Evening star., 1928-12-15
Skill and FineSSe Unknown to
Modern Workers Attained
800 Years Ago.
Mrs. Frank w. Mahin Tells of
Time When LaCemaking
Was Real Art.

A skill and f1nesS1 of workmanship
unknown to modern days was attained
by the lacemakers of 800 years ago.
| Many beautiful pieces of lace, number
| inc several hundred, and dating back
| to the beginning of the sixteenth GEN.
utry, are to be seen in museum collec-
| ton owned by Mrs Frank W. Mahin of
| 1860 Columbia road.
In 1915, when Mrs Mahin accom-
panied her husband to his consular post
in Holland, she left her collection with
the National Museum in this city, and
there it was exhibited to the public
until 1922, when it was taken back to
Mrs. Mahin's home. Since that time a
great many rare pieces have been pur-
chased and added to the collection,
which Mrs. Mahin has herself mounted
and prepare, in way which shows to
full advantage the beauty of individual
pieces. For c5 years. Mrs Mahin states,
she has been collecting laces, but, she
added, 81 have known and loved the
beauty of rare old lace since was a
child" Mrs Mahin is not merely an
amateur collector of antique lace; she
is an experienced connoiSseur, one who
has made an exhaustive study of a
subject she loves, and as a consequence
"she knows what she is talking about"
Regrding handmade bobbin laceS
and machine bobbil laceS made in the
early prt Of the nianeteenth century,
Mrs Mahin said: "It is very difficult
to distinguish the hnadmde bobbin
lace and the machine-made lace, and
only after the most careful scrutiny,
sometimes under a magnifying glass,
can the distinction be made. OF course,
any one who knows laces can tell right
away, but frequently I have had per-
sons tell me that they have a rare old
piece of real lace which had belonged
| to their great-grandmother or grand
| mother, and when I see the lace know
| it Is machine made AS lace machinery
! was invented as far back as 1910, it is
easy to see that one might possess an
old lace ntique believed to be hand
made which really, after all, was made
by machinery"
Art Practically Lost.
The art of handmade bobbin laces,
as known 800 years ago, has been prac-
tically lost to the modern world, Mrs
Mahin claims.
LAS many as 1,500 or 1000 bobbins
would be employc ! at one time by a
lacemaker of the sixteenth or seven
| teenth century," she said Nov
throughout the entire country of Bel
gium, famous for its lacemakers, there
I is only one girl who can handle as many
as 1000 bobbins at time. She is the
pride of her country"
| The utmost skill must be employed
in the use of these bobbins, Mrs. Mahin
explained, in order not to break the
| threads, which are frequently of the
/ nd Cf he
reference to bobbins, Mrs. Mahin stated
that in olden days it was the custom
for the young men of those times to
present their sweetheartS with elabo-
rately ornamented bone bobbiAS, often
times bearing the name Of the girl en-
graved in gold letters.
From the old Catholic Church OF
Haarlem Mrs. Mahin secured some OF
her most valuable pieces of rare ole
Honiton lace-a lace of such delicacy
of workmanship and design that il
might be reproduction of some beau
tifully frosted window pane on Win
ter night. A lace garment used in the
| baptism of babies, some priests vest
ments of Venetian rosepoint as well as
some altar cloths, are among the pieces
secured by Mrs. Mahin from the Dutch
church and previously used in the
i ..
Some interesting details were related
by Mrs. Mahin as to the manner ir
which she found some of her laces. Al
one time she was living in the noun.
famous little town of Reichenberg, Bo'
hemia, where her husband was sta
toned as the United States consul. Mrs
Mahin'S son, then a boy of IL year:
and as great lover of laceS as hi
Imother, was running through the street!
Of the town, playing at a paper-chaSt
game with number of other boys. A,
he passed little lace shop he Spied {
piece of rare old Angleterre hanging ir
the window amid lot of machine
made laces. Falling out of the paper
chase, Mrs. Mahin states, he came run
ming home, calling breathlessly to he
as he entered the house:
Mother. come quick. I know where
you can get piece of real Angleterre
Mrs. Mahin said she secured the lace
and that it is one of the rarest in hel
collection, dating back to the "lost-ar
period of lacemaking, in the beginning
of the seventeenth century.
Another time, Mrs Mahin declared
she entered an antique shop in Holland
and, looking among some modern ant
ordinary pieces. she discovered an ex
tremely valuable -and-cuff set o
teIleL4du TOSSpOIuG. upon asking TIT
price, the shopkeeper named yer,
modest one, and said: do you reall!
want them? Why I had planned Il
use them on my coat this SPRING"
"She could never have used them
said Mrs Mahin, because they were 81
old they would have fallen to piece
within few weeks"
Picking up some wonderful oil,
f1ounces of Point dAlencon of tn.
time of Louis XIV of France, she con
tinued: There are the f1ounces which
were used on the ladies' bodices. 1
took three of the f1ounces for eacl
sleeve. And these" she added. point
ing to some ruf1es of Mechlin lace
were ruffles used on gentleman
sleeves. The Mechlin lace was use,
for the gentlemen's clothing, as it wa
Stronger due to the manner in whicl
they rolled the thread. It took one yea
). TO make pair Of these rufaes. so yol