16 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
in collecting. ‘The collecting of old household furnishings 
is particularly interesting in that one’s treasures may be 
used, lived with, and loved in a most intimate way. I derive 
vastly more pleasure from the things I have collected—from 
my old chairs, tables, candlesticks, brass kettles, and old 
engravings—than could possibly be obtained from a collec- 
tion of hornets’ nests, birds’ eggs, or reptiles preserved in 
alcohol, though such objects might appeal more to another. 
I always think that collecting is more fascinating if one dis- 
covers his treasures in unexpected and out-of-the-way places, 
and that it really means more to the collector if each thing 
he acquires is obtained through bargaining and perhaps at 
the cost of some sacrifice in the matter of other things—the 
little self-denials dear to the collector. I am particularly 
fond, for instance, of two old mahogany 
chairs in the ‘Chippendale manner,” which 
I value all the more when I remember that 
I secured them only by curtailing certain 
usual small expenditures from time to time 
throughout an entire Winter and Spring. 
No one thing among my antique belong- 
ings is more highly valued by me than an 
old table in the American adaptation of the 
Empire style. It was literally discovered 
in a shabby little shop in Chicago, where 
cast-off junk of various sorts was being sold. 
It was certainly in a sorrowful condition; 
all the hinges of its drop-leaves were rusty 
and out of order, and it had been sadly 
mutilated and defaced with several coats 
of a particularly sticky and depressing drab 
paint. I first caught sight of it under a 
pile of dishes and pillows 
which had been brought from 
the auction sale of an old 
hotel, but after carefully 
studying it I realized its pos- 
sibilities, and purchased it 
for almost nothing, turning 
itvover to ca ‘little»German 
cabinet-maker who had al- 
ready proved his value in re- 
storing other forlorn old 
pieces forme. ~The table 
cost me $3.00, the repairs 
nearly $18,00, but the result 
January, 1912 
splendid American home in the style of the Italian Renais- 
sance; his own collection included a side-light, or bracket, 
of wood, heavily carved, colored and gilded, and some 
twelve copies of the same bracket, fitted with bead-covered 
incandescent globes, supplied the light for the most beauti- 
ful drawing-room I have ever seen. Again, at a certain sale 
of old studio properties, someone purchased an old Empire 
chair, from which others were copied to complete the fur- 
nishing of a dining-room. ‘The warerooms of a large firm 
of furniture-makers are full of what are frankly copies of 
pieces in great museums or of objects purchased to serve 
as models, and this furniture, I am told, is made almost en- 
tirely by hand and combines the beauty of the old-time 
design with the strength and utility of modern furniture 
properly made. Indeed, copying or dupli- 
cating old pieces is to be encouraged when 
they are along better lines than modern 
specimens, and when such copies are faith- 
fully worked out, honestly and carefully 
made. 
Possibly those who will read this issue of 
AMERICAN HoMEs AND GARDENS are them- 
selves making collections of household an- 
tiquities, and this word regarding reproduc- 
tions and imitations may not be amiss. Per- 
sonally, I do not object to the marketing of 
a clever reproduction, provided it be 
frankly regarded and sold as such, since a 
good copy possesses every decorative and 
practical value of an antique and is very 
nearly as satisfactory to the eye. Harm is 
done only when an unscrupulous and dis- 
honest dealer palms off such 
an object upon an unsuspect- 
ing or inexperienced cus- 
tomer as an original, of 
which only a very few dupli- 
cates, if any, are in existence. 
The wiles and cunning of the 
imitators of antiques have 
often baffled even the most 
experienced collector, and 
when even the learned cura- 
tors of the greatest museums 
are deluded into accepting as 
genuine what is proved to be 
is a splendid old piece, fault- 
less in line and beautifully 
carved, and of the hand- 
somest mahogany I have 
ever seen, of a tone which 
only age and very careful 
polishing can produce, and 
which could not be purchased anywhere now for under $100. 
The collecting of antiques has had an extended influence 
of late in forming public taste in America. Educated and 
discriminating people have demanded for their homes the 
beauty of the old furnishings seen in England and some of 
the other countries of Europe, and this demand our own 
makers have been obliged, somewhat reluctantly, to satisfy. 
The result is that almost all domestic furnishings not “‘crafts- 
man” or “art nouveau” are now practically copies of the 
same things of the English, French or Italian periods. 
Museums have been drawn upon for ideas and our de- 
signers seem to have exerted their utmost ingenuity, which 
has resulted in a greater splendor and variety of effect than 
the older makers even dreamed of, made possible by the 
wider range of materials which are available to-day. 
Sometimes an article may come to be copied for a special 
place. A few years ago a great architect was fitting up a 
The little tables Baiotie hairs Are specimens i dell soanle oe sites 
ducing valuable examples of early furniture 
merely a_ skillful imitation, 
there is hope and excuse for 
on the average collector, who is 
ee generally also an amateur. 
Uowever, there is always 
satisfaction and consolation 
to be gained in knowing the 
object to be beautiful and pleasing. Most of the imitations 
of the household antiques which have come to my notice are 
of metal, pottery, and furniture. Most of the imitations in 
metal, I have noticed, are andirons, fenders and candle- 
sticks of various kinds, and these imitations are so clumsily 
made and finished that even the most unsophisticated col- 
lector could hardly be deceived into. purchasing them as 
genuine. The finish of these reproductions is quite different 
from that of the really old pieces. Brass and silver, and 
even silver plate, acquire with age a wonderfully soft and 
“satiny” surface, which grows more beautiful with increas- 
ing age. ‘This is true even of silver-plated ware, the plating 
of which has been renewed. I have several articles which 
I have had replated upon the original copper, and the finish 
is as different as possible from the hard “brassy” surface 
of those reproductions which I see on sale in the shops. Of 
course, in purchasing antiques one must be guided by or- 
