The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-04-24
FURNITURE FRAUDS
In NEW YORK CITY
TOO MUCH OF THE OLD STUFF
Is TURNED OUT TO ORDER.
Vast Supply of Adam Furniture OF
About All Dates-How Two Old
Chairs From the Country House
Of Lord Stilton Cheese Were
Secured. z.- s....... .-. .... Il
New York Sun.

els there any old furniture on the
market?' was the question the re-
porter. asked an expert in the busl-
ness. - ... -. ~
"There certainly is supply of old
furniture" he said, "altho it is now
very limited. The high prices paid by
collectors have led many persons to
sell what had been for years in their
families, but it is now very hard to get.
The present supply has, however, been
multiplied in a way I experienced.
Once | saw an Adam card table that
table in the same shop that looked
very much like it. The dealer admitted
candidly that he had taken table
OF two leaves and made two out of it,
The four original legs served as the
front legs of the two new tables. In
this way is the limited supply of old
furniture increased.
"Dealers have come to realize that
their best policy is more honesty than
some have shown in recent years. The
most dishonest can make the business
pay for a short time, however. Even
If three out Of every ten pieces are
sold to customers under false pretences
there still remains good profit for the
dealer from the imposition. He saves
his reputation always by attributing
the error to the stupidity Of his clerk,
who had been told that the pieces
were. not genuine, but neglected to
mention it,
"In spite of this kind of success,
however, honesty pays better in the
long run, and dealers Of reputation are
becoming more careful as to the guar
antee under which they sell goods.
Even at recent furniture auctions, adj
vertised as being certain collections,
there has been a little leaven of the
real collection to give authority to the
use Of the name. Little as this may be
1t, IS an Improvement over the time
when there was no excuse whatever
for calling a collection by any name
| except to make it sell. ~
Vast Supply of Adam furniture.
81 Adam furniture can be duplicated
just as easily as the other kinds,' an
expert told the reporter. 1.-THE satin
| wood may be polished and stained and
the, paintings copied from those of
authentic pieces: Very little of the
trace of genuineness.
Ever since the days of the two
Adam furniture. It was always more
furniture have been manufacturing
Adams furniture. 1t was always more
or less in demand and became a stand
ard pattern. Some of these pieces are
forty. years old and others not as many
| months. 49,.
| tet NIUE Ddu treatment, exposure
to the weather and a patch or two will
make one piece look as old as anybody
wants. Then the dealer, to prove his
honesty, need only call attention to the
restorations and the effect of wear ano
I tear.'' - A"4. ~
| Rich persons who are deceived in fur.
I nlture rarely care whether or not, what
they have bought is what it pretends
to be. They take piece home and it
lnn lrd +Iol
ly claimed to be reproductions are solo
in New York by honest dealers who
could not be persuaded to say that they
are antiques. But dealers few blocks
away will offer them as genuine specl
mems: This is the way it is done: j
Ways of a Suspected Dealer.
A customer, usually woman, wants
say, two side chairs. She will prob
ably ask for Chippendale, which is, tx
the majority of buyers, a generic ma me
that includes the work of Sheraton
Hepplewhite and most makers of tina
period. The clerk will say that h
has none that day, or she may not lik'
E. the kind on hand. +
"If. you could only come in mex
; week, - he will say, IT am sure yo
will find what you want. We have tw
very old pieces just now IN the custom
house. They come from the countr
house of Lord Stilton Cheese and ou
agents had the greatest trouble in get
r ting his lordship to consent to sell them
, If you can come in next week I vii
J have them polished and ready for yo
to see.' -. -:
The customer promises to call. TIL
clerk Immediately orders from a hous
that makes excellent reproductions an
sells them as such, two chairs that wi
suit his customer. He. pays $25 eac
! for them and charges $1O5.- They ar
J scratched in two. or three places, di1
is rubbed in and then the scratches DO
ished over.
y The new furniture is delivered
: wagons that bear no sign, as it woul
a never do to see the wagon of the Thirty
=; fourth street store in front of the al
i tique dealers on Fifth avenue, nc
n could his delivery wagon stand in fror
y Of the modern factory
b They re the best. Foot-Schulze GLOW
rubbers. At Best shoe stores.