience
find that their turn has come, writes
Paris correspondent. These amiable peo-
pie have so long carried on a swindling
commerce in Paris that they had begun
to operate with a boldness which hasten
ed their ruin. HenceforWard even the
most guileless amateur will have no
excuse for being taken in. 1t is a little
puzZling TO see how he has allowed him.
self to be gulled up to date. The number
of curiosity shops alone is enough to put
one on his guard. They are springing up
in all directions. | was amazed, during
a walk in the Rue de Lafayette the other
day, to note the new ones which have
opened within the last few months. Very
magnificent affairs they are, with gorge
Gus fronts handsomely filled with "hal-
herds, lances. shields. banderOles, maJOll-
cas-, buckets full OF gems, and numerous
fragments Of tapestries, as well as plates
galore" The new conner to Paris whose
pockets are filled with newly-made money
looks at these museums and finds himself
willing to take almost anything offered
him. Why should not the plates be
genuine? They are ugly enough, he
thinks, to be ancient; and if they are imi-
tatiOns, who will know it in Oshkosh or
Valparaiso? He buys plate for Luca
della r bbia; that's enough for him. w Oe
unto the man who comes to him after the
purchase, and says: This thing is a
gross fraud; it was made only last year in
factory where thousands like it are
turned out annually for gulls like you
and the stamp OF age which you fancy
that you see upon it was attained by num-
erOuS artificial processes which We're
both cheap and nasty" Ten to one the
buyer will turn red with anger and report
among his friends that the critic is a pre-
sumptuOus ass who loves to make people
uncomfortable by making fun of their
artistic purchases, and who, furthermore,
does not know a good thing when he sees
it.
The uueducated buyers-the thousands
of men and women who flock here from
all parts of the world in search of pretty
objects Of art with which to ornament
their hOmes-these are the ones who first
encouraged the OutcrOpping of the swim
dlers. Mrs. Gen. X, from st. Louis, hav.
ing got possession of a Yeritable platter
from the hands of the maestro GiOrgio,
Mrs. Senator Y, of the same city, feels
that the universe will be an empty blank
until she has similar plate hanging in
her drawing-rOom. The merchant, appeal
ed to and offered fabulous sums, finds his
conscience sinking into ruins. Mrs. Sen.
atOr Y. will never know of the fraud
which he is tempted to perpetrate unless
he tells her; 50 he yields, and furnishes
her an imitation so artful, so good, that il
dims the radiance Of the acquisition in
which Mrs. Gen. Y. was beginning &c
revel. A gentleman sends to the Figaro 8
/ letter announcing that he was one even
/ ing in one of the curiosity shops in the
! Rue de Lafayette, when the POSTWAR
1 came in and handed the merchant :
! letter. He read it and laughed. 1t was
proposition that the dealer in curioe
should take stock in a company organized
expressly ''fOr the manufacture of ole
Rouen ware" and this company was K
start with d capital of 100000 francs, di
! Yided into 1000 shares of 800 fraHcs each
This knavery is not new. Many sucl
companies have been formed and run will
/ marked success for the last ten years. Tht
sums made in spurious Rouen, Strasbourg
! and SeYres feience since 1860 can never
be accurately estimated, but certaiuh
/ amount to many E3illiOns Of francs. There
is one porcelain factory in Francs
whose managers appear to have thrown
aside every atom of caution. They Issue
price-lists to general dealers conceived il
this wise: 'NFirst quality, extra, mer
chandise made old, so much"
! a few years ago every dealer who haC
| an important position made a speciality 0
the works Of Palissy. Every old horror
/ which had anything in common with TIN
epoch in which the great potter liveti, wal
attributed to him, and when a rage for hi
! productions had been created, hUndred
I upon hundreds Of limitations were launch
ed upon the market By and by thi
fraud broke down, bat the dealers, wht
! had meantime discovered that the public
is eminently gullible, were ready will
others. They had the marks of time ant
hard usage adroitly placed upon new
ware by Il variety of ingenious processes
and could produce at a moments motto,
an old Rouen which seemed to be VERT
able tFOlydiUe. 1t was some time befOr
they dared to begin the forging of sigma
lures, but when they did enter upon
they did it at wholesale. A cleve
amateur can take common white plate
worth 10 cents, decorate it in imitation 0
old fond de cur ROuen taience, put a TIN!
Cupid with his culver in the midst of al
odd and rather angular blue, yellow ant
! black characterization, and can give this {
a dealer, who will in time sell it to som
rich, and possibly to cultivated Ameri
can, Englishman, Russian or native G
Rouen for $500 or 5000 francs. Is it an
wonder that the dealers get rich?
One of the tricks which the merchant
practice is very cute. A man who is j
the movement will 60 into some large pre-
vincial town-such as ROuen, or Tours, 0
| Aries, or AVignOn, which is much ire
quented by tourist-and will arrange 70
owners of a certain house or Of half
dozen houses to have plaques of porcelain
beautifully gotten up in imitation of tn
ancient, placed in recesses above tn
doors or gateways of their mansions
When this is done he enters into anOthe
arrangement with the local guides o
cOuriers to take the tourists to see thes
pOrcelains, to detail their great age an
value, and finally to hint that they Nigh
be purchased. If an unlucky travele
snaps at the bait and inquiries of the tam
lily whether the porcelain can be had, b
meets with a rebuff which merely serve
to heighten his desire. The family pre-
tend to be offended, and the courier int
mates that the way to get the cOvete
object will be to apply to the great Pari
dealer. NJ. SO-and-so, who always succeed
in whatever he undertakes. In due time
and after delays and "unheard OF Difficult
ties,7 the swindled party gets the pOrct
lain and pays two or three hundred time
what it is worth, besides gratefully hand
ing over colossal commission to tn
individual who put up the job"
AS the result of the universal swindlin
now practiced in the sale of objects of a
artistic nature. new race of men-wh
! may De CdlleU tue buyers GulueS-l
springing up. These men are special
endowed with power to tell by sight
smell, and sound, whether or not a "Roue
or Strasbourg faience'' is genuine; an
buyers will soon be entirely dependent o
them.
1t remains to be said that many of tn
limitations are quite as beautiful as tn
originals. The public needs now to secur
them at a reasonable price, and to hav
them in no way confused with the Olde
ones. But the dealers will make a shar
fight before they will submit to this.
Life in Java.
Corresp oadeace Ne1o Orleans Times Deotocra
Travellers in Java are much impresse
by the fact that in Batavia they neve
meet baggars of any description, as i