The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-09-07
INDIAN RELIC HUNTER HOME.
yOING MR. VAN RENSSEL 4ERS
JOURNEY N THREE STATES.
Bw Peculiar and Interesting Collection,
Gathered ny Himself. Fills the Old
Colonial House In which TIE Lives
IN west Orange--HOw lie Works.

IN west OranGe--ttOw lie Works.
Beginning at the age Of is with the gen
nine enthusiasm Of born arch ologst-
and arch ologsts are born, not made
Mr. Stephen Van Rensselaer,, Jr., of West
Orange and New York. has got together
at the age Of 81 probably the finest private
collection of Indian and Colonial relics
there is to be found in the country, At
present HIS curios are in the quaint old
Colonial home in which he lives in West
Orange They occupy several rooms up
stairs. which are prncipa l!y devoted TO
their use. All over the beautiful, low-ceil-
insed rooms on the ground floor they are
tastefully displayed here and there among
pieces Of old furniture so rare and mellow
with age in tone that it would be only an
ac, Of ordinary prudence to nail them
down In the presence Of one really under
the spell OF the Misunderstanding pas
sion
But the archq ologicil collection is not
even confined to the house proper. 1t
oyerhows out of doors. Resting on the
ground and hanking the fight Of steps
which lead up to the front door are two
with their peculiar shape, evidently the
rude workmanship OF human hands. They
are merely two particularly large spec-
mems Of he mortars in which Indian squaws
many centuries ago beat and pulverized
prair 10 make hoe cakes for Lo Mr.. Van
Rensselaer, has dozens of these mortars.
and the pesties that go with them. Of all
sizes and all degrees Of perfection in their
manufacture.
Out in the garden in the rear Of the house
were scattered. yesterday, many other of
The larger specimens Of Indian handiwork in
stone Indian mortars, pestles, st one ham,
Iner and hatchets, stone hoes and spades
With which the squaws scratched the ground
for the planting Of crops-curious stone
geological formations and what not. Still
luther away from the house is little
wooden building set apart for the purpose
and filed with enough material to equip
museum.
Mr.. Van Rers elaer is about to erect in
the rear OF the house a building to be
specially devoted to housing his collection.
1t will be of brick" he said yesterday,
and will have q cement floor, with barred
windows scattered all around where
they will be most effective. l mean to
make it as near fire and burglar proof as
possible. OF course, it is not the intrinsic
value Of the articles that counts 1t is the
impossibility of replacing the vast ma jority
Of the more important ones. So far as the
collections money value is concerned, l
may say that have been offered $4,000
for it as it stands No, it was not a museum
that made the offer Museums rarely buy
collections outright. They go on the prin-
ciple that everything comes to him who
waits. and as they never die and men do
they can afford to wait good while. The
really fine collections generally find their
way to the museums
The collector who has put so many
years into the work of getting them to-
gether, and with whose life-interest they
are so interviewer cannot bear to think
of their being scattered after his death
And really, about the only way to insure
a collection not being broken up and scat
tered 10 to give or bequeath it In its entirety
to . museum. Sometimes, however, they
are scattered during the lives Of those
who have spent so many years in the labor
Of love OF getting them together. There
are some melancholy instances of this
that have come within my own knowledge.
There was one case Of man up in the
State of New York who had an ext remely
interesting and valuable collection of Indian
and colonial antiquities. He was over
forty years in getting it together Then
in his old age financial embarrass ment
came and he was obliged to sell the col
lection which had come to be almost next
TO his own flesh and blood in his affections
He got for it--what was absurdly below
It's value. He told me that when he saw
articles for which he had hunted for years
and travelled maybe a thousand miles
to get, punched in blocks of ten with
all sorts Of stuff of ordinary interest and
sold at auction-he told me when he saw
this going on he could endure it no longer
and that he went off and for the first time
in his life got roaring drunk.
No, the mere money question enters
very little into the matter of a collection
OF American antiquities Of any kind. |
suppose at a forced sale | could not get
over 81 900 for my collection. AT all events
that Is all the insurance companies will
risk on it. But what has money to do with
it, anyway? That il an element that does
not enter into the collectors calculations"
A peculiar interest attaches to Mr., Van
Rensselaers collection in that he found
nearly all the $1,000 articles of which 1t
consists himself Through his study CT
Indian manners and customs he has become
one OF the most expert searchers for Indian
relics there ia in the country. The vast
majority Of these relics. with the exception
of flint and quartz arrowheads which
are found everywhere the Indians roamed
in any considerable numbers, and the
most valuable relics came from the red
mems ancient burying grounds. There
are hundreds Of these places Of interment
scattered all over the country In New
York. New Jersey and Pennsylvania they
are found in great numbers by those who
know where TO look for them and who know
an Indian burying ground when they see It.
For many years Mr.. Van Rensselear-
who, by the way, is an expert horseman
and member Of the Essex Troop, N. q.
n WAS in the habit Of taking long
journeys on horseback in his relic-huntng
expeditions. The trouble about this was
that he found so many valuable relics that
he could not we'll carry them. They were
lost or injured in shipment. To meet this
difficulty he had built a wagon expressly
for these pilgrimages. 1t is a large,
strong wheeled vehicle weighing about
$500 pounds. There Ia high covered top
IN which IL provided q couple of bertha,
one above the other Beneath what ap-
pears 10 be the floor OF the wagon there il
sui another deck, and between these two
decks is a sort Of hold in which provisions
may be slowed.
Swung underneath the lower deck il a
nat-bOttomed boat which can be readily