72 
HOUSE & GARDEN 
Attract the Birds 
to your lawn 
by giving 
them plenty of 
water in a 
Sharonware Bird Bath 
designed upon humane principles. The birds 
bathe in water from Vs to 2 inches deep without 
danger of drowning. The bath empties itselt 
every 24 hours, thereby making it sanitary. 1* 
in. across, 6 in. high, weight 30 lbs., in various 
colors; decorative, practical. 
F o. B., N. Y. Crating charge. 
CPu.OU 30c. extra on out-of-town orders. 
There's an interesting story behind Sharonware, 
the new, frost-proof artificial stone. Send for 
particulars and descriptive price list of window 
boxes, flower pots, garden benches, etc. 
Sharonware Workshop, 86 Lexington Ave., New York 
Send for Our 
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It contains full lists and de¬ 
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1916 Novelties. 
All Vegetable and Flower 
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E. E. EDM ANSON & CO. 
624-634 S. NORTON ST. 
CHICAGO ILL. 
FI ANERSK 
DECORATIVE FURNITURE 
ERSKINE-DANFORTH CORPORATION 
2 Wes! 47lh Street 
New York 
Our Painted 
Furniture has 
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should be of 
especial interest 
now to all who 
have homes to 
furnish. Un¬ 
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for single rooms, 
suites, or the 
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We also execute 
Colonial and 
English repro¬ 
ductions of dis¬ 
tinctive char- 
A Danersk Dressing Stand 
(No. 8051. 17 in. x 32 in. 30 
in. high; Mirror 18 in. x 24 
in.; 1 drawer. 
Write for 
Booklet “ A’* 
From the Collector s Note-Book 
(Continued from page 70) 
tomers. After all, the dealer could 
not live without customers, and the 
only safe way to hold any customer 
is to treat him honestly. 
While there are many pewter tests, 
that given by Masse in Chats on Old 
Pewter is one of the best, and is here 
quoted: 
“A beginner in collecting pewter 
will be met with the difficulty of de¬ 
termining the difference between 
pewter and Britannia metal. The 
best thing for him to do will be to 
buy a piece of Britannia metal as 
such, and try various experiments 
with it, such as filing, fusing with a 
blow-pipe, soldering, bending, clean¬ 
ing, scraping, scratching, cutting and 
testing with a knife. Let him take 
a strip of lead, one of tin, one of 
good pewter, and another of Britan¬ 
nia metal, and draw the sharp cutting 
edge of the knife (held about the 
angle of 50°) slowly toward him, 
first on the lead, then on the tin, then 
on the pewter. The knife will cut 
the lead quite easily and stick to 
some extent in the soft metal. On 
the tin the cut will be more shallow, 
and the difference on the metal will 
be felt and heard, too, if the operator 
listens carefully. On the piece of 
pewter the cut will be different again, 
but the noise—‘Called the ‘cri de 
I’etain’ by the French, will be dis¬ 
tinctly heard. On Britannia metal 
the cutting operation will feel quite 
differently, and the resulting cri will 
also be felt to differ. The sound will 
be harsher than the brilliant cri given 
forth by tin or by good pewter.” 
Early in the 18th Century the lathe 
began to be developed, so any speci¬ 
mens of pewter disclosing lathe 
marks would suggest a date anterior 
to that period. The pewter formed 
by the “spinning” process is the most 
modern of all. As a final word, the 
pewter collector should be careful 
how he polishes his pewter, as this 
ware should never be subjected to 
brickdust and like vigorous usage. 
Wedgwood Jasper Cameos and Cameo Medallions 
The mention of the name Wedg¬ 
wood naturally suggests to the gen¬ 
eral reader those blue and white 
pieces which made famous England's 
greatest potter—Josiali Wedgwood. 
We picture to ourselves the beautiful 
vases, flower-holders, jardinieres, 
tea-pots, cups and saucers, cream 
ewers and the like, and are not 
aware, perhaps, that many other or¬ 
namental uses were served by this 
jasper (as Wedgwood called this 
ceramic product), not only in the 
blue and white, but in black and 
white, yellow and white, sage- 
green and white, lilac and white, 
pink and white, colors vice versa, and 
also in solid body colors. Among 
these the cameos in jasper designed 
mainly for settings of jewelry, and 
the cameo medallions and cameo 
plaquettes are of particular interest 
to the collector of English earthen¬ 
ware. 
While the cameos were mainly of 
the blue and white jasper, there were 
also those in sage-green and white, 
black and white, etc. The same is 
true of the larger cameo medallions 
and cameo plaquettes, though the 
color pieces, other than the blue and 
white, are of great rarity. The 
cameo medallions have great vogue 
for ornamental decorative purposes. 
Jewel-boxes, writing-cases, furniture, 
etc., were decorated with them. An 
example of the sort is the drawer- 
and-chest cabinet here illustrated, a 
recent acquisition of the Metropoli¬ 
tan Museum of Art, New York. In 
this instance both cameos and cameo 
medallions were employed in the 
decoration. 
The cameo medallions and the 
cameo plaquettes were also in great 
demand for architectural embellish¬ 
ments, for setting in mantels, over¬ 
mantels, door-casings, door-furni¬ 
ture, etc. The two black jasper oval 
cameo medallions from the Twelve 
Caesars series here illustrated were 
intended for framing. The small 
cameos ranged in size from one- 
fourth to two and one-half inches in 
diameter. Josiah Wedgwood’s gen¬ 
ius produced many useful and orna¬ 
mental wares—Green Ware (1752- 
1795), Mottled Ware (1752), Agate 
Ware (1752), Delft Imitations 
(1758), White Stoneware (1759), 
Cream Ware (1759-1795), Basaltes 
(1762-1795), Crystalline Pebbled 
(1763), Bronze Etruscan (1768), 
Fine White Ware (1773-1775), Jas¬ 
per (1775-1795), Rosso-Antique 
(1776), Pearl Lustre Wear (1776- 
1779), and Cane-colored Ware (1780- 
1795). In perfection and fineness the 
jasper led them all, and the jasper 
cameos were hardly surpassed in this 
clay. 
As the old firm founded by Josiah 
Wedgwood has continued in business 
uninterruptedly from the 18th Cen¬ 
tury, the recently revived modern 
Wedgwood cameos which have ap¬ 
peared in some of the most attractive 
jewelry of this season awakens even 
a greater interest on the part of the 
collector in the study of the old 
pieces. Beautiful as are the cameos 
of modern Wedgwood jasper, those 
of Josiah’s own period (1775-1795) 
can readily be distinguished, not only 
because of the somewhat less soft-to- 
the-feel surface but also because all 
foreign wares imported since 1891 
are required by the tariff law to be 
plainly marked with the designation 
of the country of their manufacture. 
Josiah Wedgwood probably was 
inspired to experiment with his 
cameos and cameo medallions and 
plaquettes through having come in 
contact with James Tassie, celebrated 
for his copies of engraved gems in 
sulphur and in vitreous compositions, 
some of which Josiah had purchased 
in 1769. His fertile brain set to work 
on the problem of creating cameo 
productions from his own ceramic 
materials. After surmounting untold 
obstacles, Wedgwood finally achieved 
complete success in his undertaking. 
Immediately there was a great de¬ 
mand for the cameos by the manu¬ 
facturing jewelers of Birmingham 
and Sheffield (who employed such 
artists to mount them as Boulton and 
Watt), and elsewhere. The mount¬ 
ings were of gold, of silver and of 
cut steel. These last mountings were 
the most in demand. This jewelry 
also became much sought abroad, and 
the demand from America was great. 
We see many such cameos in their 
original mountings in the remarkable 
collection of old Wedgwood now in 
the Art Institute of Chicago museum, 
a collection acquired from the cab¬ 
inets of Arthur Sanderson and as¬ 
sembled by Frederick Rathbone for 
Dr. Frank W. Gunsaulus, who in¬ 
stalled it in the Chicago museum. 
The name cameo was first applied 
by Wedgwood in 1772. Nearly 450 
(Continued on page 74) 
This Book 
On Home 
Beautifying 
Sent Free 
Contains practical 
suggestions on how to make 
your home artistic, cheery and inviting. 
Explains liow you can easily and economi¬ 
cally keep the woodwork, piano and furni¬ 
ture in perfect condition. 
BUILDING ? 
This book will tell you of newest, most at¬ 
tractive color combinations for interior deco¬ 
rating. If you wish we will also send FREE 
our beautiful colored dollar portfolio show¬ 
ing panels of all popular woods finished 
with Johnson's Wood Finishes. Take this 
ad to your dealer—or write Dept. H-G.2. 
S. C. Johnson & Son, Racine, Wis. 
“ The_[Voo(l Finishing Authorities'' 
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Without previous experience in growing 
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under our shipping directions, and we 
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it. We will sell a Show Garden to only 
one person in each Community. 
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FromH Acre 
planted in Superb Ever- 
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Big profits, berries from 
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colors in our 1916 Free Guide. 
ARTHUR J. COLLINS 
I Box 61 Moorestown, N. J. ' ^ 
\Profitable Fruit Trees and 
Small Fruit Plants 
