Regards, Yon

You touch on two important factors. One is that prices must be what you consider reasonable. The other, a little trickier, is that he knows your taste well enough to make it worth his while contacting you when something that is likely to push some of your buttons enters his inventory.

This second consideration has many facets, and is a critical factor in determining whether you will become one of his "regulars". It is not simple at all. He can only call you first if he knows that it is likely to result in a sale. He must be pretty perceptive in noting what you have bought from him in order to get to this point. And that, of course, can only happen if you've bought several pieces from him already.

Regards,

Steve Price

If you have bid on anything on e-bay lately, you will notice a helpful e-mail appearing at your mailbox within a couple of days. It says thank you for bidding on an item and here are several more that are in that same category to consider.
Just like that helpful, insightful dealer you describe!
They also have pieces you want at prices you are willing to pay. The other thing Yon wants, to be offered the pieces before anyone else, well, two out of three ain't bad. Has the internet become the perfect rug dealer?

Patrick Weiler

The exchange between Yon and I is sort of a description of the end stage of one particular element in what I hope will be a more detailed exploration of dealer/collector interactions. The more important part from the standpoint of generating appropriate actions on the parts of both parties is how it gets to this stage. I think there are a number of factors that contribute. I believe that for a dealer to be successful with collector clientele he/she must understand some of these factors, at least implicitly.

Regards,

Steve Price

You wrote, ... the favoritism you so value in the old dealer/collector cult has carried over on-line between dealer and frequent customer

First, it was Yon who opened this thread by defining a good dealer as one who calls him first. Obviously, if calling Yon first makes the guy a good dealer to Yon, it makes him a less good dealer to anyone he doesn't call first. So this element of the dealer-client relation has definite limits.

Second, I am totally baffled by your phrase, "dealer/collector cult." What in the world does it mean?

Finally, I am not at all surprised that dealer/collector relations of the type you mention have carried over to the internet vendors. Every relationship of dealers and customers has carried over, from the very best to the very worst. It never occurred to me to suspect that this might be the sole exception.

Regards,

Steve Price

A dealer friend and I were discussing some points raised here and we agreed immediately on a couple of issues, which some customers fail to grasp:

1. Upon acquiring a particularly wonderful piece, the customer we would definitely NOT call first is one who continually tries to beat us down on our prices.

2. We would NOT call first, any customer who has in the past repeatedly abused the return privileges we routinely extend. Since our goals include trying to make a living, it’s hard to do so by repeatedly swapping pieces, and yet most conscientious dealers of antique pieces feel obliged to take back merchandise they’ve previously sold.

Best,
Marla

I understand the first one. But with regard to the second do you mean pieces actually bought and then returned for some reason or pieces sent on approval which are returned after examination without ever having been purchased?

Thanks, Michael

Marla

The usual policy here in Belgium told by the dealers to newcomers to promote their selling, is:

1/ They accept to exchange pieces they have SOLD against something else of the same value that would get your interest.

2/ They accept to take back pieces they have SOLD if you buy something else more expansive.

I think that many collectors, wanting to raise the quality of their collection and having not enough cash flow use the second possibility, isn’t it.

Best regards,

Daniel

I find increasingly disturbing the very common practice followed by dealers to make pieces repaired before selling them to collectors or into the market. The repair is often done in order to make the piece looks “better” and sells at higher price.

I think instead they ruin them.

When this practice is applied to very old pieces I believe the “mistake/manipulation” becomes very serious because it compromises our heritage and historical background. On this regard, I can document several “shocking” episodes.

Considering that dealers usually are able to “grab” old pieces before anybody else (collectors, institutions, museums, etc.) this appears, in a long-term prospective, a very serious potential harm to the integrity of our cultural heritage.

Best regards

Guido

Dealers have cash flow problems too! I can indeed sympathize with collectors wanting to upgrade their collections by swapping pieces that they bought months or years before. Many dealers are willing to do this, especially for good customers. I do so myself.

In the remarks above, however, I was trying to point out that a collector who does a lot of this kind of swapping should not expect a dealer who has just invested money in new pieces and needs to recover a good part of that investment to call him first, before offering the pieces to others who come with checkbooks in hand. Only a few customers abuse exchange privileges, but those who do, are rarely viewed charitably.

Guido,

I couldn’t agree more with your remarks! I have found this to be a major problem, especially in Turkey. As interesting pieces become more difficult to find, more and more extensive restoration has become the norm, and incredible numbers of pieces have been ruined.

Marla

Since the more experienced people among our readership will easily recognize the name of the dealer to whom you refer, there seems little reason to not mention him by name. It is, of course, Eberhart Herrmann.

Here's my take on this subject.
1. I think his numerological theories, which made up the bulk of the text in two issues ofGhereh, are so ridiculous that I sent an e-mail to Taher Sabahi (the publisher/editor) telling him that devoting space in his periodical to such stuff was a discredit to his judgment and to Ghereh.
2. Herrmann has long been known to be willing to pay absolute top dollar for the best pieces at auction. Indeed, there is a school of thought that holds that the decrease in value of Caucasian rugs that occurred following his personal problems was a direct result of his inability to participate in the major auctions. Anyway, his inventory generally included the very best stuff around and anyone who wanted to own those things had to pay his price. Some were willing to do so, and that's how he made his living.
3. The fact that his numerological hypotheses about rugs is absurd doesn't change the fact that the rugs he had for sale were outstanding.
4. His customer base consisted largely of people who recognized the quality of what he had and were willing to pay for it. I don't know how they reacted to his numerology, but some of them are damned smart, apparently sane, well educated people, and I suspect they viewed the nonsense the same way I do.
5. If I am correct about that, he did not have a "cult following" based on his theories, he had a clientele who appreciated and could afford the first class material he had for sale.

Regards,

Steve Price

Forgot to respond to your question about how long is a reasonable time for a buyer to be able to return a rug for a refund. In my opinion, the vendor should make the time limit clear from the beginning, so that the buyer knows in advance what his options are. A week to ten days seems reasonable to me, but the important thing is that everyone knows up front what it is.

Steve Price

I was having a long distance email chat with a friend about this topic and thought it appropriate to air his humorous insights:

"What makes a good rug dealer?The same things that make a good drug dealer:continued,reliable sources,good, clean stuff,prices just below the unaffordable line and a turf war that doesn't kill the dealers."

Cheers,

Glenn