The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-10-23
Old FURNITURE HUNTING.
-,,ns STILL TO BB MADE ETRN IN
T1E VICINITY OF NEW YORK.

ire Agents Of the Dealers who Have
- occurring the Oountry-A New jersey
So,iouarinn and His Business Tactics.
M, oItv vendors Of antique furniture have
Is.ra beep keen IN their search for articles
r.ius 10 them In the country. Most OF the
49,. furniture that has been put on the
1870 IN the past ten or twenty years has
!. trom country houses. To this day some
~. nuotioneers advertise their sales as the
ul.-,t ~ ssarches through old country homes
- ths furniture in them. Nowadays tho
.,.os that are supposed to give up their con-
~. tor the city market are usually situated In
n. south. Formerly New England was select
- nv The dealers. but to-day even those unin-
V,.tsd into the mysteries OF antiques know
.h.t The New England field is exhausted.
when the rage for old furniture began. It was
.thsNeW England towns and then to the New
ynsland country homesthatthe dealers looked
a. tholr supply OF goods. The method otacoulr-
,.s the furniture was the same then that It lie
,o.aay, Emissaries Of the dealers In the largo
,IIes went to the smaller towns and discov-
.s.S What was to DO had. When the supply in
,hs ANAL towns was exhausted they took to
,r.v.llinp from place to place in the country.
81 tept themselves informed OF sales
TL0,v TO be held. Many OF these agents
~,rn women, and some Of them proved
ali adapted to the business. To-day
,h0rc are several women in business who began
=, n~ollectors for the city dealers and developed
,A,lr business capacity while seeking old fur
.lturo in the small towns and the country.
Vomen have always been found to possess q
,n.cial aptitude for this kind Of work. Their
nm NJ bargaining is not IN important aid TO
,A.lr employers. as they never know them
,.lyes the real value Of what they buy. The
r,ue OF the women agents to the men who
,mployed them first lay in their taste, percep-
ton and tact.
Al the New England market became exhaust
al the dealers won't to the South for their
wares, and to-day It is almost as bare OF bar
rains for dealers in antiques as the Eastern
states. Still there is something to be had.
Even the most diligent agents did not manage
10 take everything from the regions they visit
I'D. There were various reasons why. in spite
OF their efforts, they could not get hold Of all
the furniture that was available for the city
trade. This applies to every part Of the coun-
try. To this day there are articles Of old furni-
ture to be- found in old houses and to be had
for the searching, and not all OF these houses
are remote from New York. TIL women
who 20 to the country places about the city are
very likely to take a more or less active part In
the hunt for antique furniture that is a mild
aecompaniment to the summers doings in so
many towns. Furniture hunting used to be
one OF the chief diversions of the visitors to
certain Long Island towns before most Of the
available claw-footed and brass-handled ma
hogany had been acquired.
One town not far from New York illustrates
the extent to which old furniture OF good quail
iy may still be found In spite Of the diligence
Of the agents Of the dealers. Here the old
furniture to be found within . radius OF about
fifteen miles supplies q pleasure to the women
ofthe place which mono OF the other character
isics can equal. It IL scattered about and Is
rarely found in any large quantity in one place.
Usually a single piece is found in q house. OF
these articles there is at least one good thing
to be said. Whatever else they.may be, they
are genuine. The most graceful shapes Of the
colonial period are not always to be found
among them. Some OF them are ever
clumsy. But they are the real thing. Thai
han immense satisfaction to the collector o.
antique furniture. II he or she. more particu.
lrly she. be a beginner. nothing else is quite
soimportant rs the attested age Of the article.
There are other qualities more attractive to
; persons who have been inoculated with the en-
thusasm for a longer time. They have even
been known to say that they were more con-
V0uteQ Wltn q T0DTOuuCUlOn IlBG WAS NOH mNQ0
ndgraceiul than with q clumsy original. But
that so stage OF calmness which the collector
Of old furniture reaches only after experience.
agents In this little town is the antiquarian OF
the place. who deals In, such OF the furniture OF
ths region as he is able to, get his hands on.
Information Is often OF much value to him. or
the p~ossessor OF the article. as he Is frequently
clears quite as much on the transaction as he
does in the cases where he actually makes the
sale; There is a suspicion among his custom
reality to nothing more than their transfer
TSom their original home to a place in his barn.
The money iS commonly thought to reach the
antiquarian, and its amount is belieyed to de-
pend on the price he gets. When he acts as
Ks RtSt Business II IS 'U de q Ines SsM; e chsn @snnefH Gs
stock on hand is always small, It Is princi-
rally on orders that he does BUSINESS:
Say to him an old one. / would rather have
There is usually a moment Of silence as II the
oealer we're trying to think OF some place In
which such a desk was to be found. But his
spiy promptly shows that he is pursuing an
Got one myself. there in the stable" he will
oTSEers. But you might look at IT,,
unsatisfactory, The few pieces there are relics
mat have survived the inspection ,of countless
S WnFr ieEdG u and never mtsled the most IN,
i AOOA Vi thOL oIobiO
closes close and the negotiations are resumed.
EGt a desk like that" the dealer says. "11l sec
him some time soon .goin' to drive over there
p-norrow maybe. I'll ask him about 1t. II
re don't want to sell. maybe there's somebody
In spite. Of the Indifference OF his manner. the
pSa man is likely to be prompt, The proba-
DUTIES are that not more than two days will
PASS oeiore he comes with the news that he
nas the desk down In his stable. The visitor
VINO goes down to inspect It Is likely to find. In
many cases. really beautiful pieces OF old ma
hoga1y, made In the most tasteful styles OF the
ssSSiSnIal and somewhat later periods, At times
iasS,6 are clumsy and heavy. made in the worst
cSS IL o. TWO scores, OF years ago. The dis
Srnlnation OF this collector is not developed to
nigh degree, II he. gets more. acceptable
pieces than he does ugly ones. 1t Is because the
Sood ones are still In the majority. The ques-
Pn OF price can be settled only after haggling.
kb nS1 .ehgotIations begin always with this phrase
muWell. how much2 That cost me. S12 ten
Ries away. Then ! had the carrying Of 1t.
I must count that In. you know"
thmmnether the carriage be counted in or not.
yne sum originally paid is likely TO be some
maat less than that originally asked. But the
tisssS EnsSo ani Is never a great one. TIL. man has
iEoV yw consider that they had lost half the on;
iy nnMn Of IL II there were no bargaining and
ST pIcan REDUCTION. 30 he begins by asking