The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-06-01
JAMRACH'S ANIMAL SHOP
4 Leader in the Purchase and Sale
of Wild Beasts.

These Do Not Altogether Constitute
the Things He Has 10 Dispose of
Almost Any Article Can BE OBJ
1uined From Him.
The beginnings Of JamraCh's business
belong 10 Hamburg. where the grand
father of the present JamraCh was chief
Of the river police In his official capacity
he was in the habit of boarding arriving
vessels and so was attracted by the Gu
riosities the sailors brought home He
took to buying such Of those as took his
fancy Then his friends wanted him TO
procure similar curiosities for them, and
thereafter his friends friends were seized
with the same desire. The upshot of all
this was that he saw an easy and a profit
able business in these rarities; for the
more they were distributed the greater
the number Of people that wanted them,
and the more he bought from the sailors
the greater Were the quantities they con
tinued to bring him. Accordingly, he re-
signed his office in the police and an
nOunced to the public that he was pre-
pared to supply them with rarfties of any
kind from any shore; for the crew of
every ship that sailed were now practi-
Cally so many agents for him. Wonderful
shells and birds Of gorgeous pIUmdge
were his chief commodities: for these
there was a constant market, and as long
as the sailors We're well remunerated
there was an ever increasing supply It
was not easy to glut the market with
natural rarfties in those DAYS. for the
world was wider than it is now. and the
products of distant lands comparatively
unknown.
Others soon entered the business. and.
as there was ALWAYS a market for Il
rarity, competition between the rival
dealers centred round the sailors The
great point in this competition was to
acquire early knowledge of the arrival of
rarities on the docks: and for this pur-
pose the dealers employed the Ioafers
round the quayside to run to them
with such news, the runner being re
warded in proportion to the importance
q the information he brought ! have
seen the late Charles Jamrach pay
runner as much as G5. and 1 have seen
him pay as low as l shilling. Besides
employing runners. one dealer took to
going out to meet expected ships; an
other dealer did the same, and went
farther next time This was capped by
other dealers going farther and farther
The next innovation was to steal away
uHobserved in the night-a trick that
came out in the course Of time. and then
the rival dealers used TO have one an
others movements watched by night as
Wen as by day
4 MONOPOLY ESTABLISHED.
The masterstroke that killed this irk-
some competition for the time being was
inflicted by Jamrach when he sent his son
Charles to London, there to reside and
them TO him on the Continent. This prac-
ticaIly gave Jamrach monopoly; for
then. there being no Suez Canal English
ports were always those first touched by
EomeWaTd-bound vessels. Enjoying this
virtual monopoly, JamTach could now tell
captains Of ships what to bring him with
out any fear of what they brought fall
ing into rival hands. Thus il came about
that If even European monarch wanted
q TafiJy-dS dld once the emperor Joseph
OF Austria. who for years sought what
Jamrach got for him in as many months,
ra-uely- lion with 4 particular Kind Of
THaue-his best plan was to go to Jam
T2ch- JaInrach. s accordingly became
known as q place where anything could
DC Pre- cured from needle TO an ele-
plant as / have often heard It put.
animal and curiosity trade, with an eE-
Taldlug world. SO TO speak. to draw sup
plies from win people eager To know
more and more Of new countries. and
with the institution and growth of me
nagerles, Of geological gardens and Of
museums There was then a boom right
deals with long profits and small initial
outlay were Of weekly occurrence
ItoyrS there are still, now and then;
but they are confined to particular OBJ
Jects or particular animals, and arise in
rather odd ways sometimes
At the time theOsophy was attracting
attention, for instance, stranger drop
ped into Jamrach's shop He was re
CeiVeG COuTteOusly rather than cordially
To tell you the truth. said Jamrach to
me about the time, 7 thought he was
the pTetence Of wanting some rarity. had
come in To pass the time with q look
round People that come in just 10 have
look round usually begin by asking for
some fsnciful rarity such as a parrot that
can say the Lords Prayer backward or
do a sum in addition. This particular
stranger began quite differently Had Mr.
JaHTdch any symbols connected with the
religion Of Buddha2 Mr. Jamrach had !;
and the stranger, being taken into the
museum bought various ina ges and re-
HGloEs carvings He then wrote out a
check and the name he put to It showed
him to be the representative Of one Of
the eldest families in England. This gen
tleman came several times after that
making similar purchases. and told Jam
Tach that he was furnishing a theosOphic
temple. and that he was endeavoring by
. close study Of the images and idols to
discover the thoughts Of the artists that
produced them How far he succeeded is
not our concern It is our concern simply
TO point ont that articles that had lain in
JaTnra chs museum for a quarter Of a
century, perhaps more, and We're consid-
cred unstable almost. had a market
value suddenly ''precipitated' upon them
/. by the far distant Mahatmas-
WHOLESALE COLLECTION.
From thus selling deities or delicate
japanese carvings. Jamrach may turn
next minute to selling a panther to a
Snowman, a python TO a snake chaTmer.
a monkey to an organgrinder, a rare
deer to a duke. one morning last spring
a gentleman came IN to buy a brown
Brahmin bull that he had heard of. He
bought the bull, and then going round
/ the stables he took fancy to d leopard
He bought that also. Then he bought
two hyenas, four brown Russian bears
four Sambur deer, three Persian gaZeIles-
some dark swans, and emus. What was
q Worcestershire 'sQUire-for so ne
turned out to be-to do with all these
animalsz This question would seem to
have arisen is his own mind on COM
Jamrach, he suddenly remarked: III
tell you what III do. III build dens for
them. and when they're finished you
come down and see that they are strong
enough and all right Meanwhile, you
keep the animals for me" This was
agreed to and in about month Jamra ch
sent one Of his men down to Malvern
with the strange freight. Most people