House and Garden 
IMITATION “ LANDING OF LAFAYETTE,” lO-INCH PLATE, 
WITH importer’s NAME REMOVED FROM THE BACK 
have the 3 spur marks on the back and are as worn 
underneath as if they had been in use for years. Un¬ 
fortunately for the success of the deception, the upper 
side of the plates shows no marks of wear at all and 
the crackled appearance of the glaze is a very super¬ 
ficial imitation. 
A favorite trick of English dealers a good many 
years ago was to buy slightly decorated plates and 
vases of genuine old Sevres, remove the painting 
by fluoric acid, repaint them with elaborate scenes 
and floral decoration in the style of Watteau and 
Boucher; ship them to Paris and then have them 
re-shipped to London to be opened in the presence 
of a prospective customer, who usually purchased 
them for four or five times their real value. 
How are such imitations brought into this country 
undetected by the customs officials 
When a man wants to cheat he can generally 
find a way. A slip of paper printed with the words 
“made in France” pasted over the mark obviates 
a lot of awkward questions; moreover, customs 
appraisers are not supposed to sit in judgment and 
say whether a thing is intended as a reproduction 
of a work of art or a forgery intended to deceive. 
It’s the price asked afterwards that largely deter¬ 
mines that. 
“But are there no laws to prevent people from 
frauds?” you naturally ask. Yes, there are laws, 
there are also ways of evading them. 
The statutes of Pennsylvania, under the 
head of forgery of trade marks, provide 
that the imitation of the private stamp of 
a manufacturer is a misdemeanor punish¬ 
able by fine not exceeding ;^ioo or two 
years imprisonment, and that vending goods 
fraudulently made, knowing the same to 
be imitation without disclosing the fact to 
the buyer, is punishable by fine not exceed¬ 
ing $500 or imprisonment up to three years. 
It is very doubtful, however, if these laws 
would apply to unregistered trade marks 
on old china. One would probably have 
to fall back upon the general act of the 
commonwealth March 31st, i860, “Cheat¬ 
ing by Fraudulent pretenses act,” which 
makes it a misdemeanor to obtain money 
by wilful misrepresentation. 
Of course the maker is equally as guilty 
as the dealer, but he avoids putting his 
head in a noose by leaving a letter out of 
the maker’s name in the stamp on the back 
of the plate or piece, whatever it may be, 
and at the same time making that stamp 
as undecipherable as possible. 
Germany is also a great manufactory of 
antique rubbish, especially in imitations of 
old Dutch pottery and grotesque pieces. 
It is just as bad, however, to be oversuspi- 
cious as to be careless. A friend of mine once bought 
a very fine pair of George I. goblets, known techni¬ 
cally as square footed rummers; they were beauti¬ 
fully cut, were flawless and cheap at ;^io the pair. 
But, after he got them home he noticed that the bases 
were moulded. “You sold these to me for genuine 
old cut glass,” said he to the dealer, next day, “and 
here they are, such clumsy imitations that you can 
plainly see the bases have been moulded.” 
It was in vain that the dealer assured him that 
they had only recently been purchased out of a very 
old English house, that he knew them by their history 
to be genuine; the purchaser wanted his money 
back, and got it. Those goblets are now in Virginia, 
and the owner wouldn’t take $20 for them. 
And here is where the joke comes in — all 
the old cut glass rummers were made on moulded 
bases! 
Never buy china from photographs, unless you 
want to be disappointed. The only way to buy 
china is to have it in your hands. First examine 
the paste, feel its surface, note its texture, color, 
consistency and weight, next pay attention to the 
modeling, then the decoration, make up your mind 
what it ought to be; then look at the mark, if it has 
one. If the mark corresponds with its general 
appearance you may take it as genuine, and so know 
its approximate date and history. If not, there’s 
something wrong. 
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