Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-11-15
HAROLD DONALDSON EsERlElN

THE study of antiques has real value,
l. entirely apart from the monetary side, not
only to the individual but TO the community.
according to Harold Donaldson EbCrlcin,
one of the cOuntry's leading authorities on
the subject and the author of several works
relating to it.
"From n purely decorative point of view"
said Mr.. Ebcrlcin. "a good reproduction
and mind YOU. | say goods quite as val
uablo MS a real antique. The greater Gle
ment of value which the original has is that
an authentic antique is thoroughly rcpreScn-
tativc of the style of the time in which It
was made. which. of course. copy, no
matter how carefully made, cannot be.
"Thc trouble is that very few reproduce
touS are good copies of the original. Most
of them are only approximate adaptations
and generally very lame adaptations at that.
But if the copy be accurately reproduced,
the decorative value would be the same as
the original.
Workers Won't Take Time
IF the expert wOrkmcn Of the present
day would take the time and the trouble to
do so. they could make reproductions which
it would be difficult to tell from the Origi-
nails Naturally there are certain things
about an original which cannot be exactly
reproduced without the expenditure of much
time. There is a certain mcNOwneSs in
color. for example. which cannot be accu-
ratply copied without great time and pains
being taken And when it is taken the
result Is that the cost Of the reproduction
is very high.
The copying Of antiques has become a
large business in several countries. There
are really wonderful copies made in Italy
and in France, excellent ones in England
| and some very adrOit ones in the United
States.
THE business Of reproduction of great
! masterpieces of the past which should he
legitimate one. has been carried on
frequently with II fraudulent intcnt-that is.
! the copy is sold as an Original-that the en-
| tire trade has become thoroughly discredtcd.
On the other hand. the persons who copy
! antiques without the intent to defraud and
! sell their work frankly as copies are gem
orally 50 lax in their Workmanship that their
product j. not of great value for decorative
purposes because it does not closely enough
approximate the beauty of the original.
SubtleneSs Is Dsregarded
| "rhcv too frequently disregard the subtle
| proportions, the moding and the curves Of
| the original. and they are too easily salts
| fed with n bauul npproxima ion of the real
| article. Therefore their work has an ap-
| pearanCr Of being hard and tight. with a
generally smugged-u appearance and a
| consequent loss Of the lines and the cOlors
| Of the real article,
| "All this makes the decorative vaIuc Of
| the copy of far less value than il might have
| been and usually thing Of which the pur-
| chaser may we'll beware. An expert can tell
| at II glance thar tn" average reproduction is
| not the real thing. because of certain fla
| grant inaccuracies in proportion, line detail
| and color.
| And yet it can be done with almost
! absolute perfection. and when it is done in
| this way the copy for decorative purposes
is just as good as the original, but, Of course.
! not for study or research. ! remember
| seeing n copy of little old Spanish cabinet
| which had been rpDrOluCCl So urrIlrot rI 1,
| that II was almost impossible TO tell the
| reproduction from the original. But the
| amount Of time and expert Workmanship
| spent upon copy Of this kind so tremcn-
| dOusly enhances the value of il that, as in
| this case, the cost of the copy was as great
as that of the original
Perfect Copy Valuable
| "lu theory the perfect copy is us yaluablp
| as the original, but for practical purposes
| the copy usually falls far short of the mark
| because nothing can dctraCt from the value
| of the original as an authentic record of
| the times in which it was made.
| 1.-THE student and the collector should
| guard against IA too ready acCeptance of
| even good copies rs originals. Some are
| readily detachable and others are not In
| certain lines Of iron work, for instance. 1
| would not attempt to express an opinion ms
| 10 authenticity. and the same hold, true in
several kinds of glass, porcelain and tex
tiles.
The extent to which the reproduction OF
] antiques has grown may be shown by the