Furniture Dealers: Most large towns will have at least one antique dealer, dealing in antique furniture dealers of varying quality. Antique dealers generally fall into two categories — the trade dealer and the retailer — although some dealers may operate in both trade and retail areas.
The trade dealer, as the name suggests, deals mainly with other dealers. The stock will turn over fairly quickly and, as a result, will not be fully on display. The prices will often be a little lower than the retail dealer, but, should you decide to buy and seek "trade prices", then restoration, delivery costs and the facility to return goods are often excluded. While these can be arranged, you should expect to pay extra.
Today, the over-the-counter market is defined as all facilities that provide for any security transactions not conducted on the organized exchanges. These facilities consist of (1) the relatively few dealers who hold inventories of over-the-counter securities and who are said to "make a market" in these securities, (2) the thousands of brokers who act as agents in bringing these dealers together with investors, and (3) the computers, terminals, and electronic networks that facilitate communications between dealers and brokers. The dealers who make a market in a particular stock continuously post a price at which they are willing to buy the stock (the bid price) and a price at which they will sell shares (the asked price). |
