The Confessions of a Collector

teenth Century Dishes-The Sèvres Tray of 1773-The Pair of Japanese Dishes-Blue and White-Hawthorn-The Odd Vase-My Finds at Hammersmith-Mr Sanders of Chiswick and his Chelsea China-Gale-The Ruby-backed

-The Zurich Jug and My Zuri

tself to the commercial side in these matters, the genuine pleasure lies in purchasing for oneself, even if the price is here and there such as to ensure loss on realisation; for there is the sense of patronage and superiority. I never descended to petty transactions; but where an appreciab

ures, and Furniture. The two former have occupied in my thought a station not much less prominent than that of literature; and as I abandoned the practical inquiry into the first subject after t

'dining with Duke Humphrey.' Had I been exempt from fancies, I might have spared myself the ordeal of going into the highways and byways in quest of that doubtful benefactor a publisher; I might have dispensed with ingratiating myself with booksellers and bookbuyers; I might have enjoyed the pleasures of reading and thinking amid some sort of paterna rura. But as a citizen, who leaves London only for the sake of the satisfaction which it yields to return to it (for your Londoner, if he likes to see and fee

ea that I had embarked in one. A good-natured and well-informed relative, who was always ready and pleased to serve and flatter me, suggested that my Eastern porcelain was Brom'ichham. Of course an English factory could not, in the

first bitten the doctor, I never heard; I found him, on my first introduction, the owner of a mass of examples, good, bad and indifferent, of all of which, however insignificant and obscure, he could tell you the pedigree and place of origin. He had

r knowledge to learn; we bought largely and not too well, and Burwood was so exhausted by the drain on his stock, that he announced his intention of travelling down into Herefordshire, in order to buy some very valuable bits reported to him from a farmhouse in that rather distant shire. There was a second dep?t in the same watering-place, kept by an old man and his wife, with whom it was a favourite phrase

stoft cargo was thrown overboard. A Jew named Moss had a whole tableful of crockery in exchange for a good plaque of Limoges enamel of the earlier epoch. He once let me have at a moderate price an old Sèvres plate painted with a pastoral scene, and with a rich amethyst blue and gold festooned border. I continue to think

doctor was more or less insensible; and I found myself about 1880 the owner, even on such a basis, o

ng every variety of article for sale; and few carried their freights back. Even those who were on the list of private guests occasionally shewed their good taste by drawing out of their breast-pockets at dessert some object for Diamo

chase of three or four large porcelain dishes, the 'china earth' of the Stuart era, a gentleman of old family from Newcastle-on-Tyne looked in at Morgan's, and observing a broken specimen of the same lot, mentioned that at home he had some precisely similar, which had belonged to his predecessors since 1650. A very beautifu

attern and shape, for ￡140. I declined them at that figure, and heard no more of the matter, till he informed me that his correspondents had modified their views, so as to make it possible for me to

which illustrates the matter as well as a dearer example, and shews the pains which the Chinese took to prepare their paste and pigments during the best period-the seventeenth century. Both are most brilliant, and it is alike

scarcely any, which awakened a very strong interest. Really fine examples are of the rarest occurrence, and it is still more difficult to obtain pairs of vases or jars with the

ut for the companion, and at last he found it to his immense satisfaction at Newcastle, and brought it up to town. On inquiry at the dealer's there,

watering-places and spas in quest of homes. I saw a Worcester jug at Bournemouth,

able for making pottery, in the neighbourhood; but there was no material for fine china. Very possibly certain pieces of Oriental were shipped thi

d many large examples in figures and nefs seldom seen and of great importance. It was Sanders, who related to me the anecdote of a singular find at Antwerp of Chelsea figures in a confectioner's establishment. The p

es; but his ways were mysterious, and his home, I fear, uncomfortable. Perhaps he found the neighbou

d Brooks, 'because I gave ￡10, 10s. for it.' 'And what would they say of the person,' I put to him, 'who took it of you at a profit?' He grinned, and informed me that a medical man in the neighbourhood would jump at it. This frightened me, and I closed with him at ￡14. I owed many another prize to the same agency, particularly, in a small way perhaps, an old Dresden plate with a crimson and gold border, painted with a bird and foliage, the prototype of the Chelsea pattern, of which examples have fetched ￡35

their condition, which he did. One was a Wedgwood plaque, light blue, with figures in relief; the other an original Capo di Monte one, literally hidden under accumulated dirt. It was of the second perio

at he left no successor in Hammersmith w

I once spoke to him of his confrères in the trade, and as to his relations with them, more particularly in t

ld have made a mistake; but I agreed to his terms, asked him to pack the things up, and departed. I nearly broke them by a collision on the pavement, but eventually landed them in safety, calling en route at Reynolds's in Hart Street, who told me that a customer would give him ￡60 for them, if I would let him have them at a figure below that. They are as thin and transparent as paper. It may be just worth

r's hesitation and nearness. There was a particular Sèvres cup and saucer, which brought a heavy sum

hands, as he paid attention to Wedgwood, bronzes, ivories, and jade, rather than to china; and as I grew wiser, I also grew mor

rn, and the owner, in response to my appeal, proceeded to disengage from a hook an old Chelsea plate valued by him at ￡14, 14s. Unfortunately the poor fellow lost his balance, and let the plate go; it was broken into I know not how many fr

so long ago, when sales were occasionally held in the warehouse downstairs. The piece was an exquisite copy of the painting by Rubens of his second wife and their child on her knee. Although there was no picture or china

te made at Mennecy in the department of the Seine, and a third of the finest Dresden

f Sceaux-Penthièvre, of which the paste is also remarkable for its softness. It was a fa

sh with Salopian impressed in large characters on the bottom. I value it the more, because the authentic early Salop

nd tawdry. The first-named is common enough in plates, dishes, and shaped pieces; but I possess a cup and saucer most exquisitely paint

d studied the particular branch of the subject, reassured me by offering to buy it back at any time at the same price; and he put this in the receipt-not to great purpose; for he died years ago. For the Vernon dish he asked ￡20, and took ￡11. The pair of rose du Barri vases, which belong to the Louis XVI. epoch, he picked up at a Lombard'

e jewelling is in the manufacturing process, and was imitated at Sèvres. A second came from Scotland, and is remarkable for the presence of a Christian legend in the base of the interior, derived from the teaching of the Jesuits in China. I negotiated it at a marine-store dealer's at North End; but he thought so well of it or of me, that he w

ich was a palpable copy. This strange character, who was a sort of commercial Munchausen, never wearied of spinning the most outrageous yarns about the goods, which he had, or had had, for sale, and would repeat conversations betwee

paid eighty guineas for the objects, which were manufactured expressly for his lady friend in 1869. The vendor judged his purchase with all this imposing provenance rather reasonable at thirty guineas; nor did I contradict him. I did not order the vases

ortly to be dispersed under the hammer, because the heir is obliged to strip the house to enable him to keep it up. Besides the china, they had a great deal of plate, which was allowed, till the family was warned, to lie about the house, and superb antique furniture. One of the Rothschilds of

om the peculiar unctuous appearance of the paste and the method of treatment; and I remain of the same opinion. Mortlock shewed me two cups, asking me not to

of this century's work, should be so slightly esteemed. But the skill and taste lavished on that of the Louis Quinze, or even Seize, period are immense. It is different with Chelsea, Derby,

e gold anchor, which he had probably bought as Chelsea, and for which he demanded ￡12. It was a contrefa?on by the wily Flemings of Tournay. I eyed with much longing a beautiful jug of Plymouth ware, but unsigned, whi

e factories there are abundant specimens of coarse execution and cheap fabric, though undoubtedly of original and genuine character. The Chelsea figure of Justice, 12 inches in height, is, for instance, of two distinct types: t

s, such as in the common modern ware they use as stick or umbrella stands; I cast amorous glances at them; but t

I let him see my piece, which was not silver-mounted, but was far more interesting and important, because it had the original china hinge. My visitor averred that he had never met with any similar example, and expressed his anxiety, if I care

and which, according to the donor, had formerly belonged to that misconstrued enthusiast Robespierre. It struck me, I own, as of somewhat later date; it was uninscribed; and of course relics of this class are unlik

and subsequently parted with the lot for precisely as many shillings. I fared nearly as ill in a case, where I took of Stibbs of Museum Street a worm-eaten xylographic block, which placed it in

which bore accentuation. The affair was the converse of the Fountaine one, where the quantity was limited, the quality magnificent, princely. Naturally the quotations corresponded. The best price was obtained for a lot, which was not in the category of porcelain or pottery. It consisted of a couple of Gothic crowns of Victoria, 1847,

f which he handed him twenty-four unused. There was a ridiculous notion, that the graceless florin was rare, and Diamond inquired about it of Hugh Owen, auth