January, 1907 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



27 



Symetrical Arrangement of Miscellaneous Subjects, Collection of Mrs. Marshall L. Hinman 



"Columbia College," eight and three-eights-inch, acorn 

 border, with medallion of DeWitt Clinton. 



"Octagon Church, Boston," ten and one-half-inch flat 

 plate, open edge, shown in illustration. This view is very 

 rare In a flat plate. 



"St. Patrick's Cathedral," Mott Street, New York, six- 

 inch plate (Stevenson). 



A word about the value of this historical blue china. I 

 deprecate the tendency toward absurdly high prices even 

 for the rarest views. 



At the Macy sale, November 23, a "Sandusky" platter sold 

 for $220. I have no idea who bought it, but I know it was 



not worth over $100. The color was bad (a light purplish 

 blue) , and Mr. Macy was unable to sell it for $150 while it 

 remained for months among his stock. I repeatedly re- 

 fused to buy it at this price. Those people who are not well 

 informed as to values are often responsible for inflated 

 prices. They meet at an auction and bid against each other 

 regardless of what the piece is worth. If a collector wants 

 a piece of blue china badly he will sometimes pay a ridicu- 

 lous price if he can afford it, but he will know, all the while, 

 that probably he could not sell it for half what he paid. 

 There is no standard of values. But then there is no limit to 

 the enthusiasm and vagaries of collectors. 



