Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-05-04
Americans Who Haunt the Havana
Pawnshops.
SHREWDNBSS Or TIE MERCHANTS
Real Finds or Bargains Are Com
parativeIy Rare.
Copyright. 1899. by Charles NJ Pepper.}
itten for Tho Eyanfpu Qtar

months ago left little except stubble for
those who should come after them. Now
the army families and the American visit
ors generally going home and they are
cleaning the stubbie. This adds to the zest
of the pursuit. Those who thought they
had satisfied their longings catch the infec-
ton again and join in the hunt. To return
without any spois of the chase Is a refec-
ton on ones ability which the practiced
relic hunter does not permit 1t was a
Washington woman who in outright despair
stopped at a cheap junk shop and bought a
| rusty second hand tin dipper for peseta,
which is 20 cents in Spanish money Being
wise in her knowledge of human nature
she refused all explanations beyond a mys-
| FERROUS hint that the tin dipper might have
a history. She was enved but not i'm
| itated. because a second rusty tin dipper
with history would be received with
suspicion.
Methods of the Merchants.
The Havana merchants, excellent Latin
tradesmen that they are were puzzled by
this renewed demand for curios relics and
tronhies
They showed some inventive faculty yet
| did not rise to the emergency as a Yankee
| shopkeeper or a London curio dealer would
| have done. When the fever rea6hed the
| second remittent stage and their places were
| filled with eager American patrons they
would eXclaim with smiling courtesy that
| they had nothing left. Everything had
been cleared out when the troops first ar
| rived from the United States. Would they
mind showing what they had?" ''No senior
not at an with shrug of the shoulders
but there was really nothing to show"
sometimes there was really a variety of
interesting articles. AT a pawnshop on
FOmnOstella street a collection in which
scores of persistent collectors had picked
until there was literally nothing left had
been examined listlessly and the searcher
| vas turning away in disappointment. The
owner pulled ont from under the showcase
an ancient medallion. He offered it hest
tatingly and with apologies for the trife.
He thought it might answer Probably it
would not have answered had not ray of
sunlight happened to strike the face of the
medallion. The searcher after novelties was
an old hand. He could catalogue all the
pawnshops and like establishments in Ha-
Vana. He betrayed no surprise. Handling
the medallion carelessly in the shadow. he
asked indiTerently: "How much-a doiiar?'
NO. no senior: it is really curious. Two
centens SD"
Don't be in a hurry, senior, Seven dol
lars and half
1.-TWO dollars
"A centen, senior"
Three dollars and a half"
And the bargain was clinched at three
dollars and half in Spanish silver Inc
next day the place and all similar places
were nj ca win Americans anu tupais
first named shop cOmprehended 1t. He had
no more 1nenalllohS' put ne MAG hutitp,i
of cheap mosaiCs. Some of them might
nav" oeen worth - re caililIS asher ~
fach Tor them' ana got II III Two Gases from
GuileleSs Americans. So when the original
purchaser stfoHed IN TO Duy a 'o-ceht smell
cameo the proprietor was IN good huhor
ana oIleleo mosaic worth 81 lor Z centeiS'
ti 'liT ma WIZ p
N IlldIi tonIrIpu'i"l ioWarI equa1IlhS me
previous transaction. lie ala not know the
tIiSIoLH pl Lhe iheo&lholi anu aia not re.
hIeh h',1 now II can, came INTO ms 4ahds. IL
"a had feihthheFeH PFooapAy the senior
AtntrIcdho "ou "a nor nave obtained II so
tn+ap'S' ne casually remarked III poilte cas-
IIlah
Ii"pdo!S not ihough IT'S history Is I'M
known, It's IKE mas not been found in Ha-
Nd'd, ana the purchaser Is content.
Lucky Finds Are Rare.
Tho 1,,o,,,, e,,a - ,...,-.;.-. .,,-.,,.
A'NS '''"9' " p''' Sa'i'S' are oiS''ip-
d "i'e'ei'IS a9 tie GINS oI tie SouS
and they are as rare. The Spanish mer-
chant though he NAV lack in fertility Of
invention knows how, 70 ,,,ar,,, f,,, ,rrf,,,.
- ~ ~ NiAi 80 i'"i Pi iGS"
from purchaser who wants something
IN the hrst blush of their experience the
American visitors learned to pick out the
article they want ana then send Cuban or
a Spanish friend around to make the pur-
chase. The plan worked well for a short
time. Then the shopkeepers calmly ire
ped and quadrupled their prices. AN
American wants that was the only reply
they would give to the Indignant and volu-
bic circumstances of their Latin customers
And the Americans had to pay Yet some
times they were victorious. The wife of an
officer in one of tho Illinois I.aI,,,,tlr 49,
- 49, ~" ~ NIIe, among lot OF trash in
and quafntIv carved hras q ltin u uiie et
too. was an experienced relic hunter she
made two or three slight purchases. and
.nen pohtlns to the strrups inquired How
some da,, IN Te,t,ehs ts,so} was the reply
said pleasantly as she de,Fart tDl 'he"i' she
The shop had considerable trade and
me presence Of American customers was
not looked upon suspicious circum-
stance Those who heard of the find and
made surreptitious examinations of the
stirrups would have welcomed the oppor-
tunity to have paid 500 for them. Bnt tbe
right of original discovery was respected
Ihe original dfscoverer made occa sionaI
visits to the shop, always announcing that
she would take the stirlups whenever thev
We're marked down to 81 One dav him
dering cavalryman from Texas hanDened to
see them. Give you $40 for those stir.
ms l,n