The practical book of american antiques [antikvár]

FOREWORDHE quest for American antiques is morethan a temporary craze. It is the awakeningof a permanent interest in the beautiful and the curious household arts of our own forebears; things which, therefore, have for us an intimate charm that no foreign products, however lovely, can ever quite replace.For our beds to-day we are only too delighted if we can get an old American '' pieced '' quilt or handwoven coverlet. Favoured, indeed, are those of us who boast an handmade rug, dyed with the imperishable brews of our resourceful foremothers, or a specimen of their realistically embroidered pictures. An old slip-ware jar or an engraved bit of Stiegel glass is sufficient to give a modern drawing-room distinction and, if you want to be truly envied, search the attic for a pewter teapot, a slip-decorated plate, or a quaintly painted clock or dower-chest. In a word, whether it he the recent craze for the peasant art of Russia and Czechoslovakia that has led to it or not, we have wakened to the beauty of early American craftsmanship.It is a tried and sturdy beauty, beaten out of copper and lustrous silver by honest Colonial smiths, or stitched bit by bit by the skilful fingers of Colonial maids and matrons. It is easy to learn, easy to recognise, once you know it. Every Ghiselin beaker, every Paul Revere tankard, every scalloped tin sconce and every wafer iron leads you straight into the humours of social life in those early days. American antiques afford a fascinating study that rewards us all alike