The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1903-03-02
SPURIOUS ANTIQUES.
Big Trade in False Relics Of His
toric Value and Interest.
Articles Of Furniture and Pottery
Manufactured So a. 70 Look
Time-Worn TO Catch the
Customers.


"The latest thing in antiques y
| the way witty dealer describes 20
his friends some of the tricks Of hls>
| business. If you don't come to him 70
buy. simply to talk soviably, he VIII
confess that there is an enormous
trade in imitation antiquities. Silver,
furniture, pottery, and other things
that folks buy because of their age
are exported to America IN great
quantities by experts who make clever
| limitations, and each species Of AN
tioue" Is credited as being the prod
not of some particular country or
c;tv. Holland, for instance, Is the
| headquarters for "old silver" wn1ie
| Paris sends out most OF the imitation
ancient pottery, says the New YORK
| Times.
After securing sample pieces OF
| real old silver as models, the Dutcn
| imitators make molds and then turn
ont the copies by thousands. Having
manufactured the limitations, they
subject them to chemical preparations
to make them look time-worp The
science Of 'antiquitizing' has Pc
come SO exact that new pieces are
made to have the appearances OF having
been dug up from the earth after hid
| ing from the light for centuries. Hol-
land, although the leader in the arr
is not the only place where II Is Prac-
ticed. and dealer Of this city is au-
thority for the statement that the
United States, France and Germany
| contain numerous establishments
| where the trade fourishes.
Those who initiate pottery and
| marble are even more successful than
the silver molders, and the basic
| theory Of the business is to manu-
! facture the pieces and then bury them
| in the ground, allowing them to re-
| main there two or three years. When
| the resurrection takes place the ap-
| pearance Of the "antique" is such
| that the uninitated purchaser-to-be
/ readily believes the salesman who
points to it and says: Here, madam
is an old piece Of marble that came
from the ruins of Pompeii; its price
has been reduced to. $780," The king
/ Of the imitation pottery trade in Paris
is man named Sampson, Of whom u
has been said that he produces wares
more ancient than the Biblical man
with similarly sounding name His
goods go to all countries and are dealt
out for very high prices.
OF all the imitation industries the
most fiourishing is the "antique fur
niture" trade. The dealers say there
is a greater demand for old furniture
than for anything else they sell. In
the United States there is one city
which has factory that does nothing
but turn out "antique" chairs and ta-
bles. and other such things. They
lust make chair" to use the local
dealers words, "and soak it in some
sort OF fluid to make it look rusty, and
then they shoot few loads Ok small
shot into it to give it a worm-eaten
appearance This having been done,
the sixteenth century chair is COM
plete and ready for use or ornament,
Sometimes, it is explained, the maker
uses an awl instead of shot. for pep
pering the piece of furniture with
"worm-holes," and this method has
the advantage Of leaving less proofs OF
deception than the small shot.
1T doesn't take long for shop to
fiji up with real genuine antiques in
New York" explains the dealer. why,
know man who quit the butchering
business to become one of us. He
hasn't been at it long, but already his
place is filed with everything from q
roll of papyrus that was used by Ra-
meses the Second to suit of armor
pierced by the sword Of Richard Plan
tagenet."
This same dealer will point out in
his own shop Ito anybody who will
not telr clever imitation of Wedg-
wood that any one but an expert read
ilv would believe to have been fash.
Toned by Josiah Wedgwood himself
: When asked whether buyers often dis
cover that they have been deceived
and return to demand reimbursement
the dealer replies:
"The more they get soaked, the
more they come back to buy. But
they rarely wake up, most often con.
tinuing to think until their dying day
that they are looking into a mirror
| which once reflected the face Of
Queen Elizabeth or sitting in chail
wherein sat Nine. de Maintenon tt
receive King Louis XIV"
A walk through the antique" dis
: trict will show many real articles, O.
course, but every real one is likely tt
have its imitation counterpart some
where about. AS interesting as an,
} deception one sees is an elaborate sui
= of armor, the owner of which, in de
scribing its attractions, points to Ger
4, tain indentures and declares that the.
!, are ancient sword prints.