Last time, I left off talking about my memories of the antiques trade in the 1980s and early 1990s. It was a time of loose money and a lot of passion for collecting antiques. I remember watching an episode of a 1990s TV show where the characters talked about going antiques hunting on the weekend. Everyone knew, and everyone did it! My mother and I had dipped our toes into the business by setting up in two antiques malls. We tended to buy at auction and resell in the malls, assuming this was how most dealers bought and sold antiques. It came as a huge surprise that in fact many dealers simply bought and sold from each other rather than going to public sale. The moment of revelation came when we did our first show, the old Eastern National Antiques Show at the Harrisburg Farm Show. I had grown up going to Eastern National since it was in my hometown. It was, at that time, primarily a glass show with dozens of booths featuring peachblow, Tiffany and pattern glass. I was never into glass, but many other dealers also set up at Eastern National. My old friend, Johnny Neidinger, told me that he sold really well because he never brought glass. His booth stood out in contrast to the others, and so he had great sales. So Mom and I figured that was our moment to make a killing. We saved up stock from dozens of auctions and headed for the show. We were told that they had porters to help us move into the booth. We thought that would be great, and so we brought furniture. Turns out, the porters were there early in the morning on setup day but long gone by the time we arrived at 3 p.m. What we did not know was that early setup and preview was how every dealer made their money buying and selling to each other. So we got there and the show was set up, but empty. We got our stuff carried into the booth by ourselves, and, of course, that year we were in the middle of the building! We put it all out and went home to get dinner and return. When we got back, half our booth was gone, and little business cards littered the table with the name of the dealer who had taken an item and a promise to return and pay for it. I will say that they all did, but it wiped us out. We raced off the next day to try and buy at a country sale or two to refill the booth, but it was not to be. What we learned was that dealer-to-dealer picking was how antiques moved in and around the business. Now today, it is not considered good form to buy out of a booth, whether in a show or at a mall, and reprice it higher and put it in your own booth. Save it for the next show. Back then, folks perhaps had less scruples. We watched as our lamps and china popped up for sale in dozens of other booths with much higher price tags. We did not do Eastern National more than twice as it was too hard. Moms health and my graduate school studies took too much away. Still it was a heck of an experience. Born to collect should be the motto of Peter Seiberts family. Raised in Central Pennsylvania, Seibert has been collecting and writing about antiques for more than three decades. By day, he is a museum director and has worked in Pennsylvania, Wyoming, Virginia and New Mexico. In addition, he advises and consults with auction houses throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, particularly about American furniture and decorative arts. Seiberts writings include books on photography, American fraternal societies and paintings. He and his family are restoring a 1905 arts and crafts house filled with years worth of antique treasures found in shops, co-ops and at auctions.