The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-09-15
NEW OLD THINGS
DEALERS IN REAL ANTIQUES
BOTHERED BY UNSCRU-
PULOUS RIVALS
BOGUS GOODS ON THE MARKET
limitations That Will Deceive All
Save Experts Being offered
for Sale All Over the
Country.

To the man on the street car who
keeps a rowing eye out for new signs it
seems as if more antiquity shops APP
peared with every change of the weather.
They spring up in the night. While you
go round the corner for luncheon a load
of antique brasses just purchased from
the factory down on the east side is
dumped upon the sidewalk, and, presto!
another antiquity shop greets you on
your return to business.
Some of these ventures go as quickly
as they come. Others flourish apparently
like unto the green bay tree of tradition.
Enough of them survive to prompt the
curious man to ask two questions:
Where do all these alleged antiques
come from? And where do they go?
Honest men are not so scare nowadays
that Diogenes. if resurrected, would need
to go ambling around with a lantern
looking for one. But if he should start
out to hunt for an honest antiquity deal
er he would find it quite another PROPOSE
ton George Washington himself,
though he owned up to cutting down the
cherry tree, might have found it harder
to tell the truth if he had been an an
tiCuity dealer with a good cherry imita-
ton of some fine old mahogany piece Of
furniture.
Antiquity dealers are sore tempted to
dicker with their consciences. When
person asks the invariable question: is
this old?" it is so easy to have sliding
scale according to which anything be-
comes old as soon as it has imbibed the
atmosphere of an antiquity shop.
Nevertheless. there are actually few
honest dealers in New York city. Two
OF these men have a fascinating shop
near Fourth avenue; a whole house,
stuffed from basement to roof with the
most extraordinary collection of old china
to be found in the city For years the
firm has been cornering the supply OF old
blue ware. 1t has invested thousands of
dollars just in the blue plates winch our
erandmothers bought for song.
1t seems to the initiated as if it would
be a simple thing to initiate these OLD
mates. Take those, for instance, which
had a landscape or picture of some SOFT
il the center. The whole thing is in
blue and looks to the greenhorn, to be
easy enough of imitation. AS these plates
sell for from s. to 800 apiece, it seems
as if dozens of spurious ones would he
put upon the market to catch the I'M
Eary.
Not at all The dealers say that, so
ftGr as they know, only two attempts
have been made to reproduce these
plates. They viii not tell what plate
was the subject of the first attempt. be-
cause about twenty of the imitation
ores were bought by collectors, who are
still in ignorance of the fraud The
men who put the spurious plates on the
market found that suspicion was being
excited by the appearance of so many
suecimens of an alleged antique, so they
s-rewdly ''disCovered' no more, after
about twenty had been sold. The
fraudulent plate was made in --ngland,
Ar11p SRI W
up the scheme.
The second attempt to sell an imitation,
blue plate as the genuine thing was
made only about two years ago. AS
j. the other case, the scheme originated
in this country. but the plate was made
IN England. It was a copy of one Of
famous series of old plates illustrating
tie adventures of DR.. Syntax. The
pate selected to be copied was the one
representing the good doctor in the act
G. painting his landlady's portrait.
About twenty or thirty Of these plates
vere sold before the fraud was discov-
cred. The dealers above mentioned
knew that at least that many were put
out because more than twenty were
submitted to them for their opinion as
to the genuineness of the plates. They
recommended the swinded purchasers to
return the plates to the dealers of whom
they had bought them, threatening suit
i the money was not refunded.
Of course the dealers had to take
them back and, equally of course, they
PASSED them on to the originator Of the
deal, so that he probably had the pleas
IRE of recovering his entire stock of
Imitation plates There was some talk
among collectors of exposing the man,
but it was decided that he had had Il
severe lesson and had pad dearly for it,
50 they gave him chance to show that
he had learned wisdom.
A Boston firm not long ago got out
series of blue plates adorned with scenes
o. old Boston town; but these were not
reproductions of old plates and were not
sold as antiques. 1t seems very difficult,
If not impossible, for modern manufac-
trrers to set the same depth and quality
Of blue which one finds in the old ware.
That. by the way, was much lighter in
we ght than the same kind o. ware made
now.
Inc manufacturer of limitations of cd
brass is brisk enough to make up for any
GUllness which may exist in the making
OF imitation blue plates. Old brass is
turned cut by wholesale at several places
CT the East side. Old candlesticks may be
bought there by the hundred If the de-
:nand should run up into the thousands
tie foundries would keep pace with it,
You can get old plaques there, too, dated
1893, or any other year you happen to
fsncy.
At the foundries where these treasures
IN antique brass are produced there is no
attempt to make them look old But the
Cealer is a man of resources. He knows
how to dim the brilliancy of brass that is
In the first bloom of youth He thrashes
around among his pieces with a cheerful
uuconcern which soon gives them the
proper supply of dents. He also knows
the benefit of much rubbing and the etti-
cacy of ashes in toning down the COM
pleXion of metal.
He has his own workmen. too, who to
the tune of their little hammers will add
bit of old Dutch repousse work to any
piece of brass in the shop, with never a
care as to the supposed origin of the artf-
Gle. One of the members of the honest
hrm above mentioned cherishes a speci-
men of this sort; a big basin of typical
Russian shape adorned with an elaborate
design in Dutch hammered work He
overlooked it in a lot of brass and his
partner never stops guying him about
having the fraud palmed off upon him.
Inc inexperienced visitor to an anttu-
uity shop is apt to be staggered by the
prices asked for old pieces of furniture.
Their eyes get big when they are invited
to pay from $40 to SIS and 500 for stiff
straight chair of no extraordinary as.
pect.
Genuine old chairs are bv no means
easy to find Thev had harden ,,eo 49,