Los Angeles herald., 1907-02-03
ANTIQUE AUCTION FAKERS REAP
RICH HARVEST In LOS ANGELES

state. II was dusty, It might have been
the dust of more than century, and
one almost expected to hear the auc-
tioneer say 1t was, but he had a better
little song than that. He told how the
owner OF the hall seat had gone to Paris
the year before with $4,000 in his
pocket and bought the colonial hall
seat IT was imported you know, and
thus acquired greater value. And he
actually sold IL for sS5 But whether
this hurt his conscience or not some
thing induced him to tell the truth and
he told all about the carved chairs that
he had sold at japanese and Chinese
auctions. After he had eased his mind
on this score he felt so much better that
phe sold six coonlal-made-in-P Paris
chairs for $3.50 and didn't bat an eye.
cIoisonne sWlndIe
And the cloisonne There are some
pieces Of cloisonne for sale in Los An
geles. There are some pieces for sale
at the auctions. But the majority of It
Is the cheapest kind of enamel made up
to initiate cloisonne, and mighty poor
imitation 10 is. Don't buy cloisonne
without first looking at 1t through n
strong reading glass. IF 1t is the genu-
inc article the silver will show up
prominently.
htSC uIt Dit ~ lew vi Tie lilOoI llC-
quently practiced deceptions in the
Japanese auction. The city is full of
Japanese auctions now, the greatest
part of the stock imported for the
Christmas trade being put under the
hammer. Not all Japanese and Chinese
goods are fakes, but nine out of every
ten pieces that are guaranteed genu-
inc antique or guaranteed genuine
anything else are base limitations Even
IL. t.x.s H..
usually pretty good quality of their
kind, for the Japanese are clever and
skillful workers and do no slovenly
work, whether 1t Is genuine or imita-
tion.
Public Is Gold Brlcked
Where the gullible public gets 1t in
the thorax is in being charged ten
prices for something on the misrepre-
sentation that it is something else. The
Japanese goods. for the most part, are
pretty and make handsome home orna-
ments, but as one interior decorator
aptly put it while lecturing to an art
class:
You rack your brains to conceive
some plan for your house that will ar
chitecturally differ from your neigh
bors and then you and your neighbor
stop at a Japanese auction and buy,
your houses all look alike. OF course
they do. One Japanese piece is an al
most exact replica of another Japanese
piece of the same character and pur-
pose. and they might all have been
nodded in the same pattern casting.
The Japanese are very initiative race,
but short on the creative. Moreover,
half of the stuff you buy at japanese
auction Is a cheap, base imitation of
something else, and every imitation
gives itself away sooner or later. More
than half the stuff you buy at japanese
auctions never saw Japan and never
paid one cent of duty. They were made
right here in America by clever Yam
KEGS.
"There are three good rules to OBJ
serve while buying goods at a japanese
auction. They are:
Don't buy goods at a Japanese auc-
tion unless you are thoroughly familiar
with the various Japanese wares and
know their intrinsic value.
Don't buy goods at Japanese auc-
tion unless you have plenty of money
for such purposes and your self respect
can stand the jolt of being stung.
Don't buy goods at a Japanese auc
tion."