From a drawing by Jared P. Kilgallen, Esq., J.D. & R.P., of the
item he considers most worth while in his collection. Note: This
glass is no longer in original condition.
]
Now, a word upon the manner and means of collecting. As will readily
be supposed, I do not follow the ordinary channels or patronize the
customary marts of trade in antiques. I have nothing to say against the
Antiquity Shops as such; and I freely admit that many of them contain
genuine prizes for the persistent seeker; but after all they are for
the amateur of careless purse. It is true that in a shop one CAN pick
up a very small bit of rare value for nothing sometimes; and I have
done it successfully; but the chances are against it, and, as it is
always risky, usually I have thought better not even to try. No, the
shops are not my field of endeavor. I say it in all modesty, but I have
done better among the garnered old treasures of one quiet, private
house than in a hundred Antiquity Shops.
In general, a collector needs what I may be pardoned for calling the
Collector’s Eye. To illustrate my meaning: How many of my readers
have not at some time missed an heirloom, or other treasured object
that has simply disappeared? We all have these losses. The missing
object has, most probably (as we say), just been “thrown out.” The
true Collector’s Eye is ever busy in those places or receptacles where
things _are_ “thrown out.” Of course, most of one’s discoveries made
in this manner consist of portions, rather than of entire objects of
_vertu_; nevertheless, I have thus picked up many of my best things.
But the true Collector’s Eye is never at rest. Take an old gate in a
fence, or a dilapidated building of any sort: the ordinary gaze may
pass over these surfaces with mere _ennui_, but many of my best old
hinges, latches, etc., have been wrenched from such environments,
merely in passing, as it were. The Collector’s Eye will note the very
fall of a fine old bit of blacksmithing from some careless horse. No
doubt the uninitiated critic will cry “Fie!” upon this. “What? Are
there collectors who collect horseshoes?” And may I ask: “Why not,
indeed?” Aside from the intrinsic value latent in any fine old bit
of iron, no true quoit-player would miss an opportunity to make a
contribution to the beautifying and decoration of his home club. And
let me whisper in the ear of the Philistine skeptic for his better
information: Is he aware that in the finest Louis XV _vitrine_ in the
palace of Prince Oscar Schofield, at Zorn, under glass and reposing
upon delicate shagreen velours, is the gilded shoe of the steed of
Balaam? If no collector had picked it up, would it be there?
But I would impress upon the beginner: he must not be content with
merely picking up things. He must, indeed, pick up what he can,
wherever there is a fair opportunity; but I should not stand where I do
to-day among collectors, had I stopped with merely “picking up” things.
True, I have picked up many and many’s the good thing; but my BEST
things were not obtained in this way.
I was quite a young man when I began collecting, taking with me a
sack, and sometimes a wheelbarrow also, for this purpose, on my daily
rambles. One day it struck me that a splendid old Colonial house, which
I had often passed, must contain many lovely, quaint old things that
would be charming for a person of taste to number among his curios.
There was a “To Let” sign upon the house, and I confess that the
thought of the difficulties in my way dismayed me. To seek out the
agent, to obtain from him the name and location of the owner of the
house, who might prove to be, perhaps, a resident of some distant city
difficult of access—to do all this and then bargain and bicker with
the owner (in case I reached him), to chaffer over prices, and in the
end, very likely, to find him obdurately avaricious: what was the use?
Seldom have I been more discouraged; but I think I may have mentioned
that I am a collector. To the real collector, discouragement is never
despair.
After thinking the matter over, I decided to go about it in the
straightforward, manly way, instead of adopting the roundabout and
involved means I have just sketched. There was the house; the frank
thing was simply to go in and see whether or not it contained the
treasures that the noble old classic façade seemed to suggest. And this
was the course I sensibly determined to follow.
Owing to certain technical difficulties, I was obliged to make my visit
after dusk had fallen, and then only by the inadequate illumination
of a small, patented electric lamp; nevertheless, even so hasty and
umbrous (if I may use the word) an examination of the contents of
the place as I was able to make proved disappointing. The house had
been fitted up for tenancy, not for the owner to live in, and the
collecting of scarce an object in the whole interior paid for the
expense of removing it in a small hired vehicle.
However, all houses are not alike; not even all unoccupied ones, and it
should be emphasized that in this first experience of mine I overlooked
something of importance. Many a time, afterward, in examining rental
properties and residences offered for sale, I have recalled with a
mournful smile that first omission; and seldom indeed has my patient
search gone unrewarded by beautifully patined sections of brass or
copper, perhaps, and some fine old bit of plumbing.
Let me say again, the Collector’s Eye overlooks nothing, and the
great point is, not to follow the fad, but to anticipate it. There
is not a single class of antiques that I did not collect long before
the amateurs began to “pay prices” for such things, and I am now
principally engaged in collecting the antiques of the future. I know
better than anybody else what the priceless old things of the future
will be, because I have formed the habit of picking them up at the time
when they are thrown out.
* * * * *
Now, let me add just one word upon a bit of old textile now in
my possession. I have hanging upon my wall a superb bit of old
Kuppenheimer weaving. People say to me: “How in the world did you ever
find a piece of that color? We have specimens of Kuppenheimer, but ours
are not like THAT! How DID you obtain it?”