The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-12-19
China s the passion of his soul;
A cup, plate, dish, bowl
Can kindle wishes in his breast,

A cup, plate, dish, a bowl
Can kindIe wishes in his breast,
Infame with joy, or break his rest.
Such was written of Horace Wal
pole. an enthusiastic collector of china,
when in the second half of the eight
zenith century the craze for china col
lecting was at its height. And this
little rhyme gives but a meager idea OF
what the fever for collecting can be
once it has taken hold upon its victim.
Today in the twentieth century the
study and collecting of china IS once
more a fad, and its enthusiasts are to
be found in all ages, in all walks of
life. 1t is scarcely fair, however, to
give the name "fad - to any subject
or pursuit which has so much to recon-
mend it and gives with every hour of
study so much that is interesting, so
much that is worth while to know.
Every girl has at one time or another
been seized with desire to make col
lection of something, and whatever her
collection may chance to be it is sure to-
bring with it an all absorbing interest.
Surely it would be more sensible to turn
her energies to some object that will be
of value to her all through life than to
expend untold time and work upon get
ting together a unique collection OF
engraved monograms, for example,
which are effective, perhaps, but of no
possible value. Even postage stamps,
apart from their historic interest, can
bring only a pride of ownership be-
cause of a certain rarity and monetary
value There is no real beauty in the
tiny inch wide strip of colored picture
paper, and unless it be determined to
make real lifework of the getting to-
gether of a choice collection and put
ting into it large shares of the allow
ance a girl can never hope to acquire
stamp collection of any great worth.
In the collecting of old china, on the
other hand, each piece acquired will
be in itself a thing of interest and
beauty.
There are comparatively few girls
nowadays who have the least knowI-
edge of china the different wares which
their erandmothers loved and guarded
so tenderlv. or can even discriminate
between pottery and porcelain. Once,
however, a little knowledge of this
most fascinating subject has been CLEAN
ed and even the Youngest girl will find
II HAEI 40 resi- until at lSdst OhO SFAAA7
men of dainty Lowestoft, of luster ware,
of Wedgwood or Of the historic series
in some StaffoYdshire ware has been
procured With the collector S fever
once caught there arises an irresistible
desire to make raid on all the old
farmhouses in the neighborhood or en-
tire State with the hope of finding in
some hack closet or dairy shelf a dish
or Jug of coveted Nottingham or Dav-
export. or some other English ware of
the nineteenth century.
The term pottery was originally en-
pioved to define all objects made OF
clav. moulded into shape while in
moist state and then hardened by fire |
- Porcela.n' cones from an Italian
word meaning cowry she'll, but because
porcelain ware was first made by the
Chinese it is commonly called china. j
The essential difference between pot
terv and porcelain is that the latter IS
winter, harder and slightly translucent.
Faience is a French word which is ap-
piled to every kind of glazed earthen-
ware, but does not include porcelain.
The term maiolica, which one comes |
across so constantly in all descriptions
of china, formerly meant exclusively |
Italian decorated pottery of the ff- |
teenth centuries. made in the old 1tai- i
ian style. hut today the word signifies |
about the same thing as faience.
Paste IS the body or substance of
which the article is made and may be
either hard or soft. Hard paste is
made Of the natural clay, and when !
broken appears sparkling, fire grained |
and vitreous. Soft paste is more porous |
and dull, and is made of artificial clays. |
The shiny material which covers the |
paste is known as the glaze, hard glaze |
being coiorless and thin, making the |
object cold, while soft glaze is some |
what eummy and may be scratched with /!
a knife
Biscuit is the technical term applied |
to both pottery and porcelain before |
they are enameled or glazed.
These a-e hut a few of she terms and |
definitions waich must he learnd he |
fore one can start out with any intelh- |
gence 1o make 4 study OF this art, |
which, although in rudimentary form |
1t was known TO the aneieuts before |
the Christian era, was a practically I'M |
known craft IN this country and Eng |
land until well on in the eighteenth |
century.
If there chances to be a good mu- |
scum N the neighborhood that has even |
a fair collection of old china, the task |
Of the beginner will be much simpli- |
fed, for no matter how completely il