Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-08-17
ART SALES IN LONDON.
Treasure Houses That One May
Purchase OUTRIGHT.
A QUEER MODE OF LIVING.

1 The "Gentleman Dealer Viii Sell You
a Chair, the Dining Table or the
Whole Room and Then Refurnish For
the Next Purchaser.
The method of buying and selling OBJ
jects of art has undergone considerable
4 change during recent years, Formerly
the art dealer enseonced himself ex-
|cIusively in shops in fashionable
streets in the st. James district and
4 advertised his presence there by sin
4 gle chair in the window or a japanese
vase.
But the gentleman DEALER has come
on the scene. In recent years he has
4 taken away the cream Of the trade
from the man behind the counter.
There are in London today perhaps
a dozen mansions, magnificently fur
nished, containing great fortunes in
i pictures, furniture, china and silver,
whose owners are willing to part with
any one of their beautiful possessions
i at a price, or are ready at all times
Of the day and night to sell out, lock.
stock aga barrel:
There are h6 signboards, no adver-
/ tisements, no indication whatever that
the house is anything but the resi-
dence Of a very we'll to do gentleman.
There is no admission to the general
public. You must go by limitation 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, small dealer has
anything to dispose of or there is some
thing which his limited capital will
4 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 OBJ
| Ject. ii
4 So 1t has come about that the gen
tleman DEALER has gradually become
the most important figure In this com
4 merce. Not only does he sell you a
4 chair out of his dining, room, q Gains
borough picture from his walls, val
liable piece OF Sevres from the Chip
j pendale cabinet in the corner or the
4 linen fold paneling from of the very
\ walls Of the entrance hail. but he is
prepared to furnish cottage or a
mansion from top to bottom with an
4 Equities.
a 1t seems rather ridiculous to people
who are not aware of this state of
affairs, but 1t Is q fact that Ii you hap
q pen to be guest In one Of these
houses and you take a fancy to the
saltcellar you may take 1t for your
own by sending check for it the next
4 day, or you may have the whole din
ing table with all its treasures, or you
may have the entire room, including
4 the carpet. The only thing you must
not take away is the family circle.
This constant change apparently
81 gives zest to life in the home of the
gentleman dealer" for his wife never
Il knows whether she will be able to
have dinner for her husband served on
y a mahogany Chippendale table worth
goo or plain deal shelf, since all the
others have been sold.
One day they draw up chairs whose
4 value is calculated in enormous fig
ures, and the next day they have great
n trouble In finding anything at all to
sit upon. 0
a There is no important sale anywhere
in the country at which the gentle
Z man dealer" is not either present ID
Il person or represented by any one Of
the smaller dealers who are only too
J. anxious to be OF service to him, be
. cause, be it noted. the man with the
= fine house is able to work with q large
capital and is therefore competent to
make purchases at sales which the
!, small dealer finds beyond him.
q For every chair or picture sold IN
England the gentleman dealer sends
across the water a dozen valuable
& pieces. There is a story of fiat neal
Piccadilly owned by one Of these en-
terprising men In which four luncheon
a parties and three dinner parties were
given in one week.
At each party there was differen
guest, and every time the host sue
. ceeded IN selling out the contents 81
the entire fat, so that 1t required |
small army of men to bring In new
furniture for the next luncheon or din
Y ner party The fiat was Furnished
seven times in one week. The owne
was so hard put TO find new old thing
to dazzle the eyes Of prospective pur
chasers that he had to pay the dealer
heavy premiums in order to cope witt
his business.
1t sounds easy, but 1t is moi, becaus
there is nothing more difficult or NOR
risky than buying old furniture. Of,
prints, old china, or In fact anythinl
i old.
The world is simply flooded with iIpj
!, tations which to the eye of any but th
Y most expert are supposed to be perfecl
], If any one imagines he can become