The times., 1901-05-19

liable, and are unwilling to part with them
at the low prices that have been pa:d for
such articles in the past.
1t happens that most of the splendid COL
| iections of antique furniture have been OBJ
tanned by their possessors for small sums:
frequently for sums that are ridicuOusly
small The demand for the .rtiques.
nevertheless. is ever increasing, and Adam
Smiths maxim as to the laws of supply
and demand seems to have been set com
pletely at naught so far as old furniture Is
concerned. As matter of Iact, the sup
ply is almost exhausted. owing TO the fact
that the articles sought for belong to one
period, and that a limited oEe-the Co
IoniaL
Those who took the old furniture fever
early, or rather those whom the fever
took, were fortunate-they had the field
to themselves for long time, and could
| and did work it economically. Magnifi-
| cent pieces of old mahogany were ac-
| quired for mere song; bargains which
make the present day collector tear his
/ hair in envy were the rule Things were
| bought and sold for a hundredth part of
their real value, those selling seeming not
TO attach any worth to them, and those
| buying being careful to keep all such
knowledge to themselves.
a striking instance in this respect is
| the bed specially built for Latdyetter
when he visited Baltimore, and which
| therefore has great historical as well as
| intrinsic value This magnificent piece of
| furniture, massive mahogany four
poster, seven feet long and six feet wide,
! spIendidly carved and decorated, with a
canopy, painted by distinguished artist,
was bought Dy DIR. Grim, of Baltimore,
| for So. Another 50 purchase of this gen
! tleman is an authentic Gilbert Stuart
| portrait of George Washington. These
! are only two of d long list OF bargains
/ this well-knOWn collector has acquired
| through being early in the field, and
| knowing the value of such things HIS
collection is celebrated throughout the
| country, and while he has spent small
/ fortune in buying il and having IL re-
| stored it is now invaluable and without
the possibility of being duplicated, not
/ only in its entirety, but in most of it's
| individual features.
| DIR. Grim acquired the old furniture
| craze in very casual manner, as most
people do. Walking along the street Cne
day his attention was attrac-rd TO Il small
| negro child who occupied chair in the
! doorway of a delapidated cabin he no
| ticed the chair had claw foot and the
incOngruity of carved chair In such sur
roundings led him to examine II, and be-
fore leaving he had bought il for 80 cents
| 1t was a fine example OF Colonial ma
| hOgany. and when restored was beautiful
| piece of furniture This was the beginning
/ of the most celebrated collection or an
tique furniture in this country, and in Just
such an idle manner most people take up
the fad.
=
makes life a hideous business, but the
collecting of antiques must ?e particularly
trying nowadays. 1t is a most expensive
| habit, for thanks TO the popularity OF the
craze and the almost complete exhaustion
of the market by those VINO got III first.
| everything which has even the looks OF
| old age is held at an enormous figure.
| Il too, might have had that Lafayette
| bedstead for S5, or that Chippendale side
board for S3sS, or that Sheraton table for
$2.25, he reflects. Instead of which he
| realizes that ne paid a high market price
| for his precious pieces and that the days
| of bargains belong to the past with the
] date of his cherished possessions.
| The South has been the most lucrative
/ field for the dealer in antiques MARYLAND
| and Virginia, particularly the latter, hav-
| ing offered the best opportunities. they
| having been rich in Colonial possessions.
| But they have been almost denuded Of
| them. They are still the hunting ground
| of the collector and dealer however Some
| times one can pick up rare bargains, as
| in the case of the wife of a doctor at st.
| EliiZabeth'S, who recently bought a very
| handsome, massive, solid mahogany desk
| worth SO or 500. for S.. She secured the
| out-of-the-way country in Virginia where
| she was visiting until she found just what
| she wanted, and was able to buy it at
her own price.
The people to whom it belonged could
| not see anything TO recommend tit was
old and shabby, numbering, and in the
| way-and they were delighted to sell it
| for s., so they could buy themselves
| nice, new, gaudy, quartered oak factory
| made desk, which would be so hand
| some"
| 1t seems strange to those who appre-
| ciate such things that the refinement of
| taste and culture which led to the origi-
nal purchase of such things should not
| be transmitted in families along with the
| articles themselves, but in most cases
the people who own them and in whose
| families they have been for generations
\ prefer. as in the instance just mentioned.
| the cheap and modern, and are perfectly
| willing to part with their valuable heir
looms, but not often, nowadays, at a sac
| rifce.
They have become alert in the business
| of bartering these much-sought-for pos
| sessions and they frequently demand a
| price greatly in excess of their actual
! worth. regarding the collector as Iegiti-
| mate prey, which seems only fair con-
| sidering how he and his kind for years
| have been taking advantage of them. A
balance must be struck somewhere, and
| it is now at the expense of the collector.
| The latter finds this very hs-d, for il is
one of his most firmly rooted IDEAS in
| fact the groundwork of his system, that
| what he collects must be cheap, but very
| valuable 1t is an artless theory, and for
| a long time in the antique furniture line
| it worked beautifully, but everything has
its limit; so had the ignorance of the
| original owners of these old family pos
| sessions. They are poorer, but much
| wiser now. A visit to any of the dealers
in antiquities in Washington diseloses
| the paucity of the market There is
scarcely an old piece of any great value
however. Certainly no more graceful or
| artistic models for furniture can be de-
| Vised than those made and imported by
Sheraton. Chippendale, and HeppeIwhite
| during Colonial times.