It is chiefly by the character of carved work that old pieces can be recognised. There are three classes of pitfalls to avoid.
1. Fraudulent pieces throughout, of modern wood and of modern carving.
2. "Made-up" pieces which often consist of genuine old pieces of carved wood pieced together ingeniously from fragments of carvings, with modern additions.
3. "Restored" pieces which are mainly old and should have received, if admitted to a collection, only the necessary repairs to make them serviceable.
With regard to the first class, fraudulent throughout, it is the hope of the writer that enough has already been written in this volume to point the way to the reader and to assist him to follow his natural inclinations in developing the necessary critical taste to readily detect pieces wholly false in character and feeling.
"Made-up" pieces present a greater difficulty. Considerable skill has been exercised in combining certain parts of old furniture into a whole which is, however, mostly inharmonious. In pieces of this nature there is an absence of feeling in style and carving. It is difficult to define the exact meaning of the word "feeling" as applied to art objects, it is a subtle expression of skill and poetry which communicates itself to the lover of art. It is so subtle and elusive that experts will tell one that such and such a piece requires to be "lived with" to test its authenticity. Mr. Frederick Roe, whose volume on "Ancient Coffers and Cupboards" displays a profound knowledge of his subject, writes, "it occasionally happens that pieces are so artfully made up that only living with them will enable the collector to detect the truth. In dealing with pieces of this suspicious kind one often has to fall back on a sort of instinct. With critical collectors of every sort this innate sense plays a very important part."
Two specimens of "made-up" furniture are reproduced, which will bear close study in order to appreciate the difficulty of collecting old oak.
The illustration of the buffet (p. [261]) has many points of interest. The general appearance of the piece is not inharmonious. It has been carefully thought out and no less carefully put into effect. The middle portion, consisting of the three drawers and the three cupboards above, up to and including the shelf partition at the top, is the only old part. The handles, locks, and escutcheons of the two drawers are old, but the hinges above are modern copies of old designs, and the handles of the cupboards are modern replicas.
CABINET OF OLD OAK.
MADE UP FROM SEVERAL PIECES OF GENUINE OLD CARVED OAK.