The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1885-07-15
Bslc.A.eaAc As 4 BUSINESS.
sasnriss In tbs 1sads aud whimsIeali.lss
IN the Collection o. GURUS

~ Wv AuAlfttofN VI EuNAuI4
lNew Yars suh.
A dealer in curiosities wag engaged
IN sticking come yery ancient.lookfng
postage stamps upon piece Of highly
coloEed and hamboyant cardboard MS
accustomed smile was absent, and bis
manners seemed 10 have lost their
former elasticity.
Business has been dull" we ven.
tured
f.h, no, by no means" said the old
gentleman; regarding a batch Of stamps
with a look Of extreme disgust:
business was better than usual
last winter for general variety curiosi.
ties, and the backward spring prolonged
It's activity, but Il was bad business; is
nature AMI quality were had. sold
more sham goods last winter IN the way
Of curloEtieS than in any two seasons
for twenty years. Look at these arti.
cle& On that card are postage stamps
supposed to be worth all tho way from
s2 10 $50 apiece: they include the rare,
the very uni ue. There are fifty on the
card. soil them at SO for the lot, and
they are dear at that They arc base
limitations They have been mauled
aud inked and torn and rubbed in the
dust and Lroken up generally 10
give them the appearance Of high
antiquity. but they are fresh fro u
a Nassau street printing press. |
can buy q sheet Of Ave $50 stamps for 2
cents People have grown more i'm.
moral atont curiosiiies than anything
else. In the limo Of bric.a.brac in gen.
cral ! say calmly that high society Is
loose. ] suppose you know that In the
middle ages oisonefs wore rings with
cavities In them containing deadly
poisons ready for use at any moment.
Some Of the rings were provided with a
sharp metal point operated by a spring,
so that the wearer in shaking hands
with an intended victim coull gently
ratch the skin with the ensonomed
metal and cause his death. There are
two Of these rings IN the British nv.
scum, aud q dozen or more in
the National museum ut Naples.
In all my lists | would find 1t hard TO
rake up twenty Of them. Yet within q
week n collector had the reryc 10 offer
nc 30 cents for one Of those rings Il
asked only 81 for land he insisted on
q certificate OF its genuircness. / hal
to let II 20 for 80 cents. won't deny
that the rings arc made in Birmingham
by the thousand"
"iOn sec, the bogus curiosity trade has
now come to 10 done in defiance Of all
the laws Of artistic deconcy. Scratch
that bron lap god over there and you
will find that, though fair without, he
is speltCr within. most firmly believe
that II were to buy q dozen calvesfoOt
Jelly lnoulds and probably batter and
aCidulate them. ] could dispose OF them
within month as baby sarcophagi Of
the time Of lIameSeS II.
THE moro tho fact Of the fraudulent
nature Of brlc.a.brac is advertised the
moro goods we seem 10 sell. Fraudu.
lent goods arc cheap goods, and that is
what people want These so.ealled col.
lectOrs visit each other Perhaps a
friend shows an inkstand that belonged
to old Sir Francis Bacon or maybe ono
OF Talleyrands ShoU buckles or the
comb that Mario AntOinctto used before
going to execution, 'or an authentic IJr.
johnson teapot owned BY Mrs. lhrale,
all staple articles, you see; why, then,
the collector comes to us, and VIC
have to furnish q similar article.
Now, in the old days wo used
20 make up these things very carefully
and set high prices for them; but now
the briC.a-brac makers furnish them to
us aud tho market is loOle AS a con.
sequence the prices arc almost nothing.
DO you know that q dealer eau buy
Bobby Burns drinking.Cups in New
York at 4 cents each' Tho original Is
shown TO visitors in AbbOtsford; but |
know two or three brick collectors
that Is what We call the ordinary bric.a.
braC hunter in New lork-whO have n
Burns cup, and each Of them protenls
that his Is the originll AhbOtsford ar.
ticlc, which ho pOcketel when in Scot.
land, substituting an imitation in It's
place"
What are The most popular staplcsf'
"ThC old timers in tho line Of personal
crockcry, so called by tho trade, histori-
cal teapOts anl things, hold thor own.
Jewelry, weapons, rings, smut boxes,
bronze monsters, idols Thy tho barrel,
toiOt articles, fans, and all the rest
keep on rs staples very much as for
mcrly, though now sold at ridiculOusly
low rates. Relics can almost DO sold BIZ
the peck nowadays. The real interest
Of tho trade centerS on what wo call
new staplCs-artCles which have Ger.
tain vogue for the time being, and sell
rapidly, and are totally forgotten in
few months. For instance, when the
revised Testament appeared We did well
with So-Callrd literary relics. All OF us
had samples Of uncial manuscript,
supposed to DO genuine frag.
lnents. A London dealer sent us
over q lot Of very salabIe pa.
limpsests, and one OF our dealers did |
well In the manufacture Of whole leaves
OF Greek transcripts OF Scripture, The
latter were intended to DO offered only |
as interesting limitations, but curiously |
enough, people took to them as gen.
uinc, and We had to put up tho price so
rs to retain the confidence Of customers. |
Some matter was prepared, under.
stand, for the appearance OF the revised |
Old TestimCnt, but dealers got sold on
II. When Arab WIS fighting in Egypt
our Connecticut supply house made q
considerable quantity OF antique Egyp.
tial curious. Tho lulu war deluged US
with imitation aSsegais. Some years
ago ALyssinian nose rings had re.
markaJle sale. Tho last war in Turkey
brought up tho chronic fraud, elaborate
smelling bottles filled with mighty weak
altar OF roses. livery great excitement
seems to have It's specialtieS in some
sort Of brlc.a.6rac. F"
|
Sheridan On a Story Of the War
Washington Chr. Philadelphia PresS1
Gen, Phil Sheridan is ono Of the best
story folders In Washington N4nv nT |