What antique dealer do basically are buying and selling antiques. Whether it will be furniture, rings, old books, paintings, porcelains or other antiques good which has good value or which can be trade with their customers.
But never thing that become an antique dealer is just an easy job. I would say that to become a really good antique dealer, you should have at least certain years of experiences and knowledge, so you can make sure that you are buying and selling real antique stuffs or goods, not a fake antique.
For example if you are talking about Chinese antique porcelains, you should know exactly about the sign, mark and other thing related to Chinese porcelain which is quite a lot to know. If you know nothing about that, you will probably end up with you fake stocks since there are plenty of fake antique porcelain that have been traded nowadays by others.
So, basically an antiques dealer must know the pieces they sell, the clients they sell to, how to manage their business including the finances of their antiques business. This is very important if they really want their business works continuously.
Where do antique dealer get their antiques goods for sale?
There are few ways for antique dealer to get their goods which are for sale.
First, they can get it from auction house. Means, they need to buy their goods from auction house for certain of amount (price) and they will sell the antique that they buy to their buyer or customer. Of course with this kind of way, they need to invest certain amount of money on their antiques goods, hoping that they can make money or get profit by selling with better prices to their customers.
Second, antique dealer can help other people to sell their stuff on commissions. Means they don't have to invest money on goods but they need to get good price in order to earn good percentage for the items which they will sell to the buyers.
Third, antique dealer can try them self to hunt antique stuffs from people that they know. This can be base on profit percentage, or they can also buy or invest money on antiques goods, then try to sell it for a better prices.
Once you get trusted from your buyers, those buyers probably could come back to you to buy other antiques since you can help them to get their antique collections.