I meet a lot of folks that know a lot of things about antiques. I trust and follow the advice of many of them. I also meet a lot of people that tell me things about antiques that I know to be false or find out later that they were misinformed. When I first started in the trade I believed everybody. I don't do this anymore. I still try to listen to everybody because even if I know they are misinformed, it is good to know how and possibly why this is.
I don't get to meet many true experts. These folks have spent hours studying the nuance of history of objects. I read recently that to understand a category of antiques you need to handle at least 500 pieces. I think this might be true.
I had a boss tell me once that one became an expert when others started to refer you to you as an expert. I think this might be true as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment