posted 06-20-2000 10:28 PM            

1.) Getting to know good dealers, who remember your name and interests and are genuinely glad to see you. How do you get to know good dealers like this? Buy something, without asking "Can you do better?". Good dealers generally have fair prices, and if you want them to be there the next time you go shopping, help them make a living.

2.) Love at first sight. Every now and then a certain piece of silver will just leap out at me when I least expect it, and I will have to have it. If I can afford it, I'll buy it right then. If I can't, I will fret over it, sometimes for months, then buy it anyway. For some reason, things rarely get away from me. Does anyone else ever get the feeling that you are meant to have something, and that it will wait for you and no one else will ever buy it? It happens to me fairly often.

3.) Pulling a treasure out of a pile of junk. You know the sensation; it is what keeps us digging through the 5 dollar spoon bins.

4.) A hunch rewarded (More on this later!)

posted 06-26-2000 09:08 AM            

1) Not buying something, thinking about it, realizing I really should have bought it, then going back to find that it's still there. (Although I have decided afterwards to buy something only to find that it sold in the meantime).

2) "Box lots" at auctions that contain hidden treasures.

3) Auctioneers/dealers who don't know what they're selling, so they let it go cheaply.

4) The thought that the next antique shop will have that rare silver piece, and not just mediocre/overpriced items.