44 
House & Garden 
All the delicacy of the graceful detail 
in the old design has been reproduced 
in this dull gold replica of an Adam 
mirror. Courtesy of W. & J. Sloane 
THE VALUE of 
GOOD FURNITURE 
REPRODUCTIONS 
Modern Antiques With the Air of 
the Veritable—Their Place in Fur¬ 
nishing the House of Good Taste 
ELIZABETH LOUNSBERY 
From the pewter on the shelves 
of the old Welsh dresser to the 
trimming on the Jacobean 
chairs, this grouping is mod¬ 
ern. Courtesy of The House 
of Philip Oriel 
customer with the belief that he is purchasing 
an article of great antiquity. It stands on its 
own merit as an example of what can be done 
by the intelligent craftsman and skillful deco¬ 
rator in clever imitation of the insidious effects 
of wear and age. 
Indeed, it is upon the workman rather than 
upon well planned design that the entire suc¬ 
cess of the article depends. He must have a 
keen sense of the piece on which he is working 
and a certain familiarity with the character of 
the article that he is imitating. No definite 
directions as to carrying out an exact pattern 
can be followed, except possibly in the matter 
of measurement and construction. It is rather 
the “feeling” and tone of 
the wood and its treatment 
throughout that are impor¬ 
tant in reproduction. So 
skillfully are these quali¬ 
ties simulated that even the 
most experienced eye can 
often be deceived. 
Antique vs. Antiqued 
Now that the very ex¬ 
cellence of the reproduc¬ 
tion has made it a digni¬ 
fied feature in house deco¬ 
ration, the reputable dealer 
in such furniture takes 
great interest in pointing 
out the excellence of the 
“antiquing” of each piece 
of his work and its desir¬ 
ability in price as com¬ 
pared with that of an im¬ 
portant original piece of 
furniture, for the average 
reproduction costs from a 
quarter to a third of what 
an original would bring, if 
indeed it could be bought 
at all. Therefore, those of 
the unwary who have here¬ 
tofore been deceived in 
their purchases of antiques 
by such subterfuges as shot 
holes made to represent 
worm holes and the results 
of rough treatment and ex¬ 
posure to weather need no 
longer search among out- 
of-the-way shops of un¬ 
scrupulous dealers for 
their “finds.” 
Skilled craftsmanship 
has long since made such 
practices unnecessary and 
has broadened the scope of 
selection in the reproduc¬ 
tion for the buyer amidst 
more agreeable surround¬ 
ings. In fact, whole shops 
are devoted exclusively to 
their sale, and one may se¬ 
lect in a delightful old 
In making this facsimile of a 
Georgian mahogany pedestal 
sideboard with knife urns, 
even the grain and finish of the 
original piece were reproduced,- 
Courtesy of W. & J. Sloane 
W HO has not felt the appeal of the an¬ 
tique? Be it that of the tiny trinket of 
curious old-time workmanship or the more pre¬ 
tentious production of the cabinetmaker—the 
charm is there, with its indefinable fascination! 
So true is this that modern decoration, in al¬ 
most all its important features, has grown to 
be but the application of the antique to present- 
day usage. Old furniture, old velvets, silks 
and ecclesiastical vestments as draperies; old 
linen chests as wood boxes or hall receptacles 
for heavy rugs and coats; stone church fonts, 
perverted to the use of flower holders; tall iron 
braziers as stands to hold aquariums denote 
the popular demand for the antique in house 
furnishings. 
In the matter of furni¬ 
ture, years of retrospection 
have gradually convinced 
us that in graceful outline 
and proportion, comfort 
and beauty, nothing can 
equal the great periods of 
furniture making. Hence 
the popularity of period 
decoration, according to 
the individual preference. 
If not an entire setting, 
consistent in every detail, 
one finds at least a fine old 
desk, a chair or two, a 
table, an old piece of em¬ 
broidery that savors of the 
old world, in the average 
room of almost every house 
in good taste. 
Supply and Demand 
With the ever increasing 
demand for old furniture 
there has been a gradual 
diminution of supply and 
a consequent increase in 
value, sometimes prohibi¬ 
tive, at least to the aver¬ 
age house furnisher, and 
often to those with a more 
bountiful purse. Such rare 
old pieces as they might 
crave and even buy are 
either not available, owing 
to their private ownership 
or to their possession by the 
museums of the world, as 
examples of the work of 
the master cabinetmakers 
of history. 
So the reproduction has 
gradually won a place as a 
substitute for the original 
and, let it be said, a very 
creditable one. The re¬ 
production as it is seen to¬ 
day at its best no longer 
suggests the sharp prac¬ 
tices of a designing dealer 
intended to defraud the 
