The Confessions of a Fakir 
pulverized, defunct Egyp¬ 
tians. Sometimes a cloth 
rubbed across a dusty 
floor and then across the 
“tacky” or nearly dry sur¬ 
face will produce the desired 
effect. As a rule, however, 
paintings that are sold with 
Colonial furniture are thor¬ 
oughly “restored” and a 
fresh coat of varnish natur¬ 
ally covers a multitude of 
sins and makes antiquing 
easy. Rubbing down the 
surface with a rough cloth 
or even with powdered pum¬ 
ice sometimes adds materi¬ 
ally to its appearance of age. 
Rottenstone dusted upon 
the back, where stains have 
been splashed, helps also, 
for many look in search of 
tell-tale freshness. Paintings 
are often signed with un¬ 
heard of, or nearly oblitera¬ 
ted names, but too often 
dates are clear and distinct. 
Prints are popular and bring very good prices. 
They are sometimes reproductions of really old prints 
but are more often made from drawings done by a 
clever imitator of the draughtsmen of old. The pro¬ 
cess of antiquing them is perhaps the simplest of all 
for they are dipped in strong coffee or chicory and the 
deed is done. Ragged edges help sometimes but as 
prints are usually mat¬ 
ted and framed by the 
dealer, ragged edges 
only increase the labor. 
Prints that are tinted 
by hand must of course 
be colored after the 
antiquing is done. 
The demand for 
clocks has become so 
great that much atten¬ 
tion must be given to 
this very diverting 
branch of the fakir’s 
art. Dutch clocks and 
the style known as 
“banjo” are the most 
popular, but grand¬ 
father’s clocks and 
those by Chippendale 
and Terry always find 
favor and incidentally 
bring excellent prices. 
One day a Chippen¬ 
dale clock was sent in for 
repairs and Fritz called my 
attention to it, saying that 
it was the first old one he 
had seen. Upon opening 
it to remove the works he 
found his own marks inside. 
He had antiqued it a year 
before and although he 
knew the business from 
beginning to end he could 
not tell his own work, and 
yet I know men and women 
who have had no experience 
whatever who are looked 
up to by their friends as 
expert judges of antiques. 
The more one studies the 
methods of antiquing in use 
to-day the less conceit he 
has in regard to his judg¬ 
ment, until in time he 
doubts the existence of any¬ 
thing old under the sun un¬ 
less, perhaps, it is something 
that has descended from 
generation to generation. 
The cases of many clocks are really old but the 
pictured glasses almost never. People prefer fakes, 
for the faked pictures can be made far more attractive. 
The drawing is usually made in black outline on the 
reverse side of the glass and allowed to dry. 1 hen 
the color is laid on, care being taken to preserve old 
tints. Before this is quite dry a little rottenstone is 
dusted on and it 
is absolutely im¬ 
possible to detect 
anything wrong. 
The painting of 
clock glasses re¬ 
quires more or less 
artistic ability but 
Dutch clock dials 
look as if they had 
been done by in¬ 
fants. Distorted 
perspective is the 
rule and boats that 
sail at impossible 
angles on waves 
as regular as those 
drawn in our early 
childhood carry 
m a m m o t h m e n 
and women to cas¬ 
tles that are appar¬ 
ently tumbling sev¬ 
eral ways at once. 
A LANDSCAPE AFTER AN OLD MASTER 
A TERRY CLOCK 
A style commanding good prices 
THE POPULAR GIRANDOLE 
Convex Mirror and Screaming Eagle 
221 
