The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-06-08
TIE ART SALES
 HELD IN LONDON Treasure Houses That One May Purchase
 Outright.
QUEER MODE OF LIVING
Gentleman Dealer" Will Sell Whole Room and
 Then Refurnish.

inerly the art dealer ensconced himself exclusively in shops in fashionable streets in the St. James district and advertised his presence there by a sim gle chair in the window or a Japanese vase.
 But the gentleman dealer" has come on the scene. In recent years he has taken away the cream of the trade from the man behind the counter.
 There are in London to-day perhaps q dozen mansions, magnifcently fur nished, containing great fortunes in pictures. furniture, china and silver, whose owners are willing to part with any one of their beautiful possessions at price, or are ready at all times of the day and not to sell out, lock, stock and barrel.
 There are no signboards, no adyer- tisements, no indication whatever that the house is anything but the resi- dence of a very well to do gentleman. There is no admission to the general public. You must go by invitation or and some of these pri- vate purveyors of antiquities would be extremely annoyed if 1t became generally known that they are dealers.
 The majority of these gentlemen dealers" are well known throughout the trade and are regarded as the nose important nen in the business of buying and selling works of art, Whenever, therefore, a small dealer has anything to dispose of or there is something which his limited capital will not permit him to purchase he goes straight to the gentleman deal err and in turn for the usual commits sion makes 1t possible for the latter to become the possessor of the coveted object.
 So it has come about that the gen tleman dealer" has gradually become the most important figure in this com- merce. Not only does he sell you a chair out of his dining room, Gains borough picture from his walls, a val uable piece of Sevres from the Chip Dendale cabinet in the corner or the lined fold paneling from off the very walls of the entrance hall, but he is to furnish cottage or q mansion from top to bottom with an- tiquities,
 It seems rather ridiculous to people who are not aware of this state of affairs, but it Is fact that If you happen to be a guest in one of these houses and you take a fancy to the saltcellar you may take 1t for your own by sending a check for it the next day, or you may have the whole din- ing table with all it's treasures, or you may have the entire room, including the carpet. The only thing you must not take away is the family circle.
 This constant change apparently gives zest to life in the home of the gentleman dealer" for his wife never knows whether she will be able to have dinner for her husband served on q mahogany Chippendale table worth 200 pounds or a plain deal shelf, since all the others have been sold.
 One day they draw up chairs whose value is calculated in enormous fig ures, and the next day they have great trouble in finding anything at all to sit upon.
 There is no important sale anywhere in the country at which the gentle man dealer" is not either present in person or represented by any one of the smaller dealers who are only too anxious to be of service to him, be- cause, be 1t noted, the man with the fine house is able to work with large capital and is therefore competent to make purchases at sales which the small dealer finds beyond him.
 For every chair or picture sold in England the gentleman dealer" sends across the water a dozen valuable pieces. There Is story of flat near Piccadllly owned by one of these en- terprising men in which four luncheon parties and three dinner parties were given in one week.
 At each party there was a different guest, and every time the host suc- ceeded in selling out the contents oi the entire fiat, so that it required a small army of men to bring in new furniture for the next luncheon or dln- ner party. The fiat was furnished seven times in one week. The owner was so hard put to find new old things to dazzle the eyes of prospective pur- ehasers that he had to pay the dealers heavy premiums In order to cope with his business.
 It sounds easy, but it is not, because there Is nothing more difficult or more risky than buying old furniture, old prints, old china, or in fact anything old.
 The world is simply flooded with inl- itations which to the eye of any but the most expert are supposed to be perfect, If any one imagines he can become a gentleman dealer" merely by taking an expensive house in Bloomsbury, it would be advisable for him first to listen to the story of the experiences of others who have tried and failed ignominiously.
 It requires, first, most intimate &C., quaintance with the old masters In painting, in furniture, in silver and china; secondly, keen business sense which is not to be blunted by the ne- .cessary but not always harmless din ner parties, and thirdly, a courtly manner which does not suggest buying or selling at every turn.-London Ex- press.
 We paid over eight and half mil lions on the interest bearing debt of t ln.