January, 1921 
169310 
IS 
ANTIQUES AND 
ANTIQUING 
The Purchaser of Furniture Has to Watch His Step in the Maze o-f Real Antiques, 
Fake Antiques, Reproductions and Old-Looking Pieces 
RICHARD F. BACH 
of The Metropolitan Museum of Art 
Wainscot chair reproduc¬ 
ing lines and feeling of an 
original. Exhibited by Ken¬ 
sington Manufacturing Co. 
Compare this late 17 th 
Century American oak 
wainscot chair with the 
modern one opposite 
T HE 20th Century is impatient with some 
of Nature’s slow processes. We have 
speeded up in a score of ways and for as many 
purposes, and now we have devoted ourselves 
to speeding up decay for the eternal glory of 
art! But Nature will not be hastened, so we 
simulate the effects of age and 
the process of dissolution. 
To accomplish our ends we 
have recourse to fire and water, 
chemistry and physics, and 
sometimes to a blunt hammer, 
sharp axe and a solid pair of 
hob-nail boots. All of this in 
addition to a casual small boy 
iC'Avith a quick penknife and a 
^host of holes made by well- 
strained worms to prove our 
rH case. 
There are on the market an- 
^ tiques real and fake. There 
5 ? are also on the market repro¬ 
ductions of antiques sold as 
such (in some cases). And 
finally there are to be had ex¬ 
cellent pieces, beautifully dam¬ 
aged and worn down to order, 
which are not antiques, or 
fakes, or reproductions. These 
are simply “old-looking” pieces 
endure these near-antiques? Why should they 
not frankly say, “we are not antiques, we are 
not fakes, we are not hiding or masquerading; 
we are simply possible elements in an interior 
scheme in which the appearance of age is a 
necessary or desirable characteristic.” 
No one objects to antiques, 
“real” antiques. I wish the 
term were relegated to limbo; 
one can never mention the 
word without being assailed 
with the question: “Is that an 
‘old’ antique or a reproduc¬ 
tion ?” This question tells the 
whole story. People don’t 
know what an antique is or 
should be. At any rate how 
old should an antique be before 
it achieves the halo which en¬ 
hances its commercial value 
tenfold? As it is, the word is 
used to tell the truth about a 
given piece and at the same 
time it is used as a generic 
name for a type of article 
which may be a “real” antique 
or a reproduction or actually 
a fraud sold for the real thing. 
It has become a trade name; 
witness the quip of the trade 
which are necessary, first and chiefly, to satisfy 
Rolls-Royce ambitions backed up by Ford 
pocket books, and second, to complete the effect 
of an antique atmosphere so often affected in 
current interior decoration. 
And the question is, is it right or wrong to 
Faithfully reproducing an old model, this red lacquer desk decorated with 
Chinese motifs, has been artificially aged. It is an old-looking piece and its 
creators present it as such—not an antique but a reproduction. Courtesy 
of W. & J■ Sloane 
