Page 105 - One Thousand Ways to Make $1000

their last trip for they have decided to open up a shop. Now that they have an
idea of what people want, their shop will carry pillows, curtains, quilts,
padded throws for the chaise lounge, pads for dresser drawers and shelves,
padded dress hangers, equipment for wardrobes and closets, etc. To have
enough stock on hand, they have secured the part-time services of two
women who do exquisite needlework.

Makes Miniature Reproductions ofAntiques

V

ISITING George Cona’s shop in San Francisco is like traveling with
Gulliver through the land of Lilliput. Time and space are eliminated by this
craftsman’s wand as he fashions miniature models of antique furniture. In
orderly rows above his workbench, hang diminutive planes and saws, and
tiny little hammers that drive still tinier nails into bits of wood of matchlike
thickness.

With these tools Mr. Cona fashions tiny cabinets no higher than an orange.
Every detail is finished with minute precision even to the lining of the
drawers, for no cabinet-maker ever delved more intensively into furniture
lore or applied his knowledge with closer attention to authenticity.

As a boy in England, Mr. Cona studied period furniture and cultivated his
talent for reproducing it. Later, in California when his health failed after
many years in the ministry, he turned to cabinet making for a livelihood.
There were fat years during which he became notable in San Francisco for
antique furniture reproductions so clever that only an expert could tell the
copy from the original. Then came 1929 and lean years. He was past three
score and ten, yet his agile fingers still held their cleverness. When business
languished he turned to his hobby—the modeling in miniature of
Chippendale chairs, Duncan Phyfe tables and Heppelwhite sideboards. Of
course, this does not mean doll furniture. These bits of furniture are real
miniatures. To give a cash basis of differentiation—a Cona bedroom set sells
for $5; a doll’s set of similar proportions for 25 cents.