fancy. They are to
be had now at modest prices, but unless all signs fail, they will soon
become as rare as any of the other miniatures. You will look in vain for
them with the vanished Anatolians and diamond Sehnas.

CHAPTER X

AUCTIONS, AUCTIONEERS, AND DEALERS

A justification of the method of selling rugs by auction has been offered
in many forms and phrases. It is perhaps best expressed somewhat thus:
Every number has a certain intrinsic value, and that is a basis price at
which it should sell. But beyond that it may have an extra value, which,
like beauty in general, is in the eye of the beholder. The beholder,
therefore, who sees a rug to covet it should name his own price for it. It
may be one of the specimens he lacks in his collection; it may fit this
corner or that. Anyway, it is worth more to him than to the lower bidder.
Incidentally, the seller and the auctioneer gain the fair profits of
competition.

Other arguments in favour of the auction have been advanced by the head of
a great department store. His opinion is that the auction gives every one
a chance to get the rug desired at a fair price. Tastes differ and prices
differ, but the average of an auction is fair to both buyer and seller.

Regardless of theories, rug auctions, by whomsoever fathered or sponsored,
thrive and flourish.

If the auction be the collection of such and such an Oriental, whatever
his name, there will be a great deal of cheap stuff in his stock, and
there will also be many choice pieces which he holds as the apples of his
eye.

He buys from the wholesaler so many bales at so much per bale of say
twenty pieces. In the bales of ordinary qualities the several items will
average about the same. But in the more expensive bales there is a good
general average, with a few prizes added. They are like the two or three
green firecrackers in the packs of our childhood. These special pieces in
the high-priced bales give the seller his legitimate opportunity and
profit. If these odd firecrackers please your fancy more than mine, and I
am contented to choose the conventional red ones, it is for you to fix the
value of the greens.

At an auction the apparent authority and ruler is the auctioneer, while
the owner weeps cheerfully on one side and shrugs his shoulders in
half-pathetic resignation at the sacrifice. In reality the auctioneer
knows pretty well what he is about, and, if not, is quickly posted by the
owner. It is no h