The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-09-22
OLD ENGLISH FURNITURE.
Collectors Eagerly Ii i'm Re-
hottest Byways.

London Letter. in New York Commercial
Advertiser.
London. of course, is far and away the
biggest market for old furniture in the
kingdom. but not by any means the most
reasonable. Indeed, the really knowing
ones rarely buy in London. They make.
instead, little pilgrimages TO towns like
Ipswich or oxford or Canterbury or God
aiming. or they drop in casually at cottages
in rural Sussex to CLEAN what they may.
Ten years ago Birmingham of all places
was the best town in the country for the
amateur of limited means, and even to-
day prices range about 20 per cent. lower
there than in London. Less than a fort
night ago l bought in Birmingham two of
the finest Chippendale armchalrS L nave
ever set eyes on for e5. In Bond street
they would have fetched from Ga to 60
apiece. But even Birmingham is nothing
like the treasure trOve IL was a decade
ago. The passion for old english furniture
has grown within the last ten years amaz-
Ingly. and hardly an inch OF the country
remains unsearched. at least along the
highways. In the early n%ineties private
collectors were few and far between, and
q man could furnish his dining room In
old oak. his drawing room in Chippendale,
and his bedroom in Sheraton at about a
NTH of the present cost. People know a
good deal more to-day than they did then,
and IL Is the exception now to come across
a cottager who does not know the full
market value of the chests and dressers
and high-backed chairs that in the good old
days of simplicity he would have sold for
a song. And vet by diligent search some
relics of the former ignorance may still
be delightfully."- encountered, and the anna
teur hunter, wherever he may find himself.
In Sussex or in Yorkshire, should never
forget TO inquire the price of anything he
fancles. The chances are that he will be
disappointed when he hears it. but sooner
or later there comes a golden moment when
all the self-cOmmand he owns will be need
ed TO conceal his rantJrp The furniture
hunter, of course, has no moral sense.
IL there Is one county in England less
denuded of its treasures than the rest il
is Yorkshire, and towns like Whitby and
Hull still amply reward a thorough search.
At the other end of the kingdom Cornwall,
TOO, Is a happy hunting ground, especially
off the railroad routes, and in the bypaths
OF Wales some good things are to be come
across. But to find them requires much
patience and a good deal of travelling.
The city which on the whole offers you the
largest choice at the lowest prices is Glou-
%cester, and Americans who are fond of
old furniture will find a day given up to
stroling round the back streets of that
me old cathedral town very proftably
ana pleasantly spent; But in general, and
ago, old furniture in England is very
scarce. The London dealers are hard put
10 II TO keep their customers supplied, and
so nerce Is the competition that they think
little OF travelling a hundred miles to buy
ten pounds worth of goods. To be sure
that one has the genuine thing is becoming
harder and harder. The faking is very
clever, and all the old patterns are being
duplicated by. the ton. This is a capital
tnlnS Tor English taste, which could hardly
have a better model han Hepplewhite or
Chippendale in his later or less ornate
style, but, for the collector. it spoils much
OF the joy of his hobby, though. of course.
one has a certain grim pleasure in ex-
planning now and then to d dealer that.
though he may reproduce everything else,
he cannot reproduce the look of old wood
ana that you are, therefore. not to be
taken in by the written guarantee of
genuineness' that he presses upon you so
anXiously.
In such a v~ariegated hobby as old furni-
ture the constant aim of every enthusiast
Is TO be beforehand in guessing what is TO
be the ruling stock in the market. AT pres
ent OAK and satinwOod dispute for leader
ship. Both bring enormous prices and in
deed TO get a piece of oak at once old and
artistic is now all but impossible. A genu-
inc oak dresser with any pretensions to
beauty is not to be had in London for less
than II gulneas; most of them sell AZ from
10 TO 70. oak SetteeS and chairs and gate
leg tables and cabinets and bureaus and
Golfers are all in brisk demand. thought
myself lucky in getting a Jacobean chest of
four drawers, each with the old pear
shaped d~rop-handles, for a So note. But
1T Is quite possible that the craze for oak
will pass as suddenly as il came. Totem
ham Court road is doing its best to vulgar
lie II by turning out some frightful concoc-
tions-and Tottenham Court road plays in
regaru TO 1ashlons IN furniture the same
part that the New York darky PLAYS i'm
matters of dress. 1t serves to mark that
point of universally when a fashion ceases
10 be fashionable. To my mind the tin of
the moment in the world of amateur furni-
ture hunters is to buy Sheraton. The ex-
qulslte productions of this artist, who
Joined the most absolute simplicity of line
and form with a mastery of inlay, are for
the moment in neglect. A few weeks ago
L bought two armchairs and three small
ones for 512 guineas, and two or three DAYS
later | was offered by a London dealer a
set of two armchairs and six ordinary ones
for s guineas, All were in excellent preser-
walton, beautifully built, and if not by
Sheraton himself were certainly of his
period and made under his influence. Shera-
tons turn is bound to come round again:
such sound and graceful work as his can
never be permanently forgotten and within