265

82. THREE CURIOUS PIPE-STOPPERS 275

83. BRASS TOBACCO BOX 275

84. COLLECTION OF HARNESS AMULETS AND TEAM BELLS 285

85. OLD WELSH LOVE SPOONS 291

86. FINE GOTHIC FRENCH CLOCK 299

87. SPECIMENS OF OLD WATCH KEYS 303

88. TWO ANTIQUE WATCH CASES 303

89. OLD SPINET 315

90. CURIOUS TYPES OF WHISTLES 323

91. QUAINT OLD TOY 323

92. A POWDER TESTER 335

93. A PRIMING FLASK 335

94. OLD POWDER FLASKS 343

I

THE LOVE OF THE ANTIQUE

CHAPTER I

THE LOVE OF THE ANTIQUE

No place like home--Curios in the making--The influence of
prevailing styles--A cultivated taste.

There is an inborn love of the antique in most men, although some are
fond of asserting that their interests are bound up in the modern, and
that they have no time to devote to the study of the antiquities of past
ages or the things that were fashionable in times long past. Yet most
people, when their secret longings are analysed, are found to have an
admiration for the old; if not a superstitious veneration, at any rate a
desire to perpetuate the memory of their ancestors and to keep in mind
the things with which they were familiar. The wealthy man of to-day, who
may have sprung from the people, secretly, if not openly, endeavours to
surround himself with household gods which tell of a longer past and a
closer relationship with the well-to-do than he can legitimately claim.
In the pursuit of such things many a man has found his hobby; and there
are few men who do not find recreation and delight in a hobby of some
kind. Such interests outside their regular occupations broaden their
outlook and widen their knowledge. Some hobbies tend to lead to
specialization, and the specialist is apt to become warped and narrowed;
not so, however, the collector of household curios.

No Place Like Home.

It would be difficult to find greater d