A Collector Imposed on.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 187, 15 January 1887, Page 3

A Collector Imposed on.

One knows very well that, in the present day, many things are not what they seem to be; and among the things in which imposture is frequently practised are antiquitiee A recent victim of imposture of this description is a M. Perdreau, a well-known French collector, who paid thirty thousand francs for a pretended Louis XV. carved table, which turns out to be of recent date — which, in short, may be classed with fabricated antiquities. A couple of dealers, in concert with the banker, palmed off the table in question upon M. Perdreau, who, thoroughly convinced that it was genuine antiquity, paid his thirty thousand francs for it, his intention being to sell it, in his turn, later on. But when he tried te» dispose of it to an amateur, the latter unpleasantly surprised him by the remark thai- he knew the table, which had been a long time in the market, and that he wondered that an experienced judge like M. Perdreau could have been imposed upon. The victim of the fraud brought his grievance before the Paris Tribunal of Commerce, and immediately an expert examined his purchase. He pronounced it to be a manufactured antiquity — bo excellently manufactured, however, that the table might, by ita appearance, deceive the keenest connoiseur. It was a beautiful piece of workmanship — a magnificent table, in short ; but as it had been recently made, it was not what it claimed to be. Therefore the purchaser of it had no difficulty in justifying his demand that the thirty thousand fiancs should be returned him The dealers who played bin* the trick have the table again on their hands* and must look about for another purchaser of "antiquities."