in the habit of picking up rare bits of china, Japanese
curios, and carvings at his own value had been confronted
with the necessity of either paying Felix's
price or going away without it, O'Day having promptly
quadrupled the price on a piece of old Dresden, not
only because the purchaser was compelled to have it to
complete his set but because the interview had shown
that the buyer was well aware he had obtained the
former specimens at one-fourth of their value.

And the same discernment was shown when he was
purchasing old furniture, brass, and so-called Sheffield
plate to increase Otto's stock. If the articles offered
could still boast of either handle, leg, or back of their
original state and the price was fair, they were almost
always bought, but the line was drawn at the fraudulent
and "plugged-up" sideboards and chairs with
their legs shot full of genuine worm-holes; ancient
Oriental stuffs of the time of the early Persians (one
year out of a German loom), rare old English plate,
or undoubted George III silver, decorated with coats
of arms or initials and showing those precious little
dents only produced by long service--the whole fresh
from a Connecticut factory. These never got past
his scrutiny. While it was true, as he had told Kling,
that he knew very little in the way of trade and commerce
--nothing which would be of use to any one--
he was a never-failing expert when it came to what
is generally known as "antiques" and "bric-a-brac."