State Library of NSW
[Page 98]
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probably worth what a fool curio collector would give perhaps 30/-. But it might have been a fake. The gyppies are wonderfully clever at faking antiquities & curios. In the museum at Cairo are genuine thousand-year-old relics from the tombs & pyramids. But the Gyppies copy them & sell the replicas as genuine. While I was leaving the museum a dragoman sneaked up to me & in a most mysterious way thrust an antiquated statuette into my hand & whispered hoarsely 5 shillings. He wanted me to think it genuine & I suppose stolen. So right on the spur of the moment I bluffed a treat. I examined it with a concentrated gaze of a connoisseur Egyptologist, scratched it with my knife & then exclaimed "Bah, rubbish, 1 piastre". The old sinner eagerly cried "Yes yes" & held out his hand for the money. So Ive got a fraud which when you see it you will readily believe to be genuine.He went away quite satisfied with 1.25 what he asked. I went to the Kursall last night, after a dinner at the Continental. It was a Vaudeville show, but not nearly as good as the National. Most of the items were in French or Italian & were only mediocre. We bolted to catch our 12.30 train, yelling "Egre Egre" (Fashr Fashr) to the gyppie driver of the carriage. We were going
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