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AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



November, 1 9 13 



fection." The praise is worthy the triumph of such masters. 



As there is fashion in dress, so is there fashion in col- 

 lecting, and just now no collection is deemed complete if it 

 lacks at least one piece of Whieldon tortoise shell or cauli- 

 flower ware, the product of that first famous factory at 

 Little Fenton. Several fine examples of it are included in 

 the tea and coffee-pot brigage and they are interesting both 

 from an historical as well as the potter's viewpoint. 



Of jugs and pitchers there is no end. Among them are 

 four jugs of the same subject which depicts a hunting 

 scene with dogs, horses and men, but each is decorated in 

 a different color scheme attesting to the potter's versatility 

 at that period. An extremely rare piece is a salt glaze jug 

 with a colored decoration of birds. In a Wedgewood jug 

 of copper luster Mr. Williamson has secured a prize, much 

 to the chagrin of the former owner, who is himself a col- 

 lector of no small note. 



As he failed to classify a small applied medallion below 

 the lip of the jug which portrays the marriage of Cupid 

 and Psyche, he let the piece go for a song. As it happens, 

 the famous Flaxman designed this for Wedgewood, and if 

 any more positive proof were needed that it is indeed the 

 work of the old master potter, the sceptic by the aid of a 

 powerful microscope may describe the letters WEDGE- 

 WOOD, almost obliterated, but still discernible, in the 

 bottom. 



There is a double dinner set of Davenport ware of one 

 hundred and sixty pieces which is in constant daily use by 

 the collector's family; a gem of a coffee-pot of Elers, soft 

 as velvet to the touch, with medallion figures of Britannia 

 applied to the sides, and of Bennington ware there is a jug, 



a masterpiece of lustrous glaze, beside many other things. 



A by-path of collecting with a special charm of its own, 

 covers the history of American glass flasks, and illustrating 

 it, Mr. Williamson shows several hundred. One very 

 highly prized by the owner is a flask commemorating the 

 birth of the steam engine. So rare are these bottles that 

 Edward Atlee Barber in his book on "American Glass- 

 ware," decided there was no such piece in existence. 



"It is said," he writes, "there is a design showing the 

 earliest form of steam engine, but on investigation what 

 was supposed to be a locomotive turns out to be a horse, 

 and it is quite doubtful if such a design was ever produced." 



In making a collection of pewter, Mr. Williamson has 

 confined himself strictly to the English product which in 

 point of perfection of design and quality of finish, he be- 

 lieves is unsurpassed. He already has two hundred pieces 

 with an additional number now en route from England, 

 included among which is a platter twenty-six and one half 

 by twenty-one inches in size. Apart from this he has three 

 sets of lidded measures made by James Tissoe in 1740, a 

 set of Georgian measures and an English baluster measure 

 of the fleur de lis type. The old saying that what is bred 

 in the bone will come out in the flesh holds splendidly true 

 in Mr. Williamson's case, for he comes honestly by his love 

 for antiques, his father being a well-known collector and a 

 veteran bibliophile, whose treasures are stored away in his 

 Rockland County home on the Hudson a few miles north of 

 the old Mollie Sneden house, where his son has there so ad- 

 mirably solved the problem so many young men in town 

 have to face, "Is a country home and a hobby possible to a 

 business man of moderate means?" 



The Cat Fancy 



By Ida D. Bennett 



O unusual is it to find any one who avows 

 an antipathy to the cat that one is rather 

 apt to look upon it as a pose or, if con- 

 vinced of its honesty to look for some 

 extenuating cause — as, perhaps, some dis- 

 tressing incident in childhood which had left 

 the descents of its mark in the sub-consciousness of the 

 adult. One woman whom I knew was once badly frightened 

 by a strange cat which had gained access to her room 

 through an open window and had made a snug, warm nest 

 upon her baby's chest. This incident caused her to hold 

 an avowed antipathy to the whole feline race for many 

 years, but later, coming accidentally into the possession of 

 two handsome Persian cats, 

 she took a strong bias in the 

 opposite direction and to 

 such an extent that it greatly 

 amused her friends. 



To the novice who has 

 paid little attention to the 

 growth of the "Cat Fancy" 

 and has lived remote from 

 contact with any but the 

 common house and barn 

 types, the cat shows and cat 

 literature are startling rev- 

 elations. And even to the 

 initiated the cat fancy in 

 America is still very young 

 and undeveloped and offers 

 big opportunities for de- 

 velopment and improvement. 



White 



Possibly the most crying need at present is for some 

 definite standard of judging, such as obtains at the dog 

 shows and especially at the poultry exhibits. Under the 

 present arrangement so much is left to the humor of the 

 judges, generally speaking, that few cats win or lose 

 strictly on their merits, or demerits. 



Naturally, if a judge favors a certain type of cat of his 

 own breeding, his preference will influence his decisions at 

 the show. For instance, there is a decided preference just 

 now for what is known as the "Cobby type of cat, the 

 short, low body, with short, almost bow legs." Naturally 

 a judge having this preference will discredit the long, rangy 

 cat which the more conservative breeder considers the 



rational shaped cat. Again 

 one judge may be taken by 

 a fine shaped head (which 

 should always be as nearly 

 round as possible), with 

 small, well set ears, and 

 short nose, while another 

 may make a fetich of the 

 feature of a big bushy tail. 

 If, then, the "Fancy" 

 would adopt a score card 

 similar to that used for 

 poultry, allotting a certain 

 number of points to each 

 point judged and making the 

 award to the cat winning 

 the largest number of points, 

 then "Best cat in Show," 

 Persian "Champion" and the like 



