The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-02-25
FORTUNE IN BIRDS EGGS.
Partisan Dealer in Rare Eggs Has
Made a Fortune.
(San Francisco Call

I (San Francisco Call)
A sparrow's egg seems of little or no
value, and yet there is a man in Paris
who can transform it into prize really
worth having. Indeed, this ingenious
gentleman makes a very handsome in
come through his skill in coloring bird S
! eggs As to the legitimacy of his bust
ness the reader can judge for himself.
few years ago this wide-awake
Parlslan was an assistant in a provin-
clal museum of natural history, and
while there he learned and saw a great
deal which has since been of much use
10 him. So much, indeed, did he learn
that when he lost his position he went
TO Paris and determined TO start in bus
mess for himself. His apprenticeship
at the museum had shown him the
value of birds eggs, and he promptly
decided to make living by dealing in
rare eggs. True, he had only very
small collection of eggs with which to
start business, but this was a trif1ing
obstacle TO man of his versatile ge-
MUS. He knew that there were many
collectors in various countries who were
willing TO pay fancy prices for eggs,
and he resolved to supply their de-
mands, no matter how extravagant they
might be.
OF course, not having many rare eggs
and lacking the necessary facilities for
procuring them he could not supply
them unless he manufactured them, and
this he did. For example, If a collector
wrote to him for a penguin'S egg. he
would make out of gypsum shell ex-
actly resembling that OF penguin's
egg, and he would forward 1t to his Gus
toner, who would never dream that a
penguin had not laid it. AS rule, how
ever, he uses shell of some common
egg, his sole care being TO see that it
corresponds in size with the desired
egg. The eggs of the common fly
catcher are very cheap, and by coloring
them property they can be made to re-
semble much costlier eggs. Again, a
ducks egg costs very little. and yet our
ingenious French gentleman could east
ly transform it into an egg worth from
40 to so francs. Pigeons eggs are also
very useful for similar purpose, since
the are exactly the same size of many
very rare eggs. Any one with knowl-
edge of chemistry could change thcm
so that the pigeons themselves would
not recognize them.
Almost every collector of birds eggs
desires to have one or two finely
marked nightingale's eggs. and is will
ing TO pay a high price for them. The
Partisan dealer was we'll aware of this
weakness, and, larks being more album
udHl IMAM DlGnflnSaleS, ne IOQnQ no
difficulty in getting larks' eggs and col
oring them SO that they were exactly
like the genuine article as deposited in
remote places by the tiinorous nightin-
gale.
II can be seen that this is a very pro-
fitable business, and a little considera-
ton will show that there is not much
risk of detection. True, the tricky
methods of this Partisan dealer have
been brought TO light, but the discovery
was apparently made more by chance
than by any suspicion on the part OF
his customers that they were being
swindled out of their money.
The average collector, no matter
whether he has a passion for auto
graphs. postage stamps. coins or birds
eggs, is inclined to be gullible. and this
seems to be especially the case with
collectors of eggs. They know that GER
tain birds lay eggs of a certain size and
color. and If they can get eggs THAI |
seem TO be farltiess in these respects
they are satisfied. The thought that
the cOloring may not always be natural
does not seem to enter their heads. At
any rate, such has been the experience |
of this Partisan dealer. He has for |
warded specimens of his skill to collect
Ors in all countries, and it does not ap- !
pear that he was a fraud. Hereafter |
collectors will probably be more eau
toCS about buying eggs, especially from |
foreign dealers.