The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1900-12-26
HUNTING For ANTIQUES.
Collectors Exploiting the couHtry
Near and Aroand Charleston.

Collectors Exploiting the Country
Near and Aroand Charleston.
CHARLESTON. S. C.. Dec z5.--seekers
after antique furniture have pretty Their
opghIy worked the field around Charles
ton. where so many rare and beautiful
antiques have been picked up in the
rough for song and sold again at fabu-
lous prices.
Not ali or these hunters. however. have
sought the furniture for The market. fer
there is mad rush for the old stuns for
dsawing-reons, dining-rooms. and par
lers. Oh the neighboring islands ana in
the counties around Charleston where
Lafayette and Washington and Tarleton
we're quartered at different times. cal +
loads Of treasures IN the way of old ma
hegany. brasses. ehinas. and silver have
been found. There is a great deal more
Of il to be had for the hunting, and the
ladies who are fond OF things colonial
are stiH securing the highways and the
byRays for the pieces which once graced
old Southern homes. Poverty and the v a.
sent them to waste.
There is such a mania for the antiques
that the supply is not equal TO the de-
mand- Collectors. knowing charIestoa 10
be an old Revolutionary town. and the
home OF innumerabie rich old colonial
planters. naturally come here to hug. and
they have taken away thousands OF dol
lars worth of ancient English and French
: furnitures. Big manufactures IN the East
and West who duplicate eye Old TYNE
things have sent representatives to this
city OF late to get models for reproduc-
tton. and fortunes have been made cut Of
II already People gLo own the rnagrif.
cent pieces viii refuse. however, 10 allow
these 10 be photographed. and TT be-
4onelngs are guarded sacredly
Not everybody can afford TO nay S5a{
iof roster bed or $5e for a Hipplewhit5
chair. but almost anyone would IKE u
get one Of either for a few dollars and
tnen have the glory OF telling where the
prizes were found. This has been done
here frequently, because the poor and IL
0orant persons to whom the things have
descended have no idea of their value. o.
course. the eases are rare where such
bargains can be found, as the field has
been worked s. carefully that the anti
CUES are getting scaEcsr day by day.
The collectors here have a regular sys-
ten OF hunting. making enquiries from
door to door and from plantation to plan
tett0H- many OF the families owning
these relics have become wary; they have
been bitten probably having sold sons
rare old piece OF Chip2endals for a feH
dollars, or exchanged il Tor a glazing new
piece OF vanished oak. and learned toe
late that their old sideboard or pier mir
Tor stored in the attic as rubbish for
years had brought almost its weight in
silver and had probably been seized by
some millionaire TO grace his beautiful
home. So now the old furniture dealer
presenting himself as Euchs receives short
courtesy and often has the doer slammed
in his face II he should happen TO get
peep az some of the beautiful things
in the house he VIII be told that they
are held for prices ffr beyond his limit
It is easy enough 10 tell the good from
the bad in the antique shops after ali the
pieces have been melIded and clean med. but
II Is difficult TO Judge correctly of warp
ed, Clipped, stained piece Of furniture
which one might find in a filthy negro
cabin, serving. perhaps, as q common
cooking table or horse trough A Char
lesion lady recently saw really beauti-
ful inlafd drawer to a cabinet serving
as body TO a goat cart which was driven
through the street by a black pickaainny.
The lady followed the boy to his cabin,
but found there that the cabinet had been
cut and used for frewood during q heavy
freeze the winter before