ANTIQUES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 25, 31 January 1938, Page 10

ANTIQUES.

COLLECTORS' ERRORS.

PROTECTION FOR BUYERS.

"All is not gold that flitters," and antiques arc not always what they seem, as amateurs and even unwary collectors are aware—sooner or later. But 6teps have been taken to protect the buyers ngainst unprincipled dealers by demonstrating to them the difference between the real and the spurious. In a small museum in Rochester, England, there is a cautionary exhibition gathered together as a warning against the fraudulent imitations which flood the market. But in Vienna the matter has been carried even further, for noted collectors, who are courageous enough to admit that they have been "had" by plausible dealers —and suprepie confidence in their own judgment—have lent the director of the Museum for Pla'stic Art and Handicrafts fraudulent works of a wider fame. After all, it should not be excessively hard for any collector to admit an error of judgment, fot It has been done in the very best of ciVrtes. The London Art Gallery has twice in the past bought false Rembrandts. Other pictures attributed to Durer, Velasques and Holbein have hung for a time sharing the glory of the world's masterpieces. The production of false antiques, the forgery of pictures and of famous signatures has long been an industry. Famous artists have taken as pupils clever youths, who ultimately became as proficient as their masters could make them. Naturally they tended to imitate their teachers, and in after years the pupils' works were often passed off as those of the master. It is a common thing for artists of to-day to copy famous pictures, and no doubt, many years hence some of these will be passed off as genuine. It is seldom that the actual painters of the«e copies benefit by their work —it is the dealers who knowingly defraud the public—and it is to prevent this deliberate fraudulent selling that an effort has been made to educate the public in the knowledge that "all that glitters is not gold." STUFFED APPLES. Ingredients: Six apples, three tablespoonfuls chopped dates, one dessertspoonful butter, two tablespoonfuls brown sugar, grated rind of one lemon, one tablespoonful chopped nuts. For svrup: Half cupful brown sugar, half cupful water, one tablespoonful butter. Method: Wash and dry aopies. Make inejsion in skin round centre of apple. Remove core, leaving a small wedge at base. Mix finely-chopped, "stoned dates, brown sugar, grated lemon rind and finely-chopped nuts and butter. Fill apples with mixture. Boil brown sugar, water and butter until sugar is dissolved. Place apples in fireproof china dish with syrup. 15«ke slowly, basting occasionally ntltil apples are tender. Serve hot or cold with custard or cream.