New-York tribune., 1901-05-26
JAMR AClI'S.
THE ORIGIN AND GROWTH of a FAMOUS
WILD ANIMAL. BUSINESS.
From Chambers's Journal.

w LID ANIMAL I't7i->i-''''
From Chamberss Journal
The beginnings of Jamrach's business belong
to Hamburg, where the grandfather of the pres
ent JamraCh chief of the river police In
his official capacity he was in the habit OF
boarding arriving vessels, and so was attracted
by the curiosties the sailors brought home. He
took To buying such of those as took his fancy
Then his friends wanted him to procure similar
cur1psities FOR them, and thereafter ms frlen1s
trends were seized with the same desire. Inc
upshot Of all this was that he saw an easy ana
a profitable business in these rarities; for the
more they We're distributed the greater the num-
Der Of people that wanted them, and the more he
bought from the sailors the greater were the
quantities. they continued to bring him Ac-
cordinSiy, he resigned his office in the police and
announced to the public that he was prepared
To supply them with rarities of any kind from
any shore; for the of every ship that sailed
were now practically many agents for him.
Wonderful shells and birds of gorgeous pumage
We're his chief commodities; for these there was a
constant market. and as long as the sailors were
well remunerated there was an ever increasing
supply. 1t was not easy to glut the market
WITH natural rarties IN those days, for the world
wider than il is now. and the products of
distant lands comparatively unknown.
Others soon entered the business, and. as there
vas always market for rarity, competition
J. tween the rival dealers centred round the
sailors The great point in this competition was
tp acquire early knowledge of the arrival of
rtritics an the docks; and for this purpose the
q. alcrs employed the loafers round the quay
81 20 nun 70 them with such news. the run
n'r' l"ia@ rewarded in proportion 10 the i'm
portance Of The Information he brought. have
seen IN. late Charles JamraCh pay a runner
2s much -, and have seen him pay as low
one shilii";s. BESIDES employing runners, one
dealer took 10 going out to meet expected ships;
another dealer did the same. and went further
next time. This capped by other dealers
in, further 5nl further The next innovation
trick that came out in the course Of time and
then tn rival dealers Us Il To have one anothers
movements watched by night as We'll as by day.
CREATING MONOPOLY.
The masterstr1se that killed this rksome
mpcttion for the time being inflicted by
Jamrach when hc sent his Charles To Lon
don. there to reside and buy UP the rarities and
animals. ana md them To him on the COnti-
rent. This practically gave Jamrach monopoly
for then. there being no SueZ Canal. English
Ports were always those first touched by home
ward bound vessels. Enjoying this virtual
IN, nopoy, Jamrach could now tell captains of
ships what To bring him without any fear of
what they brought falling into rival hands. Thus
il came about that If even European monarch
wanted rlrty-as did once the Emperor Jo-
Srph of Austria. who for years sought for what
Jamrach got for him in many months:
namely. lion with particular kind Of mane-
his best plan To 20 10 JamraCh. Jamrachs
accordingly became known rs a plac" where
auytEinS could hc procured. from 4 needle l." an
elephant" as have often heard it put. These
We're the good ola times of the animal and
curiosity trade. with expanding world So To
speak. To draw supplies from; with people eager
to know more and more of new countries. and
with th" institution and growth of upeuagerieS.
of Geological gardens. and 81 museums. lhclt
WAS then boom right along the whole line of
the trad and deals with long profits and small
initial outlay were e weekly occurrence Rooms
there ar" stil. now and then. but they con
fined To particular objects particular animals,
and arise in rather odd ways sometimes
At the time thcoSolhy was attracting atten-
tion. for instance. stranger dropped into jam
raCh's shop. He was received CourtcOuSly rather
than cordially To tell you the TRUTH said
Jamrach TO about the time. Il thought he
Was some dock clerk out of job, and under the
prrtenc" Of wanting some rarity. had come in
To pass the time with look round" People
that come in just to have look round usually
begin 10y asking TOR some fanciful rarity. such
backward do a sum in addition This par
ticular stranger began quite differently. Had
Mr.. JamTaCh any symbols connected with the
religion of Buddha" Nj. JamTach had. and the
stranger. being taken into the museum bought
various images ana religious carvings. He then
wrote out check and the name he pat To il
showed him To 10" thr representative Of one of
the oldest families in England This gentleman
came several times after that. making similar
pure ChaScs. and told Jamrach that he fur
nishinE th"osup phic temple. ana that he
rudt yorng by close study of the images and
idols discover the thoughts of the artists that
produced them. How far h, succeeded il not our
concern. II is our concern simply 10 point out
that articles that had lain in JamraCh'S mu-
scum for quarter Of a century. perhaps more,
ami were considered unsalable almost. had a
market value suddenly pre- cipitated" upon them
by the far distant Mahatmas.
PRIVATE ANIMAL. COLLECTIONS
From thus selling dcities or delicate Japanese
carvings. Jamrach may turn next minute To