The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1898-02-10
BOGUS ANTIQUE FURNITURE
limitations Sometimes More Desirable Than
the Genuine-French Cleverrsess. 4

/
| the Genuine-French CIeverness. 4
"You may have noticed, said the
dealer, that few months ago a
piece of imported antique furniture
was held at the custom house fori
valuation, and a close inspection OF |
| it revealed the trademark of a WE'LL
known western furniture firm. InJ
other words, the piece was manu-
featured in this country, sent to
France, land there sold as an antique:
to the wealthy American who
brought it back here. That was nots
| an unusual case Two weeks ago II
was asked to repair an antique chail
that wealthy customer of mine
had purchased in Paris. 1t looked
like a genuine antique, and it was!
one OF six pieces that he had picked.
up at a bargain at studio sale
Aside from its apparently intrinsic.
value the chair had history which
went with it. was deceived in it.
at first, but when began to repair
1t found that it was merely clever
imitation. We think that we can
counterfeit here, but we are not int
it with the French AS an imita
ton, the chair was worth $25 or $30,t
and my acquaintance had bid itin
as a bargain at $115. I examined
his other antiques purchased at thel
same time, and every one of them
proved to be counterfeit
What protection has the buyer
who wants genuine antiques2" 4
AS a rule he has none except the
guarantee of the dealer. There are
many collectors in this city who are
competent to tell a counterfeit from
a genuine, but they are very small
part of the buying public. The
French counterfeits in old furniture
are by all odds the hardest to de.
tect. The antique business in this
city has increased to such an extent
that the demand far exceeds the.
supply. 1t has reached such cons
dition that if man only selects a (
dusty, dingy little shop on a back
street he may sell any kind of re.i
production that he chooses to turn
out. began business 10 years age
in the spickest store that j could
afford to hire, and had good col
lection of genuine antiques. ] could
not make any sales. My store was
too central, and it looked too new. !,
AT the end of six months l gave il |
up and hired this dingy old place
l notified a few of my old customers,
and they in turn told their friends
about it. This place hasn't beer
busted since I have been here. When
l have secured an old piece of fdrni
ture, don't do it over until it ID
sold. A purchaser likes to see it i'll
its battered condition if he knows
anything about furniture. Then he
has the pleasure of noting the con.
trast when it is done over.
"Isell dozen reproductions to one
antique now, and do it honestly.
l tell my customers that they arc
reproductions and that they arc
| just as we'll made as the original II
the customer is buying to furnish
house and not because he is col.
lector of antiques, he is wise to take
a reproduction. Here, for instance,
is an antique mohogany table that
is genuine as antiques go. For my
own house I would rather have
reproduction. This table has been
done over. For instance, the center
board in the top of it was badly
cracked when I got it. I took the
old board out and substituted a new
one. One of the legs was missing,
and made one that was a reproduc.
ton of the old ones. The wood was
bad hero on the band around the
top, and if you will examine it close
ly you may see by the grain where
put in new piece. In other
words, although this table is a gen.
uine antique, yet a third of it is new
wood. That is true of most of the
antiques sold in good condition. Un.
til recently I have been buying
heavily in Baltimore, and in the
south, but the people down there
have tumbled to the fact that it is
cheaper to reproduce than to hunt
up the genuine articles, and they
have had the nerve to sell these re.
productions to agents for northern
dealers. New York Sun.
The Newman Family.