Bisbee daily review., 1907-07-27
ART SALES IN LONDON
Treasure Houses That One May
 Purchase Outright.
A QUEER MODE OF LIVING.
The "Gensleman Dealer" Will Sell You a Chair, the Dining Table or the Whole Room and Then Refurnish For the Next Purchaser.

iectS of art has undergone consiCeEODie change during recent years. Formerly the art dealer eascOrced himself ex- clusively in shops in fashionable streets in the St. James district and advertised his presence there by sin 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 today perhaps q dozen mansions. magrifcently fur nished. containing great fortunes il pictures. furniture, china and silver. whose owners are willing to part with any enc of their beautiful possessions at a price, or are ready at all times of the day and night to sell out. lock. stock and barrel
 There are no signbOards, no GdveT- tlsements, 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 introduction, and some of these pri- vate purveyors of antiquities would be extremely annoyed if it became generally known that they are dealers.
 The majority of these gentlemen dealers" are well known throughout the trade and are regarded as the most important men in the business of buy ing and selling works of art. When ever, therefore. a small dealer has anything to dispose of or there Is some thing which his limited capital will not permit him to purchase he goes straight to the gentleman dealer" and in turn for the usual commission makes it possible for the latter to be- come the pOssessor of the coveted ob- ject
 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 pendale cabinet in the corner or the linen fold paneling from off the very walls of the entrance hall, but he is prepared to furnish a cottage or a 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 a fact that if you hap pen 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 q 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 a mahogany ChippendaIe table worth f2OO or 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 CT represented by any one of the smaller dealers who are only too anxious to be of service to him, be- cause, be it noted, the man with the GDo Io,rpo i. plla f., v,-orl- yy-i+I, (. l,rsra 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 a story of a fiat near Piccadilly owned by one of these en- men in which four luncheon parties and three dinner parties were given iii one week.
 At each party there was a different guest, and every time the host sue ceeded in selling out the contents of the entire fiat, so that it required q small army of men to bring in new furniture for the next luncheon or din neT pdFly. Inc Hdl was IuFulsueu seven times in one week. The owner was so hard put to find new old things to dazzle the eyes of prospective pur- chasers 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 imi- tations 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 m expensive house in Bloomsbury, 1t would be advisable for him first to lis- ten to the story of the experiences of others who have tried and failed igno- 
 It requires, first, most intimate ac- 1uaintaDce with the old masters in painting, in furniture, in silver and china; secondly. a keen business sense which is not to be blunted by the nee essary but not always harmless dinner parties, and, thirdly, a courtly manner which does not suggest buying or sell Ing at every turn.-London Express.