A DYING CRAFT

Hokitika Guardian, 11 July 1935, Page 3

A DYING CRAFT

RIVETING OF CHINA. IMITATIONS AND CHEAPNESS AUCKLAND, July 9. -We do not see the valuable china ,ve used to see, and as a result this is a dying craft,” was the regretful conclusion voiced by an Aucidand china riveter, one of' the steadily diminishing hand of craftsmen whom the machine' has not yet been able entirely tpfreplace. ‘Tt is a very old trade. The ancient Egyptians used to rivet china, but the business is going back all the time now.”

The reason for the decline, he said, was that so much cheap yet attractive factory-made china was available that people, instead; of having broken pieces riveted, bought replacements instead.

For the same reason, the abundance of attractive but cheap china, it appeared that much of the thrill had gone out of china mending and its allied activity of dealing. It was not very often nowadays that anybody came along with a genuine piece of good china for disposal. It seemed that the day had passed when a fortune might be acquired, or allowed unwittingly to slip through one’s fingers, in the course of a deal.

“People still bring me china which they think to be valuable,” said' the riveter. “What 1 they tell me shows that antique china faking still goes on in Europe. One women asked me what I would give her for a plate. 1 told her 3s 6d. She said indignantly that she had paid £3 for it and that 1 did not know its value. 1 did not tell her that the price was 2s 9d wholesale “Many people think that because they buy something in London it must be genuine. It is possible to buy in Europe china with a paper ‘sticker’ on the hack stating that is guaranteed by such and such an association. An association might he named that nobody has ever heard of, hut people buy the stuff just the same. “There are not many fortunes to be had easily. I did hear of somebody in Auckland buying a dusty old jug for Is 6d, and then receiving an offer of £oo for it. 1 don’t know what it was eventually sold for.

“One day a man came nito my place and asked me to buy an ivory carving. He said it had come out of Tutankhamen’s tomb. 1 told him to tell that to somebody else. “How do you know it hasn’t?’ he asked me. "Because 1 can see the machine marks on it,’ 1 said ‘You are quite right,’ he replied. ‘I made it myself.’ ”