Judge — November 19, 1904 — page 2: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The Antique Fad" - Judge Magazine Satire This cartoon satirizes the early 1900s craze for collecting antiques. The illustration shows a man enthusiastically examining old furniture and objects, comparing modern manufactured items unfavorably to these "beautiful" antiques. The satire targets wealthy Americans' snobbish fascination with European antiquities—they're positioned as pretentious collectors willing to pay inflated prices for secondhand goods simply because they're old. The caption's rhetorical question—"Where can you find modern things to compare with these for beauty, finish, comfort, elegance?"—is ironic, suggesting such collectors value age and European provenance over actual quality or practicality. The accompanying text references political figures and social commentary typical of Judge's era, but the main cartoon mocks consumerism and class pretension around collecting.