Good Honest Wear Can’t Be Faked
A crankier old man might start in with a lecture about the younger generation having to sort of “fake” being part of a work crew, or having worn roughly enough that they developed holes in their knees. They’d drag out the ole cliched “kids these days can’t get off of their cell phones long enough to wear holes in anything but the seats of their pants.” I don’t think that way, in fact, I think this generation is exactly as “great” as any generation prior. I’m not sure I’d want to deal with the choices and distractions they have to deal with. But it got me to thinking about how this generation, like any generation, wants to be part of a “crew”, and is perfectly happy to work hard, if they are inspired, and feel that they are needed, and are integral to some cause. In fact, they crave it, to the point where it is considered good fashion, to wear worn down clothing, “Staff” uniforms, and hiking jackets that say “North Face,” even though they’ve never had the thrill of climbing a mountain in their lives.
The reason these meandering thoughts wound up in an antique column, is that all of the characteristics that I listed above, are things that can only come through time and work, and can not be reproduced. They can’t be faked. And in the world of antiques – particularly “primitives,” this concept very often shines through very clearly.
A beautiful handmade quilt may be crafted “perfectly,” with not a single flaw; but, the same patterned quilt, in well preserved condition, that was sewn in 1820, may be worth thousands. And this is in part, because it’s texture and the slow fading in the colors made with primitive dyes, can not be exactly reproduced.
In my hobby of antique bottle collecting, this concept may be more true than in just about any field of collecting. Hand blown medicine bottles have flaws and imperfections that add greatly to their value! As hard as a 19th Century bottle maker might try, he could not create perfect bottles, much to the benefit of antique bottle collectors today.
Also in the glass making process in general, when glasshouses in America were in their infancy, the molten glass itself was very difficult to handle and mix into a perfectly translucent mixture. Thus, pre-Civil War bottles tended to be made of glass that was filled with small bubbles and impurities. Sometimes you can even find tiny pebbles, or pieces of random slag within the glass. To most collectors of early glass, this adds character and desirability.
Sometimes at an auction of bottles, or wooden primitives, and pottery, you’ll hear the auctioneer say “it looks all good, some nice honest wear on the bottom,” as he flips the item over to examine its subtle features. I’ve seen people actually with a bright light and loupe, examining the bottom of a piece of pottery, claiming they can tell that a piece is a fake because they can see that the wear on the base has been artificially created. If an item is genuine, the “wear” under magnification will be formed by scratches that are so random in direction there is no way to reproduce it artificially. If it is a fake, it will be obvious that the scratching was done all by the same thing (maybe a Brillo pad) and generally at the same time.
I enjoy talking with young people as they grow and learn the value of hard work and time. There is something innate about antique collecting that can sometime teach this lesson, without slamming you over the head. So rather than criticize a young person for buying “worn” looking jeans, I just hope that as years go by, they are able to discover the real joy and value that can actually come from decades of hard work–as “imperfect” as it may seem along the way.