Daily Yellowstone journal., 1888-02-25
ANTIQUES MADE TO ORDER.
A New York studio Where Relies %
Olden Art Are Manufactured.

49,
armor, hanging lamps, tiles from Pom
peii, battle axes with polished blades,
bools innumerable, a large vat of earth
nware, work benches and a few mod
ern canebotton chairs-these and a score
of other objects obtruded themselves
simultaneously upon the visitor.
Huddled together in one corner, near
q small lathe, such As jewellers use, lay
an incongruous heap of bronze figures OF
men and animals, all more or less bro
ken. They were cheap, gimcrack af-
fairs such as one can buy brand new for
q few dollars in any furniture store.
Nv here do you get them:' | inquired
q my host-ws were on the best Of
terms.
AT the junk dealer s for the price Of
the old metal, +" he answered. 1.-THE bet
ter ones-of real bronze-l pick up at
auctions, or at least my son does. None
of that lot over there cost more than
f1.75."
/ gasped and let my eyes wander fur
ther until they rested on a deal table be-
tween the two windows. Above 1t was
q gas bracket connected by rubber tubing
with a small iron standard, such as
chemists use. Near this. on the table,
lay two blowpipes, with platinum tips
and several long pronged pinchers. Di-
rectly behind these stood a large paste
board box brimful Of bits Of glass and
empty homeopathic medicine bottles. NY
host smiled as he caught tho puzzled
look which stole over my face.
ut is out Of that stuff we make those
Etruscan iridescent tear vials you see in
museums" he remarked, while his small
eyes twinkled gleefully. SAT least my
daughter makes them. II is easy work.
Wait a minute and I'll show You how 1t
is Done, " and with that he lighted the gas
at the nozzle Of the standard. watched
him %curlously.
He took a pinchers and inserted one Of
It's long jaws into a medicine bottle from
the collection. This done, he twirled it
gently over the gas for half a minute.
ut must heat gradually OF it will
Gack," he said in explanation. Next,
placing a blowpipe to his lips, he blew a
steady flame against the glass until it
glowed with roseate fire and began to
fuse. A portion of its surface caved in;
he turned it over, blowing all the while,
until the vial lost all its symmetry and
presented four irregular sides, each in
dented. Then, quick as a flash. he threw
the molten fragment into a pan Of reddish
powder, and rolled it and twisted it
about with his pinchers. That is me-
tallic oxide of copper" he explained, as
he picked the vial out and started blow
Ing. Again the glass began to fuse, and
the antiquity maker, with a second pair
Of pinchers, drew what had once been
the bottom of the vial out into a cone
shaped point. A fine rasp was passed
over the entire surface, after which the
glowing vial was whisked through a pan
d powdered rosin. 1t was next dipped
into gold powder, silver powder and
green aniline dye. A final fusing, and
then the mouth Of the unacceptable
bottle was crimped into little scollops
with a wire instrument resembling a
miniature crimping longs.
The metamurphosis was complete! An
ordinary medicine bottle had been changed
into a beautiful, iridescent tear vial be.
fore my very eyes.
"There," triumphantly exclaimed the
antiquity maker as he stuck the tear via
into a perforated p~asteboard stand to cool,
IL buy those little bottles for ten cents q
dozen and | can sell that tear vial easily
for Sc. That is can sell it for that il
anybody wants it, but there is not q
steady demand for tear ylals.' BY this
time my brain was busy with a new
problem.
what doyou do with all those broken
6les:" | inquired, pointing to a good
sized chest half Tiled with them.
"Old files make the very best of STEEL"
replied the magician of the workshop.
IL melt them and hammer them out to
make the blades Of Venetian daggerS.
Look, ! have a portable forge in here, =
and so saying he opened the door into a
smaller room. Sure enough there stood
a tiny eorge, and beside il a work bench
Uttered with tools. Among them lay
quaint female figure. picked it up. II
was silver and quite heavy.
"That is the hilt Of a dagger" my hos
exclaimed. 1T is not pure silver; thu
inside is lead. Yes. it looks very ancient
but | cast il myself only the day befort
yesterday. What makes its surface 81
worn and rough? | sprinkled it will
nitric acid out Of this little stone flask
and then washed it OF quickly. Here i:
a finished dagger. What do you thinl
Of it,"
II was a magnificent weapon, and
said so, al the same time expressing sur
prise at the gold hligrce imbpldcd in ia
blue steel blade. II thought the score
of that sort Of work persisted with th
swordmakers Of Damascus said ]
Wolters gave no information on tha
subject. but pointed u n row OF statuettt
which lined n shelf above my head.
There they stood, gods, goddesscs nm
demigods, rymplts, satyrs, dryads, naiaC
and nereids, all antique, all more or lei
green with ycrdigris, and all more or le
dilapidated. 4 one armed Apollo W;
there; a Mercury, minus his caduceus;
lapside1 Juno; a Jupiter grasping
broken thunderbolt, and a Bacchant
raising a broken goblet TO hCr laughin
lips. Had they been what they purportC
to be- $1,000 would have bcen lit
enough 10 pay for the collection.
"lOu would not think 10 look {
them, said the old German. with II
honest pride n n craftsman. that ever
n Of them came from that junk hea
Whirh won ll,g tu Tho other room -