Page:Southern Antiques - Burroughs - 1931.djvu/57

Rh  which the lady of the moment also held title, proposing to start my own private collection. Then yielding to the memory of the first of the three sideboards I had encountered, which still lingered with me, I sought out the lady in possession, who was now ready to sell. One hundred dollars was the amount asked. This, too, was seized upon. Whereupon, I sold the second and took the proceeds to have the third repaired, providing myself with a piece small money will not buy.

Accent, or manner foreign to the locality, is against the buyer. Various strategies must be employed. The question of values is always a delicate one, and even though well-to-do people of established financial and social position are hard to bargain with, the experienced collector always prefers to deal with someone having some idea of value and a definite figure in mind. For the day is long gone when the buyer is out to deceive the owner as to proper values, even though, as yet, the average buyer is not adverse to making a good bargain.

Ready money, flaunted in the face of the owner, seventy-five new paper dollars, as in one instance, brought prompt results with me. Some hedging, and even sidestepping a bit, is often in order on both sides, which, when it comes to the naming of price, often operates to the grief of one or the other in reality wishing to sell or buy. Ten dollars, on one occasion, offered as a start, for a tambour desk by a buyer who, in fact, would have gladly given two hundred dollars to possess it, threw the owner, a woman, into a state of indignation. "Not a penny less than twenty dollars," was her answer, and the bargain was concluded on that basis.

Dealers, often too, lose out. A fair price, offered by a collector, while rambling around in a South Carolina attic with a family group who, at his suggestion, had unearthed a complete set of dining room furniture of distinct value, but long since discarded for a more modern set, led to their refusal for anything except an extortionate price—so possessed had they become with the fictitious idea of its value, and the possibility of demanding a highly inflated price. This led to the set being returned to its former setting and the collector reflecting on a lost opportunity, because he had offered something reasonable in the beginning.

Those that are anxious to sell, sometimes exhibit, unexpectedly, so much enthusiasm, that it is not always difficult to read what is actually in their minds. Stories are kept on hand in limitless numbers, particularly in the rural sections, and are shot at the unsuspecting buyer in such a way as to make him a bit wary when it comes to the actual transaction. Something that has to do with the War Between the States is the first preference, with General Sherman running as a general favorite, and given credit for having had to do with more tables, sat in more chairs, looked under more beds, and eaten from more sideboards than the capacity of any man would allow; but even these do not always bring success. Held liable for one hole in a slant-top desk, the General was represented as having gotten into the desk by another, but this did not work. The buyer was sure that even Sherman himself, diligent as he was in