22 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



January, 1907 



Gravy Tureen. Fulton Market on Tureen, Columbia College on Base. View on 

 Cover Not Identified (the Specimen Is Included). In the Collection 

 of Mrs. Emma dep. Morse 



of grouping is more technical and would possibly appeal to 

 connoisseurs, but the majority of people who see a collec- 

 tion of Old Blue hanging on the wall are not well informed 

 on the subject, and the arrangement according to localities 

 appeals to the eye and seems to meet with more general ap- 

 preciation. Some prefer to display their collections in cab- 

 inets enclosed in glass. This is an excellent way in cases 

 where a dining-room is dark and where plates and platters 

 would not show to good advantage on the walls. The very 

 fine collection of Mrs. H. M. Soper, of New York, is dis- 

 played in this way, and so arranged that small electric lights 

 on the inside of the cabinets can be turned on and reflectors 

 throw the light directly on the china, at the same time shad- 

 ing it from the eye of the observer. 



A good deal might well be said about how to collect Old 

 Blue china, but this article is not intended to be an elemen- 

 tary treatise on the subject of china collecting. I wish some 



Albany Theater Vegetable Dish, Four Medallion 

 Portraits on Cover. In the Collection of 

 Mrs. Emma deF. Morse 



one would take up this subject and write a book about it. 

 The young collector is like a baby learning to walk. He 

 falls down many times and his steps need guiding. Some 

 admirable books have been written dealing with blue Staf- 

 fordshire from various points of view, and each one of these 

 works presents to the collector a fund of information which 

 it has taken time and pains to get together, but none of them 

 tell him how to collect. By far the best work I have read 

 relative to American views on blue Staffordshire is the well- 

 known volume by Mr. R. T. H. Halsey, of New York. 

 This book with its careful descriptions, its accurate historical 

 references, and its magnificent illustrations is a necessity to a 

 collector. Mr. Barber in his admirable work gives classi- 

 fied lists of the various pieces which he knows about, and 

 there are other books which might be mentioned, but after 

 all, I come back to my original statement which is that noth- 

 ing has been written on this subject which tells a collector 



Group of New York Views in the Collection of Alex. M. Hudnut Some Boston Pieces and Miscellaneous Views in Collection of 



Princeton, New Jersey Alex. M. Hudnut 



