The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1886-09-21
A NEW TRADE.
THE ART OF MAKING NEW FUR
NITURE LOOK LIKE OLD.
Catering to the Taste for the Antique
Operators of h TruquaEe-
Production of Old Pala-
tial Furniture.

theless deserves to rank among the finer
arts of modern civilization, such is the
industry and skill and ingenuity with
which it is carried out. Burns cottor
mother was chiefly admirable for the skill
with which she ''gar'd auld things look
maist as we'll as new" but the %truqueur
devotcs himself, on the contrary, to the
art Of making things look quite as good
as old. The connoisseur in furniture Of
the present day is we'll aware that, for
certain important qualities of soundncss,
good workmanship and good taste, the
s'old is BETTER" with valid reason also
for his opinion. But the crowd, who
have neither his leisure, his knowledge
or his experience, naturally fall into the
hands of the scientific experts Of tru-
quage, an easy prey to the spoiler.
The stock-in-trade of the French tru-
queur and his English congcner-quite
as expert as he-need not be large. Wal
nut juice-which gives an agreeable mel
lowness of tone-and nitric acid are
neither of them expensive. The latter
initiates pretty closely the ravagcs of ants.
and holes bored with fine argur easily
gives a worm-eaten up rance whica ap-
peals to the lover of the antique in carved
furniture. The writer was informed by
a workingman's wife that her husband
was one of these solely employed in the
boring or augur business; but in Paris
live worms are kept to do the work, and
do it wen better, and to order, which is
more surprising. New oak can be stained
by q solution of old iron in hot vinegar,
which darkens it to a deeper tone; it is
then carefully oiled and polished. The
price demanded, however, is such that
''bargains" can be boosted of by the in
experienced, while really fine work al
ways commands its value in the open
market.
The unhappy pieces of furniture which
have to date from the sixteenth century
are severely beaten with heavy blud-
gcons, which serves to give them the
worn appearance necessary to three cen
turtles of existence. A common device
is to paint the panels of cupboards,
roughly carved on the premises, with
white paint; they are then dried in the
Sun, and, after keeping some months, arc
washed in potash, which removes the
paint in patches, and the exquisite finish
Of the carving beneath is apt to be taken
for granted by the buyer; who is aware
that in the last century much good pan
cling was thus painted, and preserved to
our generation in consequence of all its
pristine freshness of cutting an outline.
Bull of a very ordinary description is
ornamented by French dealers with brass
scroll work, after the designs of Gillot,
who succeeded Bull. Those who can
be taken in by these mechanical repro
auctions must be left to their fate. In
porcelain and faience one can only say
caveat emptor, so clever are the tricks
by which even the learned are deceived.
At Cages mandatory ut Versailles the
faience de Nevers is reproduced to per-
fiction; but here all is fair and open
dealing. If the buyer prefers his pur-
chase '%'antique," NJ. Cage will bake it
for him until the glaze crackers. It is
further mellowed in a manure heap, and
a slight extra charge is imposed. The
special marks of favorite potters are
easily initiated, and Us much pains is
taken with spurious ware, with intent to
deceive, as would suffice to give value to
real specimens. The character of the
early decoration is carefully preserved
the even white of the Monsters ware;
the dead, dull white of the Marsellaise,
and the careful finish of the old Delft
potters.
At Venice the reproduction of the old
palatial furniture is a thriving industry,
and the same at Florence; but it posses
ses little or no artistic value. The
ebony is black stained wood; the stipi
are bone, and not ivory; the shapes and
patterns are, however, carefully copied,
and the prices are not excessive, and
good patterns are a distinct gain in fur
n~iture; but the modern production will
not have the lasting qualities of the old.
Ivory triptychs are manufactured at Yer
s~ailles. The golden tint is gained by
boiling in oil, then plunging into boiling
water and drying before a hot fire, which
cracks the ivory to perfection. These
require a skilled eye to detect, as the
carving is often meritorious. Even
works of the highest art do not escape
the truqueur. Clodion, the late eminent
French sculptor, discovered that a group