Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1894-06-16
A GEM IN ART.
Henry Russell Wray's jolly Portray
al Of a Visit to Colds CuriO-
sity Shop.

The Mecca of these curiosity shops in
Santa Fe is the "Old Q'Rosity," and the
patron saint is "Jake Gold" as curious
an individual as the wares he makes you
buy.
If the contents of your pocket-book
are low and you hesitate before entering
this little shop at the corner of Burro
alley, your doom is sealed, for before you
know it the fifty and one things hung
outside, ranging from the skins of wild
animals to Mexican and Navajoe blankets,
will have your attention, and directly
your eye will catch something through
the consumptive glass doors, and you'll
enter. You are in the lair of the only
Jake and you'll buy until your all is gone
and then you borrow to possess more of
the treasures. As you enter the door a
voice in Spanish greets you, "good morn
ing, my dog;' but you don't understand,
perhaps, and don't dwell on it, for Jake
has already thrown out his web by hand
ing you just the curios to suit and his
parrots indelicacy you overlook.
In shis shop of Jake's you can pur-
chase the last pair of trousers worn by
Columbus, the sword De Soto wore, the
hat of Cabeza de Vaca or the breastplate
of silver worn by Cortez; that is, if Jake
thinks you want any of these things after
hearing you talk, and "sizing you up"
he will call into play an eloquence SO
convincing and an Indifference about
selling, acted so genuinely, that you fain
would believe.
At any hour of the day you will find
his shop crowded with Indians and Mex
leans huddled about his stove, rolling and
smoking cigarettes and with their curios
displayed at their feet or hidden in the
secret folds of their blankets. They wait
for the only Jake to barter with them.
They have the utmost respect for him,
for he treats them squarely In bargain.
Gold is direct descendant from Abraham,
Isaac and Jacc b, and, to his credit, is very
proud of 1t. He employs about 200
agents, scattered through Old and New
Mexico, Arizona and Colorado; they are
armed with Germantown woods and cheap,
but highly -colored church prints of
saints. These mediums they trade for
blankets, old paintings, Indian work, old
Mexican basrelief and pottery. We had
exhausted the small contents of our
purses on the selection Of Navaioes, In
dian rain-gods, crosses, etc, and yet there
was one bit of old canvas, bound to a
crude frame with raw hide, we wanted.
1t was an old painting of a saint, almost
obliterated, holding in one hand chalice
and in the other long thin palm leaf,
while over her head floated cherub
browning her with laurel wreath. The
color was perfect. OF course it was a
Murilo. The jagged edges of the canvas
told the story of being cut from frame.
But without money the picture would
gather lore dust while hanging on Jake's
wall, far back in dingy corner. Then it
was by association came the spirit of
trade. With silver pencil and pipe
for Jake, tho rotting old canvas was ours,
but not before Jake had scrutlnized both
pencil and pipe for the word sterling"
When in possession of the painting we
impaired to Jake the secret and the pos
sibility of the old picture being Murillo.
He only asked and answered, "Who's he.
You may call that face Mewriller, but
I'll wager my stock it's woman" Jake
is not connoisseur of painting, but you
can't fool him on modern chrome.
1t was after getting the picture to the
hotel room and scrub bing its surface and
going wild over the detail and color
brought out by the water, that we dis
covered far down in one corner the words
s. Ioanes, and then it was its value ran
up. But all this is foreign to the subje
started. Some tourists go to Santa Fe
only to see old churches, others to paint
in the Archbishop's garden, but to US the
greatest interest in Santa Fe centers In
that little shop on San Francisco street
and Burro alley, through the door of
which is a museum excelling all others in
the city, and character and his parrot
who own it, worth going thousands of
miles to know and study.-Henry Russell
Wray in Philadelphia Ledger.