The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-08-02

him. and at last 1 said: Why, it's
the piece you gave me to COPY /
thought he would have laughed with
me. But, no; he grew quite angry,
known without my telling him, but
teisned Ignorance to see how far my
impudence would go.
Artificial Dry Rot.
II turned the conversation from mar
bic to wooden antiquities.
With wood you can do what you
please. You can now make 1t worm
eaten and put dry rot into the carved
parts. A chisel cannot work on dry
rot. This defect can be used as a GER
tihcate of authenticity. One of my
friends bought bahut. He paid three
experts to examine it and they certi-
fed 1t to be genuine. Some time after
he had 1t taken down to shift it to
another room. In removing it a panel
got broken and he sent it to Picard
to be repaired. Goodness me-" cried
Picard, lit is the bahut that 1 made
a few years ago" The cabinet makers
who work for antiquaries now use the
oak which had been employed in the
beams and rafters of old houses. For
tunes have been made by knowing
people who bought old tumble-down
houses in Orleans and other provincial
towns. They sold the rotten wood
to manufacturers of ancient furniture
for more than the house cost, and had
the ground for nothing. have an
other acquaintance who manufactures
timepieceS for an antiQuary at the
price of 10000 francs apiece.
"Ancient'' Marbles.
And for what does the dealer sell
them? He alone could say. Such
things are counted invaluable. The
10 w
sell to Park Lane millionaires and
Americans. There are now only those
two classes of purchasers. Here and
there a French millionaire springs up
and wants to distinguish himself as a
collector. One should leave to all such
their illusions. The forged thing is
as good as the genuine. Not long ago
l took two pieces of furniture that
M. de Vaufrelard prides himself on
possessing for genuine things, until /
became acquainted with the man who
made them. Marble is the material
that least betrays the present day
workman. / am now making a marble
fountain which will look the product
of far back time. l gave 1t patine
by burning damp straw under 1t, and
then l knocked off a nose or a finger,
or leaves of a wreath. 1t is a great
trial to artistic workmen to be Obliged
feel awfully disgusted when we have
disfigured a statuette, But we can
make three times more money in work
for antiquarieS than for moderns,
Sometimes our profits are enormous;
we have to be so conscientious, and so
attentive to details. The antiquaries
can ask any prices they like. Their
customers want antique things to give
the illusion of having ancestors who
HnIFPtNhnd in he 60 OR -
At present craze is for tenth, eleventh,
twelfth and thirteenth century mar
bles. They are very ugly, but they
help to throw dust in the eyes of
South African gold kings settled in
Paris, and American heiresses. The
owner of the Chateau de Rochefort
goes in for such things. He paid dear
to secure for his chateau marbles that
1 dare say are genuine, but so inferior
in workmanship and conception that
would not stoop to pick them out of
the mud, if by doing SO I could have
them for nothing.
False HOudOns.
'HoudopS are now the rage, and
have been for some time. Think of
the prices TO which they ran up those
spurious Graces on the timepiece
bought by a Frankforter. The most
| enviable Houdon is now lie Baiser
| Copies of it are sold everywhere by
| italian boys. The original, at this mo-
ment in London, is worth 400, 900 francs.
Well, there are seven or eight orig
inals' lying quietly to be brought out
In due time.
Amateurs may often buy jeweIry
with their eyes shut. Jewels have In
trinsic value, and such exquisite work.
| manship is needed for them that for
| ger1es would not pay. The only flrst-
rate jewellers for European style are In
Paris and, for the oriental styles, In
Damascus and India. The Partisan
working jeweler earns very high wages
l should also purchase blindfold a fine
porphyry vase. Porphyry quarries are
| nearly worked out, and porphyry is
| nearly as hard as the diamond.
Amateurs are sometimes. "as a
favor" taken by antiquaries through
the living rooms of their flats or cha
teaus. a dealer in the neighborhood
of the opera house has made a mint
Of money out of the renaissance bed he
sleeps on. He gives seekers after rari-
ties opportunities to discover" it. They
Imagine 1t Is find" because he uses
1t instead of keeping it in a show room.
He let's himself be persuaded, but not
too easily, to sell 1t; orders another
Just like 1t. sells 1t also in the same
way, and then another
Here l took leave of my informant
And now the following anecdote for
the finale. / went some time ago to
see avowedly spurious antiquities in a.
workshop in the Rue de Turenne. They
were shown to me as forgeries too
clever to be detected. The middIeman
who hoped to circulate them as gem
uine was named. Screws were old and
of loose fits. The enamel on the dial
plate was identical with that on a time
piece of the same period at the Garde
Meuble. ] examined the work with a
magnifying glass, and could see how
they had been worn.
mot long after 1 met an appraiser
Of the Mont Piete. We talked art and
antiquities. told him of my visit to
the Rue de Turenne. expressed adj
miration at the completeness of the i'm
itation had been shown there. and
mentioned the pride the artihcer took
in his work.