The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-04-13
Some Suggestions If You Indulge
 In Collecting
By JULIA HoYT

Last winter in New York a dealer advertised an auction of some early American furniture. That is the only period of which I pretend to know anything. I was rather surprised in the first place to hear that this dealer should decide to sell his things at auc. tion. His reputation was good, his col lection was, good, and he certainly did not need to auction things off.
 We'll, there were very large num- Der of women at that tNsale (New York. CTS and out-of-towners), and the per. centage of them that knew anything about early American pieces was very, very small. To my astonishment this deAler was selling as genuine great many copies mixed in with few choice pieces of his honda fide collection. Alas! Most of these women bought, and paid fancy prices. 1t was because they we're riding their hobbies blindly. All that was necessary for them was to see maple Or pine pieces of furniture in the early American style; the imita. ton brought as high prices as the genuine. Now, personally, I do not think limitations are of necessity ugly or valueless, but should hate to feel tAat T WaSF PaIluS ttlCi pAtCC, tnfnk1AS had an antique, when in reality I did not. In other words, I should not like to be fooled.
 Even if you have money to burn it is apt to be rather costly not to know your hobby thoroughly I am reminded of certain English duchess who must be nameless here. She had collected and inherited a wonderful collection of Eng lish paintings. She knew that they were good, but did not know their real worth. One year she felt the need of money and decided to sell the collection. She made an engagement with her best prospective purchaser Ga big London collector) to see the paintings, but in her ignorance she sent for an art dealer in a neigh boring city for an expert opinion on a reasonable asking price. She did not know that the art dealer also had a collection of paintings to sell to the London collector.
 Being a clever man, the art dealer went to the duchess house, raved over her pictures and put an outlandish valuation on them. The duchess be- lieved in him implicitly. Tine London collector came to inspect, but upon be- ing told the enormous price, drifted away and made no offer. Later he bought the art dealer's collection. The artful art dealer, needless to say, had overvalued the pictures of the duchess in order to sell his own, Had the lady properly ridden hes hobby, that is, learned something of the period and the price which such pictures should bring, she would not have--been in a position to be cheated out of sale.
 If one is fortunate. enough to have the money to collect, there is no study so fascinating as the study of antiques of any kind. China, pictures, glass, fur niture, rhgs. everything that we can think of. A great deal of money is not necessary to attain the joy of be- ing collector; although, hs I know myself, it is tantalizing thing to get the collecting bug and not have the money. However, things we have to wait for we appreciate, and there is no thrill much greater than looking at some coveted object for weeks, and per haps months, and finally saving enough money to be able to buy it.
 Many American women turn sports