The Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1903-1909, 1908-03-12
>. THE "FAkER" :.
By RALPH PERKINS
Copyright

utes | came to the conclusion that
they were identical, and said so.
II gave 50 cents for the imitation
one, but | can't tell which of them
now" he admitted.
And the selling price?" | inquired.
twenty-five dollars each. One of
them's worth that After all, 1t doesn't
really matter, for there's no difference
between them intrinsically"
His ethics are summed up in that
observation Given perfect workman.
ship and material, he argues that IL
the imitation is as good as the orig,
inal, there is no dishonesty in sell,
ing 1t as such. He has supreme con.
tempt for the Indifferent craftsman,
A flaw in his own work will condemn
it. 1t must be above suspicion before
it leaves his workshop.
He knows everything there Is to
know about furniture, faience, tapes
try, pewter, Jacobean glass, Adams
brass-work, colored prints, old Shelf
field plate, and hundred other things,
His shop Is full of them. He buys most
Of them from the surrounding farm
ers, who are ignorant of their value;
and his profits go In old brandy. Some
of it Is as antique as his goods.
IF | we're like some of them he
resumes, Il might have made a mint
of money. I've seen the trend of pub
lie taste for so years-and always
been able to anticipate 1t. When PEG.
pie lived with heavy Victorian mahog'
any laid In little stock of Sheraton
and Chippendale When they changed
from that, | was ready for them with
Hepplewhite and Adam. foresaw the
craze for Empire things, and now
we'll, I'll tell you something, and you
can go away and make money out OF
it. The curio-hunters will be running
after Italian furniture next. Not
quinque-cento stuff-its not sufficient
ly comfortable; but Venetian chairs
of carved walnut-the semi-circular
fshape-upholstere in old rose and
gold brocade. And they'll want ltal-
ian walnut paneling with the fine,
simple pattern in relief, and Della
Robbia ware to go with it. Lord! IL
they would only walk down the long
carved-wood gallery at the South
Kensington museum! It's there for
those who have eyes to see!" He
paused for a. moment. And can
make 1t all just as well-and you
couldn't tell the difference!"
He does not leave off working while
he talks. That would be an extrava-
gance, with only three working days
in his week. Just then he was fret
saving the yellow ivory keys of some
ancient piano into suitable shapes
wherewith to inlay little brand-new
ebony table that presently will appeal
to some connoisseur as a perfect speci'
men of the cabinet-making of the
period of Louis XVI. ask concerning
its future.
II shall probably keep 1t some
months" he says, until some London
uCdlCi0 udfC ldoC ihO ohiNsS hSA 49,
They often come down to pick up bar
gains he chuckles. After they've
nibbled | shall put 1t into a farm
house sale of sufficient Importance for
the catalogues to be sent up to town.
Then they'll come down and bid
against one another for it, and some
body will ultimately buy 1t for double
or treble the amount he first offered
me. Do you know" he pursues, that
antiques--or my equivalents-fetch
more at sale of a yeomans property
In the country than would be given for
them at Christie's? Strange, isn't it?"
And In a London paper recently
read a discussion ON the question
Are country people dull?"