A Good Dealer

With all my general crankiness about dealers I should praise the rare individual who is honest, likeable, and doesn't feel his every piece of chipped Frankoma was hand carried from Tut's tomb by Carter and Carnarvon. So cheers to the fellow at the church sponsored flea market this weekend who was selling his Trader Vic's coconuts for $5 but admitted to paying 99 cents for them ("I just took the price tag off that one."). Honesty is nice, but here's why he was truly beautiful: He had a Paul Marshall Products mug (B.O.T. pg 182, upper right picture) for $3. A good price. I picked the mug up and gave it the finger...That is a flick of the finger so as to hear if it rang or clunked...And I heard a clunk. "Ah, it's broke," I said as I set it down. "Really?" said the dealer, "You can have it." See? I said he was beautiful. I was so impressed it almost made the hole where my heart should be swell up with some sort of warm feeling kind of thing for the human race. But instead I gave him 50 cents. Now I feel I should have made it a dollar. Fortunately those of us without souls are also without regrets.

I bid on a mug recently, a new cruise ship hula mug. It was offered cheap, so I bid. I made an error and "Buy it Now" did not end the auction. I wrote the guy and told him I spaced, he was totally agreeable and ended the auction. Since he was so cool about it I threw in some extra cash. He appreciated it because he sent me, not one, but three mugs. And, get this, chocolate macadamia nuts. Best Ebay transaction ever. His name is Richard Santos, sells under the name hiarng. Credit where credit is due.