NOVEMBER
THE
10, 1923
MUSIC
TRADE
53
REVIEW
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CAN CIRCASSIAN WALNUT RETURN AGAIN TO POPULARITY
CREDIT INSURANCE FOR SUPPLY MEN
Conditions Created by War Made This Wood Unobtainable Due to Closing of Shipping Channels
-Popularity Not Likely to Be Revived Despite Opening of Shi'p ping Facilities
Subject Discussed at Length at Meeting of
Directors of Musical Supply Association of
America Held in New York Last Week
An interesting discus s ion of the possibility
of a return to popularity of Circassian walnut
recently was published in Veneers. The writer
points out that during the early part of 1914
this wood was at its h eight in populanty and
the American demand was at its height. Then
came the war with its disastrous res ults, and,
as this shut off the ~ource of supply, all that
demand which had bee n built up for it wa:;
swept away.
-Circass ian walnut, Ju glans regia, ac.cording to
some authorities, ori g inall y wa, a nativ e of
Persia and North China, from whi ch countries
it was introduced into Europe in the ea rly
trading day s. Apparently it adapted itself very
readily to the soil and clim a tic conditions, for
it is found growing generally throughout Eu
rop e, and while it is usually referred to a s
English , Fren ch or Ital ian walnut, it is exac tly
the same tree or botanical species as Circassian
walnut. Of course, soil, elevation and climate
a ll show their effects on the wood and thi s
acco unt s for the fac t that French and Italian
walnut are highly regarded by some cabinet
makers for certain qualities which they imagin e
attain their highest developm ent only in that
region, but as a matter of fact the I3la ck Sea
district produces or has produced walnut of
ev ery type of figure and color found in th e
wood and many an architect and cabinetmaker
not trusting the dealer's judgment ha s with
painstaking care selected as French or Italian
walnut veneer and lumber cut from logs which
g rew in the ne ighborhood of Poti and Batoum.
Circass ian walnut is not a fore st-grown tree;
for a number of generations it has been planted
and cultivated in the southern part of Russia
entirely fo r its crop of nuts, which are highly
regarded by the nativ es as a marketable com
moClity, easil y gathered and transported. It
grows very much in the same manner as our
own walnut except that it has a much more
strenuous existence, owin g to the mount aino us
country and clim atic condition s and it does not
a ttain as great a h eigh t.
Most of the wood which made its appearance
during its period of popularity was obtained
from the southern slopes of the Transcaucasian
mountains and was shipped from the ports of
Poti and Batoum. Obtall1ing the logs from
e
~
~{1_
. ~_-~' ~
Write for a sample can of Behlen's
Varnish Crack Eradicator and try it.
Once you learn how much it means to
you in the saving of time on your refin
ishing jobs by eliminating the necessity
of scraping off old varnish and shellac,
and how much more satisfactory are
the results, because of the better sur
face it gives to work on, you, like
others, will continue to use it.
their peasant owners, tr ans portin g them to the
shipping point a nd prepar in g them for shipment
to ,'\m erica grew to be a highly specialized
business involving man) hands.
(~reek and
,\rmenian ex port traders, dealing in many raw
commodities, iruit, grain, hides and ore, did
not hesitate to include walnut logs, or "nut
wood" as they term ed it, when they found a
stron g d emand at profita ble prices, and with
their characteri,tic shrewdness assemhled for
!>hipment considerable quantities of logs. It
was not everyone, however, who could go ba ck
into the int erior and trade with the peasa nt s.
Frequently friendship played a great part; not
only was it necessary to understa nd th eir .m any
diale cts and custo ms, but also important to be
a judge of the wood. ,'\dmilting that the owner
was willing to part with some of hi s tr ees, it
became neus:;ary for the buyer to sa ti sfy him
,elf regarding their quality and value; this he
would do by borin g olle or more ho le s into
th e heart of the tre e, closely examining the
borin gs as they came from the hole. If they
'ihowed
regarded as de sirab le, but if, on th e other h and,
the borings were white or uniform in color it
was eviden ce that the tr ee possessed little or
no figure and that the expense of getting it to
th e seaport might cxceed its value.. Thu s it is
seen that the bu yer had to be both a good
judge of wood an d a shrew d bargain er.
Popularity Not Likely Again
Now, when the closing of th e Dardanelles
shut off a ll further shipments of lo g:;, the ven eer
. JIIanufacturers and deal ers were a ll carrying
heavy stocks of what was then considered un
salable wood, the accumulation of years of cut
ting. In some cas es s tocks had been crossed
off the inventory as having no value, laid away
and forgotten, but fortunately, so g rea t was th e
impetus of Circassian walnut that the demand
co ntinu ed lon g eno u gh to allow th e hold ers of
thi s wood to di spos e of every s tock tb ey owned
and in a short time Circassian walnut disap
peared from the Am erica n mark e t.
Referring back to th e original question, can
its popularity . be revived? I am inclined to
ward the negative side of the argument, fa shion
in woods as in every thing else reach es that de
gree of demand known as public popularity only
on ce in a generation, the demand for Circassian
walnut has sw ung over to American walnut,
but eve n presuming the possibility of a ret urn
of its former popularity the condition s as they
exist in the Black Sea regions to -day are not
such a s to in spire confidence in the ability of
the native shippers to obtain and s hip an ade
quate supply of lo gs of the ri g ht quality, and I
doubt very much wheth er anything other than
a limited supply could be obtained; however, I
do agree with the old ve neer m an, there always
has been and always will be a small but health y
demand for good Cirrassian walnut.
Monarch Tool & Mlg.Co.
Wall BoxeR, Malfazine Slot Boxes,
Coin SlIde_, ReroU MaohJne_, Money
Boxea, Pumpl, Pomp Hardware. Spe
cial Part. Made to Order.
120 Opera Plae.
OINOINNATI, O.
Write to-day.
The chief subje ct of discu ssi on at a meetin g
of the directors of the Musical Supply Associa
tion of }\merica, whi ch was h el
the offices of the Mu sic Industries Chamber of
Commerce, wa s credit insurance a nd it was em
phasized that it was impossible to obtain from
the insurance companies any guarantee of ac
counts of piano manufacturers who do not mak e
available a statement of their financial condi .
tions by filin g such' a s tatem en t either with th e
Music Indu stries Ch am ber of C:olllmcrce or
some recognized cOJ1lmercial agency to be use d
as a basis.
The board in,t ructed the secretar" of the
Assoc iati on to take this matter up with piano
manufacturers throu g hout the countr y and en
deavo r to sec ure from them financial state ment s
which will be made available to members of the
Musical Supply Assoc iat ion from \~rhO \1l they
seek credit, and whieh will aid thel1l greatly ill
th e matt er of sec uring credit in su ranc e.
This m a tter is an important one frol.n the
point of view of the piano manufacturers them
selves, as it is natu ra lly mor e difficult for them
to obtain an extended line of credit when the
s uppl y manufacturers trom whom they seek it
are unable to ge t insur anc e on their accounts.
The pi ano manufac turers will find it greatly to
their advantage to file with the Chamber period
ical s tat eme nts of their financial condition which
will be kept in s tri ct confidence and given out
on1y in r esponS t; to legitim a te requests for
credit inform a tion from supply firms who are
entitled to rec eive it.
During the meetll1g reso lutions were adopted
o n the deaths of C. M. Miller, of the Superior
Foundry Co., and David H Schmidt, of the
David H. Schmidt Co.
ACTS ON VARNISH LABELING
Federal Trade Commission Orders Firm to
Cease From Present Labeling Plan
'vV AS HIN CTON, n. c., Novembe r 3.-··-The Fed eral
Trade Commission recen.tly issued a cea se and
d es ist order against ~Iax Baer and .\. Baer, of
Stamford, Conn., and New York C:ity, trading
under the name and style of Baer Bros. The
commission's order specifically prohibits the re
spondents from us ing on labels or as brands
fo r varnish not co mposed ' wholly of 100 per
cent shell ac gas, or on containers in which var
nish IS d e livered to cllstomers, th e words
"mongel shellac" or the word "shellac" alone
in combination with any word or words unless
accompanied by a wo rd or words distinctly
se tting forth th e ingredie nts of which th e va r
nish is composed, and with the percentages of
a ll such ingredients clearly stated.
Leather Specially,
Tanned for Player~
Pianos and Organs.
Also Chamois
Sheepskins, India6.
and Skivers
A Specialty of
THE
H. BEHLEN & BRO.
Aniline.
Shellacs
r11
Stains
Fillers
10-12 Christopher St., New York
AJtT NO\9ELTYCO.
C){.cZusir>e manufacturers?/'
Piano Bel\.ch.es
and M\lsie eabinets
Ulrite/orccrtalOfJ WId. details
Near 6th Ave., and 8th St.
2
GOSHEN
INDIANA
~neumatic
and
Pouch Skin Leathers