The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-05-02

having been designed and made before
George the First was king. Then there
were two sauce boats, engraved by Ho-
garth for the celebrated silversmith Pa II
Lamerie. There were four wonderful con-
dlesticks, having upon them the English
crest and some odd notices, and these
were made as far back as 1898. There was
a run tea set, a queer little wine funnel,
which was credited with being engraved
by Hogarth. two-handled cup that had
a stand and a cover, and wonderful beer
mug, made in London in 1716 and orig
1nally the property of a member of a Beef
steak Club which used to meet in Fleet
street, and among whose members were
many well known and titled men, bitterly
opposed to the administration of the then
Prime Minister Walpole. The motto of
the club: Beef and Liberty" and Long
Live the King" are engraved on the face
of the mug. The second chest had queer
old Irish salt cellars, such as the silver
smiths made in the time of George Il; a
pair of wonderful tea caddies, such IS
We're used by good Queen Anne; a wine
faster one and one-half inches in diam
eter chased and gflded and made in Lon
don in 1860. There were all sorts of bon
bon dishes, punch bowls, salad bowls, cake
baskets, fruit baskets, fruit dishes, and a
curious old potato ring, an article I'M
known in this country, entirely of Irish
use and manufacture, and made in Dublin
not later than 1900. The third chest had
all sorts of small pieces of silver-those
famous pistol-handled knives of the time
of George II, spoons to suit each course,
with the rat-tail handles, no end of forks
of the early English period five apostles
spoons of 1861, and one apostle spoon of
l625.
1t is possible that you are not as much
interested in old silver as l am. Take
No
self to yield to the desire for possessing
those dear old spoons that were made by
hand, and about which many a romance
can he woven. Then, too, if your fad is
collecting old silver, you will find yourself
the not thoroughly happy possessor of
spoons, or forks, or watches that are I'M
dated You may feel in your bones that
they were made in the early part of the
sixteenth century, but in absolute contra
diction to your bones, your common sense
will tell you that they were probably
made in this country, and are merely
clever limitations. This is one of the sor-
rows of a collector.
Another is that if you go to a bric-a-
brac auction you permit your angry pas
sions to arise, and you will bid against
your most intimate friend, hating her in
tensely for the time being, for an apostle
spoon, which you can duplicate six times.
The popularity of the silver collector is
that she not only wants spoon or small
piece of each period, but that she OBJ
jects to anybody else having a duplicate.
The collector is very much of a dog in
the manger; but she pays more for ner
hay than the dog ever did for his. Then,
too, women never really seem to entirely
grasp the value OF certain marks and no
woman likes to go chasing around to
dingy old shops, or equally dingy auction
rooms, carrying a book on silver marks
hot will no he ie a
little easy as far as truth-telling goes.
1 suppose it would be impossible to be
absolutely truthful and an auctioneer at
the same time. Personally, l do not ob-
ject to auctioneers l suppose they nave
a right to live. but have never quite IN
derstood why 1 can't get some of the Won
derful bargains that other women tell
about. l have never even had an oppor-
tunity to bid on a Dresden china tea set
worth $3.50 that goes for ten-that's al
ways the other woman's luck. Perhaps
going TO auctions has the same effect on
the buyers that selling the goods does
on the auctioneer-it makes the conscience
a little lax. If 1 thought that was the le-
suit l don't believe 1 would ever go to an
other auction. But what's the use of say
ing that! l am simply writing myself down
a female AnaniaS, for while auctions fas-
cinate, and 1 have either money or credit,
l shall probably be sold by the auctioneer
with the same courtesy that he sells the
wonderful curios. l think we women
rather like to be made fools Oft sug-
gests that man has had to interfere
that nature did not cause this state of af-
fairs to exist in the beginning. Well, there
is safety just now for the collector. For
when the springtime comes there are no
important auction sales, and none of those
fascinating circulars are delivered by the
postman TO lead where she should not go.
her, who is addressed, as BAD.