Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-10-04
OLD CURIOSITY SHOP.
THE CHlCAGOAN'S PASSION FOR COL
LECTING ANCIENT WEAPONS.

/
to the Growing Taste for the
Curious-A Rich and Rare Acquisition.
Relics from Mexico-Imitation of Old
weapons-C Collectors.
swell" said a man, stopping in front of
South Side store and giving his voice ris-
ing infection, this strikes me as funny The
idea of starting a place of this kind in
brand new town ike Chicago is bold, to say
the least. But Old Curiosity Shop looks
good on sign. Let's walk in and seen
And he and his friend did So They found !
the spacious store filled with all sort of
curious things relics and weapons, idols and
implements Of quaint design and ancient
make After pottering around and seeing |
their fill they both became the owners of |
several Indian relics and departed satisfied. |
This is the first and only curiosity shop |
in the west said the owner. ''I've only just |
branched out in this store, for hitherto, |
travelling six months out of twelve all along,
didn't think it worth while keeping shop,
as | have readily disposed of my goods to
private collectors and museums. But taste
for curios is springing up in Chicago, and l
guess it will pay to cater to it in this formal
manner
There are in his collection many specimens
of Indian weapons, tools, etc. A rich and rare
acquisition of the war was the collection of
Professor Hon, of Orleans, Ind, WI ch it had
taken sixty years to get together am which
was especially complete in Indian relics of
all kinds. The shopkeeper, as he explained,
,fo -,
Mexico, New Mexico, Arizona, Oregon and
other places in which still hunt for re-
markable or ancient things is likely to prove
a benefit In Old Mexico he picks up old
weapons especially, not only those of Aztec
make, good many of them antedating the
Spanish conquest by centuries, but also arms
coming from those very conquerors under
COrtez, These latter, however, are hard to
get, as they are for the most part in the pos
session of descendants of the very men who
bore them first in battle, $40 years ago, and
who do not like to part for any money with
such heirloorns; or else they are in private or
public collections or museums.
RELICS FROM MEXICO.
Still, now and then a fine piece of old armor
is gotten by the willy Chicago trader, and in
due time, of course, finds its way into Ameri-
can collections Weapons of bone daggers,
spears and lances, all of Aztec make, copper
| swords and shields, likewise very old, are
| things which are also still to be found by
| diligent search in Mexico The enormous ak
| heads of basat and ground down in a very
slow and powerful manner to the right shape
are interesting things, as are also the NOR
tars and pestles made of lava from the neigh
borhood of 0rizaba. Puebla relics, taken
| from the Indian tribe of that name in New
Mexico form another branch of the collec-
| tion. Grinning, ugly idols, hollow and with
| gaping mouths, made of a fine grained sand
stone OF brilliant hue, vessels of all sorts, hol-
lowed out in the most painstaking manner
and of graceful shape, are there by the score
The passion for ancient weapons has seized
the soul of the select few out west at last. 1t
took long time till the fever reached here,
but il has nov begun its devastating course
in earnest. Owners of fine homes are already
| beginning to fret about where they shall OBJ
tain their supply of these ancient tools of
warfare But hand in hand with the grow
ing desire there is the rise of home industry
| Already there is one man in town who has
begun to manufacture ancient weapons on
a large scale Therefore, when YOU see a
rusty mailed shirt said TO he 500 years old,
an armor spotted all over with verdigris and
alleged shave come down from knightly
old crusader, beware. The chances are that
neither the one nor the other is what it pre-
tends to be The imitation of these old
weapons has become, all over the world, q
regular branch of industry Persia, Turkey
and the Cancasus, however, are the countries
par excellence where this counterfeiting il
done with greatest perfection and mosi
| abundant success.
THE GENUINE ARTICLES.
1t is refreshing, therefore, when one sees
some really genuine oriental weapons from
the brave DAYS of old. In Chicago there is a
least one place where one may do 50. Tha
is the den of Dudley Winston, the son o
F. H. Winston, who accompanied his fathel
on his mission to Persia, and who brough
home from Constantnople, Tiflis, Trebizond
and Teheran small but very choice collec
tion of rare old weapons. There are cine
tars inlaid with gold and silver, Damascu
blades of finest temper and most delicat
workmanship. There are yataghans o
rough make and OF exquisite make, til
tracery on the blades being often the finest O
all. There are old guns, eight feet long an
| over, whose stock shows 6rabesqueS 4
! mother of pearl silver and gold. There ar
khandjars from Georgia and from Cireassis
straight daggers, which are worn stuck i
the girdle in front, handy to seize, and a mos
dreadful weapon in a close encounter, in si7
and length just like the short Roman swor
of the DAYS Of Augustus, only more pointeC
!. The finest and most complete collection {
ancient weapons in America is, however
!. that of Morosini, Jay Gould's late partne
and the father-iu-law of the former coacl
man, SchiIling, otherwise Hulskamp. NJ
Morosini's beautiful place on the Hudson
literally full of arms and armor from ever
period, beginning with the stone age an
coming down to the Nineteenth century. +
is said to have spent nearly half million
dollars in the course of the last twenty yea
to make his collection what it is. He is all
probably the most expert connoisseur in a
cient weapons in this country. Another i
defatiCable collector in this line is R.
Moss, head of great engraving firm in Ne
York Every large dealer in curios in tt
world has a standing order to send on an
thing specially fine and old in the shape
a weapons. Mr. Moss has spent several hu
dred thousand dollars in pursuit of his hobb
and his collection is still growing every oa
Chicago Herald.