New-York tribune., 1896-11-29
rur YIDDISH CURIO SHOPS.
.,xr little EAST SIDE ESTABLISH
urxTs AND WHAT THEY SELL.

e,voyARs AND ALL SORTS OF ERAss
COPPER WARE 70 BE FOUND THERE
,. no somewhere within The cr rfres Of
.", L,asf Side places more Curicusly pictu-
-" ord with more oi the Old World haNor about
- ..,n the Y.ddisll curio shops one OF the od-
' ' 80 xcv-York hut It X hardly likely At the
~, 1T .o,.r,o shop" :hcre at once comes 10 mlnd
o ~ tho conventional apartment on an uptown
F'' g.. walls artisticIlly lined with rugs ana
oao,s plaqacs and mirrors. OF oysone day.
w. s,,s .. furniture newly polished and furbshed.
o' ,,.,.e. darkcned by age. are other objects
az" 49, a.si.. in antiques never fails 20 have, and
" Nv for .yorhi,ant prices. But the l!ddish curo
sop is none OF ;hese ,.. ,.u...... -.
xnr Is II Ole Of the motley, quaint sAcsfooms OF
.-ay everything Old on earth, much more IA
Sr,ar % London than here. ana set down In history
80 Charles Dickens. The dusty medley OF goods
- kinds piled in profusion and disorder. with
,onc -,ore-iikc counter to show them on and
ii ii -.,ri.,or who knows the market value of
-" o-,ic,o ne possesses. is not like these esiab-
s,,o,ts Those who seek rugs fabrics and the
-. ,or,a do wei 70 pass them by. for no such
.,,o,es are % be had within, save by the barest
.o,c.. The are unprctontous. the cuiio shops
'. ,ho T2u-.i.a and Runanian Jewry. and, except
ono uao knows ihc East Side thoroughly, they
w hard 10 md The sign bctraying them is
~..,, window. uftener than otherwise in base
~. ~ s,hcrejn rests a bewdcrng show os old
frc1t "''''N'''
metals. 49,. ,.,,,,., ,.,.
,,, ,s ,cld Metals. and metals alone. are for
sa,n ri,hin ihem-soldom anything else. Such pro-
,.,o-s in fact as have come far enough out OF
-. ;,,er gh .,,o's life to have business cards
,r,ed IN English have themselves described
- as dealers in European metals" TO them,
s,"rr vigorous trade and finding Il constant de-
r.s for all .he utensils and articles of decoration
49, con pick ap there is nothing Of the "curio'
-, their was. Such customers ms wander in
~, .he outer world ;hey gladly accept. but the
,,,I NJ their trade lies among their countrymen.
to,c whom they buy and 70 whom they sell.
&, ou the ghetto there are probably not more
.hor four or FIVE of these Yiddsh curio shops. it,
,aaes ,hs,e are that many. Small all the
80. ore IN the region Of Hester. Allen. Orchard
>-r.o-t and Suffolk SITS. these shops are generally
.,aljer despite the fact that each has its little
,,-,sce ard - tools for repairing ard general
-,nal WORKING The propretors are thrifty fellows
v-sjle they keep shop they tinker away. doing odd
,ohsof mending for Galician and Polish housewives
end oa.ching Nd say. an aged samovar that served
for many a year in peasant household, and
low VII do duty in a New-York tenement, or. per-
haps find lis way into some artistic studio or the
snusgcry Of q woman OF fashion.
There is no better hour TO explore these curio
shops than nghtfall. when the lights have just
beeu Il; and the window the level Of some tene-
mert stoops or down in the basement shows out
clear Gu, and distinct among all the gay-tinted
,svttrtness OF the other tiny shopwindows. From
the crowded street. black with bearded "Motzers,
co.puent mothers in Israel. and workeirls, the
metal copper and brass OF different tones and
effects CLEANS as the ignt within reflects 1t. and
far inside are 10 be many shelves loaded down
with glistening wares, strange 10 the eyes Of any
bn, Russian
One Of the quain,est O, the curio shops the ghetto
r@ (11 hrfO
house close 10 where the downtown end OF the
Second-ave elevated rumbles overhead. There is