House and Garden 
A Revival of the Fittest 
Good Reproductions Preferable to Genuine 
Antique Wrecks 
BY MINNIE THOMAS ANTRIM 
Furniture Shown in the Collection of J. L. Schwartz 
T HAT modernity has a wide-reaching craze seems essential. 
Rarely has it chosen one so creditable as the collecting of 
antique furniture. That so important a quest deserves exceeding 
care is obvious, and yet women “collectors” rush in and out ot 
dusty shops, upon dirty streets, gloating over their “finds” at 
amazing prices, convinced beyond persuasion that antique dealers 
are the long lost exceptions to the Biblical aphorism—anent, “ men ” 
and “liars.” In their haste to acquire, they do not stop to think, 
or they must realize, that although a genuine “Gate-legged table,’ 
Chippendale dresser, or high-boy, might, by the grace of the gods, 
be found for “a song,” these treasures assuredly will never be 
picked up for nothing in shops, be the songster never so tuneful. 
A responsible dealer knows well, none better, that he may ask 
almost any price for an “important” old piece, and it is not widely 
recorded that honest dealers are unfond of a just profit. 1 hat a 
good reproduction is better than a genuine wreck, all, save mental 
derelicts, will admit, although in their delirium of acquisition, 
many will say, “good old furniture lasts forever;” which is true 
only when it has been thrice carefully used. Very carefully mended 
cracks, chips, and broken corners are often proofs of clever fraud- 
work. 
That mahogany is the only “worth-while” wood, the illiterate 
searcher religiously believes, and should anyone rashly suggest 
that antique pieces of curly maple were equally esteemed by those 
who know, their clamoring protests would rend the Heavens. 
This, however, is true. Aristocratic mahogany will always be well 
chosen, but the charm of curly maple should be as intelligently 
recognized. Because the lines of colonial furniture are admirable, 
why should we not delight in the sturdy beauty of certain early 
English pieces, or in the exquisite Louis Ouinze, or Louis Seize 
models ? Culture admonishes us to be catholic in our taste in art; 
to be crazy about no sort or period, but interested in all. 
The first desideratum for gathering household treasures is 
knowledge, which in this sense often bringeth joy instead of “sor¬ 
row, ” not a little knowledge, which is as we all know, dangerous. 
That pine carvings would be admitted among rare antiques only 
wiseacres know. Before 1700 colonial talent carved very beautiful 
things upon this wood, which was the first used by the New World 
furniture makers. It was not until the eighteenth century that the 
more stately kings of the forest, were made up into American 
furniture. Only the very rich or the unco’ wise can now obtain a 
carved pine table of the first class, or an antique bureau in curly 
maple. They are rarer than the proverbial hen’s teeth. Dealers 
with neither of the above, will scoff at them, but, set them looking 
and should they find, behold their weirdly changed tale. 
The best antiques have been handed down of course, or have 
come from dear old homes, broken up by death or disaster. Superb 
“pieces” both in furniture and old china, are frequently found in 
quaint country homesteads where money is scarce and ideas of 
value scarcer, hence, are purchased at prices that should shame 
those who gleefully tell the tale of conscienceless profitings. The 
lies born of the antique craze are legion. It is a common thing to 
hear Anybody’s vain gloriously rattling ancestral bones that belong 
to Somebody’s forbear. That a grandfather’s clock is in your 
house thank Allah, but don’t steal “Grandfather.” Be honest! 
If you can’t be honest, be still; thereby, your reward will be 
greater in the long run. Always remember the world’s eyes are 
canny and monstrous clear: its memory phenomenal. 
Wizard-workers there are who copy, from old books, any antique 
ever made by man. Beautiful indeed are these reproductions. 
They are worthy of any purchaser. The makers put into every 
“gate-legged” table, carved sideboard and bedpost such genuine 
love for their art (for art it is) and such splendid woods that with 
care they are sure to last a century or two at least. But, let no 
fool say in her heart, “I’ll lie about them, and none shall know they 
are not ‘real,’ ” the world knows, aye it always—knows. 
No place in the world is much more sacred to the collector than 
a genuine antique shop. Metaphorically, here all heads are un¬ 
covered, as, across Memory’s mirror, ghostly owners of Chippen¬ 
dale sideboards, Hepplewhite secretaries, high-boys and “low- 
posters ” seem to move in stately steppings about among their relics, 
listening jealously, to the questers who, to their credit be it spoken, 
do nothing but praise. 
A CURLY MAPLE LOW-BOY 
From 1702 to 1750—Queen Anne Period 
A HEPPLEWHITE DRESSER, INLAID 
The Looking Glass and side flaps close down 
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