Society of Antiquaries

“ An ́tiquaries, those devoted to the study of ancient times through their relics, as old places of burial, remains of ancient habitations, early monuments, implements or weapons, statues, coins, medals, paintings, inscriptions, books, and manuscripts, with the view of arriving at a knowledge of the relations, modes of living, habits, and general condition of the people who created or employed them. Societies or associations of antiquaries have been formed in all countries of European civilization. In Britain the Society of Antiquaries of London was founded in 1572, revived in 1717. ”

“ The influence of the Society of Antiquaries, dating from the eighteenth century, has been considerable, and other bodies have worked quietly also for the purpose of recording the existence of objects worthy of attention. ”

“ Mr. Payne Collier led the way in a contribution of great value; Mr. Salt followed Mr. Collier with a munificent donation of a whole collection relating to Charles II. and James II.; and upon Mr. Lemon's suggestion, and with the joint concurrence of Mr. Secretary Walpole and the Keeper of the State Paper Office, an interchange of duplicates has been effected between that office and the Society of Antiquaries, which has added forty proclamations to the Society's collection. ”

“ Our fellow countrymen need not to be reminded now, as in the charter granted by George II. on the foundation of the existing Society of Antiquaries of London, that "the study of antiquity, and the history of former times, has ever been esteemed highly commendable and useful, not only to improve the minds of men, but also to incite them to virtuous and noble actions." ”

“ In order to foster and direct this growing taste, the Archæological Association had been formed, purposing to embrace a more numerous class of persons, and to enter upon a wider field of active research, than that to which the exertions of the Society of Antiquaries have hitherto been directed. ”

“ I have always thought, that one of the most curious and valuable objects of antiquaries has been to trace the progress of society, by the efforts made in early ages to improve the rudeness of their first expedients, until they either approach excellence, or, as is more frequently the case, are supplied by new and fundamental discoveries, which supersede both the earlier and ruder system, and the improvements which have been ingrafted upon it. ”

“ Besides the antiquarian relics of a visible and tangible form to which I have adverted, as demanding investigation and collection on our part, there are various antiquarian relics of a non-material type in Scottish Archæology which this Society might perhaps do much to collect and preserve, through the agency of active committees, and the assistance of many of our countrymen, who, I doubt not, could be easily incited to assist us in the required work. ”

“ It is on this same broad and great ground—of the indispensable necessity of a large and perfect collection of individual specimens of all kinds of antiquities for safe, sure, and successful deduction—that we plead for the accumulation of such objects in our own or in other public antiquarian collections. And in thus pleading with the Scottish public for the augmentation and enrichment of our Museum, by donations of all kinds, however slight and trivial they may seem to the donors, we plead for what is not any longer the property of this Society, but what is now the property of the nation. ”

“ When the administrative department for cultural relics examines and verifies the cultural relics that are to be put up for auction, it may designate an institution for the collection of State-owned cultural relics to enjoy the priority in purchasing the valuable ones among them. ”

“ Several of his contributions appeared in the Annuals and Keepsakes of the day, and his inaugural address, as president of the British Archæological Society in 1863, on some antiquities in Rochester and on the Medway, is in the ninth volume of its 'Journal,' pp. 201-1 4. But it was as an art collector in glass, plate, china, and miniatures, that he was best known. On his death an attempt was made to secure his collections for the nation, but it failed, and they were sold in 1866. ”

“ Year by year this knowledge grows owing to the patient labours of industrious antiquaries, and perhaps our predecessors would not mind very much the disturbing of their remains, if they reflected that we are getting to know them better by this means, and are almost on speaking terms with the makers of stone axes, celts and arrow-heads, and are great admirers of their skill and ingenuity. ”

“ The ancients had certainly acquired great skill in the manufacture, as appears both from the accounts which have been preserved by ancient authors, and by the specimens which still exist—among which we may notice, as pre-eminently beautiful, that torment of antiquaries, the Portland vase, preserved in the British Museum. We have already adverted to another vase of the same kind, and of almost equal beauty, found in one of the tombs near the Gate of Herculaneum. ”

“ Institutions for the collection of State-owned cultural relics shall honor and comply with the wishes of donors and keep the donated relics in proper collection and preservation and make appropriate display of them. ”

“ The abundant human sympathy that takes delight in all these passing incidents and trivial characteristics is a necessary part of the equipment of an antiquary. The whole tribe of antiquaries suffers under the false imputation that their work is ‘dry-as-dust.’ No doubt there are minute, exact, and arid minds in that, as in other callings. ”

“ Cultural relics stores and auction enterprises shall, in accordance with the relevant regulations of the State, keep records of the cultural relics they purchase and sell or auction and submit the records to the administrative department for cultural relics that originally examined and verified the relics for the record. ”

“ But let the work of collection and preservation be once fairly entered upon—let it be seen how valuable a collection of materials has been gathered ready to the hand of a Society which should undertake its publication, and there need be little fear that from the supporters of the various Antiquarian, Archæological, and Publishing Societies, now spread throughout the country, there would be found plenty of good men and true ready to lend their aid to the printings and publishing of the Monumentarium Anglicanum. ”

“ It is to be hoped that we may all profit by their researches, and that the antique objects acquired by them may be stored in the Archæological Museums of the world, that all who will may view them and learn from them. ”

“ But assuredly antiquarian monuments, as the olden records of a whole realm, are infinitely more valuable than the records of any individual family in that realm. Let us fondly hope and trust that a proper spirit of patriotism—that every feeling of good, generous, and gentlemanly taste—will insure and hallow the future consecration of all such Scottish antiquities as still remain—small fragments only though they may be of the antiquarian treasures that once existed in our land. ”

“ Objects later than the Turkish conquest, and coins of Byzantine or later times, are not deemed to be antiquities. All undiscovered antiquities of movable character are the property of the Government; all immovable antiquities are also the property of the Government, unless some person shall be the owner of them. All antiquities must be reported by the person in possession of them to the Museum Committee, on pain of confiscation ”

“ With the Renaissance, the art of gem carving revived, and the engravers from that time and onward have produced results that equal the best Greek and Roman work; copies of ancient gem carvings made by some of the 18th-century masters are only distinguishable from true antiques by experts of great proficiency. It is in fact extremely difficult to judge positively as to the age of engraved gems. ”

“ The spade and plough of the husbandman are constantly disin [Pg 46] terring relics of high value to the antiquary and numismatist. The matchless collection of gold ornaments contained in the Museum of the Irish Academy has been almost entirely discovered in the course of common agricultural operations. The pickaxe of the ditcher, and of the canal and railway navvies, have often also, by their accidental strokes, uncovered rich antiquarian treasures. ”

“ Nevertheless, accident may make an Antiquary, as good as another, out of anybody whose boyish education has given him, willy nilly, some knowledge of the elder world. Let him be thrown, for example, in early manhood, much into lands whose ancient monuments conspicuously exalt the past at the expense of the present. The necessary curiosity can grow within him, disposing his mind to study antiquarian detail as a duty, and, in time, a pleasure; and through apprenticeship he may learn and love the trade to which he was not born. ”

“ There were also many examples of rude instruments belonging to the Bronze Age, some Roman swords and a skeleton in a prehistoric stone coffin. The interest of these curiosities lay not only in their intrinsic value to the antiquary, but in the fact that they had all been dug up from the tumuli in the Commune of Carnac. But to me they assumed at once a far more vivid interest, when the custodian explained that the antiquary who had discovered most of them, and whose money had founded the museum, was "M'sieu Meelin 210 of Dundae." ”

“ Altars, Roman pavements, pigs of lead, coins, and other precious relics of former times, have been discovered in various places in the city and neighbourhood, some of them within a very recent period. Now that the people are happily being taught to estimate local antiquities at their proper worth, and a spirit of inquiry is being invoked respecting them, it is to be hoped that any future discoveries that may be made will be carefully preserved. There is no doubt that, through recklessness or ignorance, many links in the chain of our local history have been neglected and lost. ”

“ The American Academy for the Popularization of Antiquities counts itself fortunate to have secured the services of the world’s greatest expert on antiques in the preparation of this book and in the collecting of the enormous mass of data which is always open to any member of the Academy or to any antique-collector in good and regular standing. ”

“ When specimens of any ancient art industry are brought together and classified in a museum it is interesting to compare each piece and trace the work from the hands of the different nationalities through all the transitions and changing history of past centuries.
My collection exemplifies the progress in execution of engraved gems from the most primitive eras through periods of varying excellence and of inevitable decline. The quality of the execution approaches perfection and degenerates as in a geometrical progression repeating itself in reverse ”

“ The archæologists of the eighteenth century never dreamt of such researches as these, still less of the results to which they might lead; few of them suspected what valuable aid might be afforded to the historian of art and of antique civilization, by the multitude of small objects—vases, gems, glass, mirrors, bronze plaques and figures, terra-cotta bas-reliefs, and statuettes—which are now so eagerly sought after, and which begin to form valuable collections in most of the great museums of Europe. ”