The times., 1898-08-07

about six years ago, it has been rising
boom ever since and ne gratefully ac-
mits that the women did it all. He can
prove it by showing you Q his books a
dozen feminine tor one masculine name.
t'It was the ultra tasn.onaoie women
wn0 went in for antiques and bric-a-brac
first" said one dealer, who does a whirl
ing business in the winter. They and
the actresses who grow rich. are our
most valued patrons and the shrewdest
and most intelligent buyers, too, though
feminineMke. they exhibit very marked
eccentricites in selecting and purchasing.
For example, it is rarely We find a wo-
man who interests herself in more than
one species of bric-a-brac at a time.
Then, too. true to her sex they dearly
love to bargain, to hammer down the
price of everything they buy 10 the low
est possible figure and nine-tenths of our
customers won't buy at all until they
have had the article under discussion
sent home, to try its effect among the re-
rnainder of their belongings. But the
speciality system IS what eXerts the larg
est influence the woman who treas
| ures antidues-to be known and enviad
for having the finest collection Of this or
that particular style of plate, for Vernis
Martin or Sheridan furniture for fifteenth
century tapestries or Floreatine carved
oak is the true goal of her ambiSion.
Profitable customers as they prove in
the long run. the women are not on this
| very account easy to deal with. They
! are so apt to know whereof they buy
/ they are keen-eyed increduIous, and
among them are recognized authorities on
| every species of bric-a-brac who are as
! quick as hawks for detecting the true
! from the false Now, when it comes to
! fanaSTTiRS nf
/ days, a dealer must rise early in the
morning to get ahead of Miss Hewitt the
/ eX-mayor's daughter She was one of the
/ first women in New York to go in for this
sort of thing, and in her TWO specialties
! her decision is valued as that of profes-
! sional expert. From an artistic and tech
nical standpoint she knows pretty much
/ all there is to know of the famous tapes
/ tries in this country and Europe, besides
/ herself possessing one of the choicest col
! lections in America, to which she adds
| from time to time.
Next after Miss Hewitt I doubt If there
| is 4 woman for whom bric-a-brac dealers
! cherish a deeper respect than Miss Elsie
| de Wolf Years before the taste for SOU
venirs of other centuries was cultivated
/ at all Miss de Wolf slowly and carefully
! gathered uD out of shops in New York
and Paris bits of old French and Spanish
| paste, odd examples of gold and silver
work in jewelry. combs. rings buckles,
etc, and then she added to this a really
! splendid array of fans.
Her possessions of seventeenth and
| eighteenth century paste alone could
| hardly be matched outside a European
museum, and now that this ardor for COL
| lecting has grown so earnest, the value
| of her array of antique jewelry has in
creased to the proportions of a small for
| tune. There are numbers of women who
would gladly exchange their diamond TIL
| aras and necklaces for her ancient imi-
| tation stones. but fine paste, though the
thing most desired by the feminine col
| lectorS today, is the most difficult article
to procure.
IT is Mrs. Oliver Belmont who comes
| oftenest to the shops of bric-a-brac deal
ers with a fashionable friend, to pass
judgment on some piece of mahogany
which the friend has under considera-
ton, for Mrs. Belmont is ons of the few
persons who can literally, when blind
folded, put her hands on a piece OF this
wood and tell in an instant whether ii is
old and good or new and green. A part
of her gifts from her parents at her
marriage were wonderful sets Of mahog-
any bedroom and dining-room furniture.
taken from their old home in the South.
With this as a starter she began TO buy
good mahogany here and there, until
the dealers in antiques, learning of this
taste. fell into the way of sending her
word when any special prize came into
their hands. AS a collector she Is unique
among women, for she nSver disputes a
price. She prefers mahogany from the
South and after carefully examining a
chair or table. passing her white hands
caressingly over the wood, she puts down
the price named, or drops the whole mat
ter then and there.
Another equally Intelligent and delight
full collector from the dealers standpoint,
is Miss Maud Adams, whose taste is ex-
clusvely for miniatures. Miss Adams Is
not so we'll known to the trade, though,
as a tall, gray-haired woman, who al
ways looks over the last bits Of old Eng
lish plate one may have in, inquiries II
any relics Of famous actresses have turn
ed up and who has all an Irishwoman's 8
genius for blarney when she wants to
hammer down a set price.
This Is Miss Ada Behan. who has put