The New York herald., 1920-01-25
Adventures of Collectors Of Art
From Napoleon to the Present Day

to do Americans go abroad for prolonged vaca-
tions And once let loose in the historic. cities
of the Old World. they for the most part
attracted by curios in the quaint shops of
London and Paris. Rome and Florence Venice
Seville, Cologne and many more
The luck of these collectors in buying varies
the pursuit is always delightful memory
Even collector of the rank Of the late Mr.
Morgan had his record of bargains. notwith
standing the governments so feared his long
purse as to pass stringent laws forbiddng pri-
vate owners to sell priceless treasures which
it desired should remain in the old coun-
try.
ono year one of Mr.. Morgans Paris agents
sauntering by the shabby little shop windows
OF the Rue Lafayette and the Quai voltare
picked up half n dozen old prints in n rag
and bone shop for a sum equivalent to twenty
five cents. The agent was excited. for he fclt
sure they were superb proofs Of Mbrccht
Durer. Forthwith he sought Henri Bouchot the
famous keeper Of prints in the Louvre That
expert. the greatest in the world. at first pro-
nounced the proof forgeries
''The Louvre he said. Possesses the only
original plates bearing Durer's signature"
Thereupon the Morgan agent took Bouchot
to the window and through magnifying glass
showed him Durer's own monogram on each
of his purchases-old and faint yet genuine
beyond question.
Next came close scrutiny of the prints in
the great national collection OF France. which
10 the curator's amazement and dSmaN.
Vealcd only traced signatures that Mr.
Morgan's purchase was startling in double
sense. NJ all events. the museums prints were
Immediately marked copies i'm large letters.
Notwithstanding the vast quantities OF
spurious rubbish shot upon the art markets
nf find do
inGly frequent. The Louis Huth collection
sold not so many years ago at Christie's art
auction rooms in London. included Ilaw-
thorn pot that had been picked up in oh
scure BARRIERS shop for three dollars. So rstrc
and exquisite work or art was this picct Of
porcelain that tile art dealers OF the world
competed eagerly for il and it finally
knocked down amid great excitement to ono
of the Paris Rothschilds for Sil eco
There are many bargains to he found in old
books. One season Yale student chancing
to enter n cigar shop in the East End of Lon
aon. had to wait while laborer was served
with four cents worth of coarse tobacco. sud
denly noticing the paper tho stuff
wrapped in. he followed the workman and Of
fered him shilling for IT, The thought
the stranger lunatic. But the student went
back into the store with the lear and asked
the proprietor IL he had any more pages of
that book.
why. yes. the man said. II have only Just
begun on H." For another shilling the Young
curio collector added the volume to its recently
severed title page and then realized that he
had secured for fifty cents complete copy Of
that ancient work THE Seven Champions OF
Christendome. the market value of which is
500
AS to curosites generally il is amazing what
quantities of them are discovered each year b-
excavation. especially in Egypt whore the
Traffic in antiques Is so great that the markets
ar" often flooded with scarabs made in Bir-
minsham and bronze doites forged by thS
oortiuad Ia Italy,