The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-09-10
THE STREET OF ANTIQUES.
FOURTH ATBNURs MOST sTRIHING
PECULIdRITY
Old shops Have Been There for Years
They Have Followed tho Uptown Move
ment- Rars Articles 70 be Found In some
Of Them-A valuable Adam Desk.

| any other city thoroughfaro IL has always
| been the fayorite location OF the dealers in gold
| fishes and Of those whose wares are antiques
| Possibly because trade used 20 roll rather slug
gishly through the street theae two forms Of bust
| hess settled there first Since that time many
| changes have been noted One by one the build.
ings that formerly characteristic Of the street
| have disappeared Not half a dozen Of the
low red brick houses which used 10 be the streets
| most familiar type remain now below Fourteenth
| street Union Place. as persons used 10 call the
block Of houses between Seventeenth and Eigh-
| tenth streets, has disappeared Not far from
Twenty third street stands group Of low,
broad red brick dwellings, which used TO be 90
cupicd by some Of the city's oldest families One
can still find old-fashoned names but Fourth
| avenue is no longer q street Of residences Tow
ering buildings, hotels, and above all the whirl
Of the trolley. have obliterated nearly all that
used 10 be typical Of its rather lazy atmosphere.
But there still remains the Characteristic Of the
thoroughfare most familiar 10 New Workers of
this generation
Near its southern end still cluster the little
shops displaying in their windows the gold nshes,
canary birds, aquariums and water plants 80
dear TO the childish heart They are there still
but probably In diminished numbers. They do
less to give the street its distinctive character
than the antique shops, which have grown more
numerous every yeaL Most OF them have fol-
lowed the inevitable northward movement TO which
even such business as that Of dealers in antiques
must yield The growing taste for the wares these
men sell has served 10 increase the number of
dealers To-day only few remain below Four
teonth street in what was formerly the locality
they frequented most Some of them are still to
be found there, but the majority have mado a
long Jump skipping altogether the stretch that
lies between Fourteenth street and Twenty third
an tha hl.,l,a fr,,,,
up TO Thirtieth street On one block of Fourth
avenue, between two streets not far from the
beginning Of the tunnel, three dealers in gen
eral antiques, and one man who makes a speciality
OF particular phase of them. When il is known
that every other block the street within a dis
lance Of half mile has average of two shops
ii will be seen how characteristic the dealer in |
antiquities has become 10 that upper stretch OF |
the avenue
There is scarcely phase OF their business
which these men do not supply. From the most |
rickcty horsehar sofa, posing as an American |
antique although il falls al least twenty or thirty
years shy OF right to that designation, UP to |
the finest Chinese porcelans, these men offer |
everything old to the patrons who come 10 them |
Naturally II is furniture that attracts most The |
taste Tor antiquities has not declined ads which
begin with such violence usually do Once the |
taste for antique furniture has seized hold OF a
person he or more probably, she will never /
get over it Anything modern is an abomina- |
uon Comfort for its own sake is a contempt |
bic device which nobody with an idea above the
most material things OF life should ever consider
The only persons ever known TO fall back into
their original state OF ignorance OF the beauties
oil antique furniture never are those who have
never really passed through the first stage of the
disease. This includes that virulent time in
which any old thing. no long as it be mahogany
and sufficiently battered. Is enough of an antique
to appeal To the woman in search Of the old Draw
ers may crcak and groan or refuse 10 bulge al |
together, chairs may totter on their legs, or
book case doors may decline to be opened |
except after herculean efforts. and may then sud.
denly expand until there is closing them again
all these are as nothing to the eager beginner. |
After while the barren pleasure of possessing |
all this uncomfortable and rlckety stuff begins
TO impress itself on her II she has seen more fur
nltur', h vi the opportunity TO observe good mod |
els and seen tho best specimens of what the old
makers used to turn out the probabilities arc
that she will soon acquire a hearty disgust for
her own trash II she has been only slightly
inoculated with the old furniture idea she will |
decide that II is all clumsy and hdeous, and sell
what she has at the very first chance; but il her
enthusiasm for old things Is real the inconyen- |
ience attached to their use will not disturb her |
after she has learned that beauty sometimes
for the temporary Inconvenience
In their use. She may decide that her old fur
niture has no beauty. and belongs not TO the |
days OF the best English and Colonial models |
but TO a debased period that followed these by |
several generations She will realize that the |
beautiful designs In fine old woods are still to bo
had by the person with more patience and interest
Than money, and she will soon learn in her career |
as collector that antique furniture is not synony-
nous with inconvenience. She will not sell |
all her possessions quickly and decide that modern
furniture IL better She will dispose Of them slowly
and II she wait long enough, adyantageously. |
ono consolation is always In store for the un-
or'unae purchaser OF antiques who finds TO |
her chagrin that she has made a mistake There
ire always beginners who are Just as green as
'he was, and are willing to buy her old furni-
ure when her own artistic ideas have go, bo
'ond IL She will then pass into that better 1
stage that discriminates in the selection OF An
iaucs. and buys only those that have some other
ltle TO her consideration than mere age and Dos
'bly not a touch OF that
city collectors ale not likely now to mako |
he mistakes that used TO be common The awk c
ward heavy pieces that used TO be dragged ont ! :
II country houses and cherished as trumphs Of
genuinely antique style, are a thing Of the past
Dealers buy them, saw them up and make them b
n'o pieces that really have some artistic merit I
50 the collector who buys in city shop does not l.
lave 50 often 10 undergo tho training which ia c
Utmost the inevitable lot of the man or woman d
'ho begins to buy in the country. The influence s
antique furniture is To be observed not only in the
rcat demand for it, but also in the reproductions
made ana offered as such to the public Many Of a
heSe arc more enduring than the genuine ntiuues
requently put on sale. They are certainly mora n
table, likely TO endure better and especi ally Il
uccessiul when they are reproductions OF an II
american or English design Any true collector
Toud scorn to take one Of these as a substitute Fl
or genuine piece, but it is fact that as mere n
lrnlture 1t may serve It's purpose better than a a
cnuin" piece which has not been carefully. and g
hat means extensively, restored Who but A q
on'ctor would deny that II is better to possess a
icco made after fine model than an old original :"
'lthout grace or beauty? The obvious answer N
this Is that collectors desire only pieces that are
rginal' and al the same time beautiful "
1t Is in search Of this furniture that the people
in, -, n