by Sheila Rae Watson

Created on: May 03, 2008   Last Updated: October 03, 2010

Antique dealers are passionate, sincere, and totally devoted to the hunt, for it is in the hunt that they find their hearts' desires.
 
Alas, it is from the hunt that these afficionados fill their lives, their garages, their heaped-up shops with treasure, the bounty of the hunt.
 
The hunt spoken of here is the overpowering need to look, to snoop, and finally to uncover that one thing hidden from other searching eyes. Hidden long ago, they have found a priceless antique! 

Once these searchers - the hunters, the dealers - do find this lonely antique item they've longed for, it at once becomes an item to haggle over. Never do they pay full price, never full value!
 
They, the searchers, do then hem and haw, with many an unenthusiastic pose, trying to agree on the price for such a treasure. All the while, the heart of this hunter is pounding! If you were to check closely, you would see tiny beads of impatient perspiration popping out on his upper lip!
 
The seller of the treasure has no idea how unnerved, how truly agitated the hunter is becoming.
 
Then, at long last, the ex-hunter, now the dealer, lays claim to the prize. Painstakingly, he wraps the treasure in layers of tissue paper and tucks it under his arm. At last he can relax, for he has won!
 
He saunters to his vehicle, which cradles the anointed checkbook. Slowly, he pulls it out of its steel box and, as if spiritless, draws his pen slowly across the piece of paper. He dutifully hands the check to the seller.
 
Do we now see that perspiration on the seller's lip? Uh-huh!
 
The deed is done. The price has been paid. The beauty is his and he is glad. Yes, glad!
 
Returning to his fully packed, stuffy, stimulating shop, our hunter/dealer stows away the steel box, then tenderly unwraps his find. He selects the perfect spot to highlight its beauty and peacefully places it there.
 
Mission accomplished.
 
When consorting with antique dealers, one must keep their character in mind. They are well-educated on the items they sell. A buyer must reach into the heart of that dealer and there he will glean the information he requires.
 
Dealers love to speak the language of their own kind. They use words like quarter-sawn, dovetail, hoosier, and commode. Then such foreign words as Haviland,  Nippon, and Baleek. What can they mean?
 
Lovingly and willingly, dealers will share their experiences of the hunt with you, the novice, telling you tales of their quality, chosen items, conquests they have made
 
They lovingly stroke the fine oak of an ancient desk or show you the burled wood in a Victorian side table.
Selecting a piece of Limoges, they will point out the wonderful, smooth patina old china and pottery attains after years of use. 

Do not expect to become friends with your dealer, for within a friendship may come loss, market-value loss. He might feel it necessary to offer you one of his priceless pieces below cost! It does happen; there have been stories of it! Yes, there have been!
 
Dealers love antiques! Their love of antiques is unquenchable and their zeal is limitless.
 
Beware, lest you, too, are pulled into that long, dark hallway of the hunt! You could very well become-A DEALER!
 
Yes, indeed! I know of whereof I speak, for I am a 'Dealer'!

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