The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1909-06-30
CLEVER ART FORCERS
They Flood the Markets Abroad
With Their Wares.
PARIS THE CLEARING HOUSE.

The French Capital Is the Chief Mart
For the Disposal Of Imitation An
tiques-ltaly Leads In the Production
of tho Spurious Articles.
Italy has always been the classic soil
for fabricatlons, but i'll some depart
ments Holland and Paris run her close.
Vienna has speciality for rock crys.
tai and thirteenth century gold work.
Florence and Lueca for fourteenth
century armor. London initiates the
pate tendre Of Sevres, Constantinople
makes oriental weapons, Madrid Da-
mascus swords, Dresden sculptured
worries, Aix-la Chapelle pewter plate,
Berlin Roman potterles, Amsterdam
wrought iron, Rotterdam Indian poree-
lains. Odessa tlaras and antique jew
elry. while Paris is the chief mart and
clearing house for all these products.
Italian bronze statuettes, now SO
much sought, are turned out with dex-
terity and taste In Tuscany. 1t Is said
that 1t was from one Of these foun-
dries there issued the group of virtue
expressing vice, assigned to Clan b.
ure Of a celebrated French collection,
Switzerland makes speciality Of Louis
XIV. repousse work.
As for renaissance and medieval
jewelry. hardly bit Is real except
what Is In museums. 1t Is not to be
bought. In the disturbed epochs that
followed the renaissance precious
stones were broken from their set
tings and sold to meet urgent needs.
The same need for extreme diffidence
applies to the pretty bibelots of the
eighteenth century, watches. chate-
laines, bonbonnieres. OF modern fabri-
cation, too, Is the enameled jewelry of
the sixteenth century. Vienna turns It
out to perfection. And so cunning are
the makers that, for example, they
take care that the ring on which a
locket Is suspended should show signs
of friction, well aware that the buyer
who thinks himself cute will look for
this indication.
As for the peasant jewelry, now 80
on the old bridge and elsewhere. the
genuine IL long ago exhausted. for.
after all, peasants own but limited
stock. II all consists of clever copies
or more often tasteful combinations of
old designs. The stones, too, despite
their fine designations, are rarely any
thing else but those marvelously clev.
err tinted rock crystals so ingeniously
made In Switzerland and sold by the
ton 4 desired.
| Venice Is the great depot for ebon,
inlail with ivory, and cabinets incrust
ed with tortoise shell, once Its glor!
and now In their decadence, are still
the JOY OF travelling Americans on th
lookout for bargains. Buy if the oh
pay your dollars imagine you are ex
CHANGING new lamps for old AS 70
old clocks, grandfather or other, Their
is not ono genuine IN hundred. War
worries! They are generally bone or
worse still, eelluioid aged by the hell
| OF tobacco or of that Invaluable hand
maiden. licorioe Juice
Nor does even glass defy the artif
icer In the Museum Of st. German
can be seen Roman goblets, their out
sides lncrusted with dirt, whose fri
lescence has been obtained by fish
scales fixed upon their surface Some.
times real BITS OF iridescent glass aim
nre transferred upon Il modern frame
work. Cologne turns out lacbrymatory
vases by the gross, not even troubling
to copy the old shapes. but using tho
long narrow bottles in which cheap
sweets are sold These are buried in
dung inter being smeared with some
connection of which the secret Is
guarded, and In little time they issue
from retirement patinated and rides
cent. Old German and bohemian glass
Is also excellently copied In Hamburg
and Paris. Venice. too. has not for
gotten Its traditions and turns out its
own old wares.
Sevrcs and Dresden innocently help.
ed the counterfeiter by selling their
not yet decorated pieces, II imperfect
for trihe On this genuine ground
the forgcr worked with ease. This
traffic has been stopped. Still the
forger knows no obstacles or over
comes them. and false Sevres and
Dresden are supplied by all dealers
and the purchaser rarely has the mi
mute knowledge that will save him. In
| the eighteenth century oriental porce
lains we're openly made In England
and Holland and sent to China foI
decoration. when they returned as rea
ess obtained. The porcelain was made
In China and decorated In what was
presumed to be the Chinese style II
Europe. Paris at the present momen
makes and exports old China porce
lain, and many n tourist who buys Q
find at Hongkong or Shanghai merely
brings back Goals to Newcastle. Rho
dian plates are made near Paris In alb
solute perfection. Except as matter
OF sentiment there Is no need to seek
the old BE cautious, too, In buying
Greco Roman pottery. 1t is mostly
made at Naples
Most Of the genuine things were
snapped up long ago or else are owned
by museums or by the heirs OF those
for whom they were made and who dc
not need to part with them.-London
National Review.
Times Revenge.
II wonder If everybody Will have
what he wants a hundred years from