/ About COLLECTINa By J, H. YOXALL, MP, wmfff^mmmM \lX LIBKli: m JMsyqM yg-i- v,f 11 i:\'(i,.'.tvlLi.;-r. r<-i#^.«£:?'v^:^- : The ABC About Collecting By J. H. YOXALL, M.P. " We passed from Shepherd's Inn into Holborn, and looked for a at while Woodgate's bric-a-brac shop, which I never can pass without delaying at the windows— indeed, if I were going to be hung, I would beg the cart to stop, and let me have one look more at that delightful omnium gatherum." Thackeray, Roundabout Papers. " God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation." Walton, The Comphat Angle*. ILonDon Published by THE LONDON OPINION CURIO CLUB 107, Regent Street, W. Printed by Henry Good & Son, 12, Moorgate Street, E.G. oci^0i5H33i To STELLA, DAUGHTER AND HELPER. BY WAY OF PREFACE. OFTEN HAVE READERvS OF MY ARTICI<ES IN LONDON SO OPINION, AND MEMBERS OF THE LONDON OPINION CuRio Club, written in the kindest terms to urge republication in permanent form, that this book "About Collecting" may be said to owe its existence to hundreds of such requests. inly articles are liked, i am told, because they cater for ordinary folk and not for millionaires, and are written clearly and explain- ingly, out of personal knowledge, experience and research. selected, revised, and partly recast, the chapters of the book will show the same qualities, i trust, and be a help to beginners as well as aids to collectors more advanced in delightful pursuits. i do not pretend that this book is exhaustive or complete in itself, though it may well serve as a general guide TO THE "lines" OF COLLECTING, AND THE WIDE OPPORTU- NITIES WHICH THE Club affords to all. The chapters of it are more classified and systematic than was possible during serial publication, and i have inserted many additional lights and hints. Good for health of mind and body it is to walk and wander in by-ways of town and country, searching out things BEAUTIFUL AND OLD AND RARE WITH WHICH TO ADORN ONE'S HOME; OF A THOUSAND SUCH HAPPY AND SALU- TARY HOURS THIS BOOK IS A RECORD, AND TO MY KINDLY CORRESPONDENTS AND MY OTHER READERS I WISH THE SAME FORTUNE AND JOY. J. H. YOXALL. KEW, August, i908. CONTENTS. Page;. On Beginning to Collect i How to Collect 3 The Iviimber Room ... 5 Beware! S Shams and Facsimiles 12 Deceit and Detection ... 14 The Far-.seeing Collector 18 Some Principles in Collecting 20 Some Collectors' Experiences 22 Flnctuating Values and Fashions 23 The Collector when in Paris 26 The Curio Thief 28 Which w Old China .= 30 "Soft" and "Hard" Porcelain 34 The Beginnings of Modern Collecting 36 Transfer-printed Pottery, Enamels, and China 39 Lessons from a Leaf- shaped Dish 42 Uncommon Hints about "Old Worcester" 46 Old Coalport Porcelain 49 Billingsle}- China 51 Rockingham and vStaffordshire Figures and Cottages... 53 The Lowestoft Enigma... ... 55 French Pottery and Porcelain ... 58 Old English Earthenware 60 Toby Jugs 63 Wedgwood Marks and Indices 66 "Old Wedgwood" 69 A Wedgwood Relic 72 Green Frog Ware 73 About Leeds Cream Ware 75 Leeds Printed Potterj- ... ^ 78 Leeds Busts and Figures 80 Baxter Prints 83 Baxter's Chiaroscuro ... ... ... ... 85 Experiences of a Baxter Collector 87 A Baxter Book Catalogue 89 Licensee Oil Prints ... 93 Rariora 97 Old Miniatures 98 Old Water-Colour Drawings loi Grandfather Clocks ... 103 About Old Oil-Paintings 105 Rembrandt Etchings 107 Particulars about Pinchbeck ... ... no Old Books and Book Plates 112 " Grangerising " 113 Acupictura, or Needlework Picturing 116 Japanese Arts •.. 119 Japanese Colour Prints... ... ... 123 How to Know a Good Japanese Print 125 About Old Frames ... 127 Old British-made Violins 130 Prout Prints and Drawings 132 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Adams Jasper Vase opposite page 113 CHKI.SEA Goat-and-Bee Jug ChEIvSEA Knick-Knacks Chippendai^E Chairs... CHIPPEND.\I,E C1.AW-FOOTED Taiii,e coai.port porcei^ain.. Creamware Jug Dresden Busts Grandfather Ci^ock (Queen Anne) Grandfather Ci^ock (Raria' Georgian) Lowestoft Jug... Needi^ework Picture (Stump Work).. Needi.ework Picture (Bead Work) .. Sevres V.ase Si^iPWARE Posset-Cup Staffordshire Figures Toby Jugs TsuBAS (Japanese Sword Guard.s) Wedgwood Jasper Vase Wedgwood Jasper Pi^aque Wedgwood Jasper Medai,i,ion Wedgwood Basai^tes Vase Wedgwood Necki,.\ce and Bracelet . Wedgwood Portrait Plaque Wedgwood Tri-coloured Jasper Ware Worcester Hand-Painted Porcelain Worcesti'R Transfer-Printed Porcelain Worcester Salmon-Scale Vase Worcester Transfer-Printed Mug ... !! The ABC About Collecting. SECTION L ON BEGINNING TO COLLECT. WORD in the ear of the people who " would like to collect if A they knew anj'thing at all about it," a.s the}' say. Listen. Seven dealers out of every ten know next to nothing about it now, and knew nothing at all ahoiit it wJicn they began ! This is an admitted fact, as a rule ; the dealers themselves would confess it to you freely. Collecting is an art, Collecting an Art. g . not a business. And the average dealer knows rather less about any one " line " than does the average amateur. Dealers learn what they know from their customers ; they have said so again and again. " I should very much like to collect old prints—coins, and medals—Georgian furniture," say Mr. Brown, Mr. Jones, Mr. Robinson. "/ should like to fill the drawing-room cabinet with good old china," say unanimously their respective— wives. "But we don't know how," they go on, with one voice " it would cost a fortune—the dealers would rook us!" My dear Mr. and Mrs. Brown, Jones, and Robinson, I assure you, nothing of the sort. " " It must be so difficult to become a judge ! you say. Oh, no Nothing is easier and pleasanter than to learn when one hankers to learn. Besides, one learns in bits : one learns to collect by collecting. " " But the real things cost so much ! Do they ? People have to bu}' furniture and mantelpiece ornaments of one kind or another, and it is still a fact that you can buy Fi Old Ch" „. ' ,. ., fine old china for less than the price of china than New. , - , . Cheaper ,, ^ r i r i u that is fine and new. A roomful of good old furniture, picked up a piece at a time, will cost you less than a roomful of furniture that is both new and as good. And the old things are much the more comfortable to live with. " But surely all the real bargains have been picked up long ago," says the doubter. Dear would-be amateur, bargains go _ . begging in by-streets nearly every day „ . "But even bargains cost you a lot, to begin with," says the doubter. Do they ? Listen again. To my certain knowledge, the following bargains were lately picked up by the same person during one six months, and these are but a few out of many : A miniature of Cardinal 2 THE ABC ABOUT COLLECTING Richelieu, in oils, on copper that shows the patina (or chemical influence of light and air) which only comes with age, three-and- sixpence. A Marseilles plate, worth four or five louis, four shillings. An old silver and onyx snuffbox, two shillings. An Eighteenth century French colour-print, "La Paysanne," four-and- sixpence. A Chelsea china Cupid, three-and-sixpence. A water- colour sketch by David Cox for his famous "Welsh Funeral" picture, half-a-crown. So much for bargains in shillings. When it comes to bargains in sovereigns the chances are better if not more numerous still. It is true that prices are hardening. So the time to begin to collect is Now. The opportunity can never be more favourable, and it will grow less favourable to the collector year by 3'ear. Porcelain, for instance ; dealers will tell you that porcelain has paid them better than any other kind of stock of late. This is therefore a good time for buying old china ; at any rate, so good a time is not likely to come again. The grumble of the smaller dealers is always that they " can't pick up cheap china nowadays"; they mean the pieces of the less rare makes of china which the}' used to buy for a few pence each. They assure you that any kind of old china—even chipped —is being hunted for more than ever. If you mean to begin to hunt for it, therefore, you had better begin "right now." The fact is that the level of taste is rising. You can see that in picture-framers' shop windows, you can see it in the cheaper new-furniture shops of Tottenham Court LevelT ^„^i of«f -r i Taste • • Koad., r, r 11 ^ Rising 1 he number or collectors is increasing rapidly, whether for pleasure or for profit, or for both ; collecting is no longer confined to the wealthy or moderately rich, or to the leisured classes. People who hanker to "collect" and do not soon begin to collect, may before long find it too late to collect at any price which their purses can command. People of moderate incomes, I mean ; it is people of moderate incomes who are snapping up the bargains in shillings to-da3^ I am not writing here for the bidder at Christie's, for the man who can pa}- £7,000 for a couple of square yards of antique tapestry, and so forth. I am writing for the man or woman in the villa, in the flat, in the area houses in a row— for people of cultivation but not of riches, who must look twice at every pound they spend on unuecessaries, 3-et who long to surround themselves with beautiful old objects and to bring up their children in an atmosphere of art.