Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1889-07-18
FINE DECORATIVE WARE.

FINE DECORATIVE WARE.
How Some People Can Afford to Buy
Gems In China and Glass.
Not all the bargains in the city,
nor even the most attractive
ones in the wares that delight
women and bric-a-brac hunters
are to be found on the bargain
counters of the uptown bazars. Those
who have accidentally or out of curios-
ity visited the wholesale stores in the
glass, crockery and decorative goods
districts on the side streets west OF
Broadway. from Barclay street to
Chambers and above, if they have nOsed
around in the Out-Of-the-way corners
under stair-ways, or pOked about the
dust-cOvered stock showed away on
back shelves in odd corners, have found
a mine of valuable pieces of Ornamen-
tai and useful ware that can be worked
at mere 1.-THE of the cost involved In
transactions in the same goods over up
town counters. These are sample
lots" in the language of the trade. and
the principal interest of the whole
salers in them is to get them out OF the
way with as little trouble as possible.
The choicest pieces obtainable in this
way are of imported goods, and they
are lying around loose because fine
china and glassware is sold usually by
the wholesalers by the dozen. Tho
difficulty of replacing a broken one in
a dozen of foreign goods has led to the
custom of thirteen pieces being packed
for a dozen by the manufacturers
abroad. Then if one piece in a dozen
is broken the set is still complete. II
there is no breakage the importer has
an extra piece on his hands for which
he has no use. In a large business q
great number of such pieces, no half
dozen of them alike, accumulate in a
short time in this and other similar
ways. The buyers of the uptown
houses take many of them for the bar
gain counters, especially where there
happen to be enough of any sort to
make small set, but many are not
available for this trade, and are left to
be showed of into corners out of the
way until resurrected by some bargain
hunter.
By little diligence in going around
from place to place a cabinet can be
filled with choice pieces, or a break
fast or a luncheon set of odd pieces be
made up at a ridiculously small cost.
Slightly-damaged pieces, but available
for decorative purposes, are found in
the same dusty corners, and can be Sc
cured even more cheaply than the per-
feet samples. The genuine bric-a-hyac
crank takes real enthusiasm in hunt
ing through the wholesale ware houses
for these neglected specimens, and en-
joys the sensation of finding a rare bit
of glass or dainty piece of china,
hidden under the dust and cObwebs of
years, as much as he does the getting
of it for a song, and the knowing that
it can not be duplicated for less than
five or six times what it costs him.
At least one woman in New York
found this bargain mine years ago, and
has been working it, greatly to her
profit, ever since. She has a little
store, fifteen or twenty feet square, on
a small side street near Canal. A lot
OF cheap crockery marked at
phenomenally low prices, but not other
wise attractive, filters trays in front of
the store. The show window has a
somewhat more pretentious appear
ance, but the real treasures of the
place are in a case inside. 1t is filled
with pieces of royal Worcester, Dres-
den, Vienna, Carlsbad and other fine
wares, even Sevres, all genuine and
most of them perfect. They are for
sale for from ten to fifty per cent. less
than they would be sold for in the reg
ular stores. Besides this the shop on
every side is filled from floor to ceiling
with chinaHare, much of it of the best
makers, and the floor is so heaped
with it that only narrow space is left
in which to move about. Some of these
goods she sells at nearly their full
value, but most of them 60 for halt or
even less. Her customers wonder how
she can do it, and she smiles and says
nothing: but the fact is that the stock
is entirely made up of the odds and
ends. sample lots" and other debris
of the wholesalers. She spends much
of her time in going about from one
house to another picking up bargains.
The place is well known among the
ceramic crazy. not only in this city but
elsewhere. At least one Governor,
when he has wedding presents or other
usually expensive things to buy, comes
to it. 1t is said that the woman has
acquired a comfortable fortune out of
the business.-N. Y. Sun.
Making Coiored Glass.
Where three cOlOrs are desired, pots