The Matisses

Went to the Lincoln Road Antique Market Sunday, to get some last minute Christmas gifts. I liked the idea of getting unusual one-of-a-kind gifts.

I was there for quite awhile and came up a guy selling art engravings including Mattisse, Picasso and others, ironically, right outside the Britto Gallery. I decided on two Matisse engravings, one to keep and one to give. I wasn't sure if it was a deal or not and if they were real or not, so I walked away, which is a good thing, you should always be prepared to walk away.

I asked advise from a couple of friends in the biz. They were there selling at the antique market, so they knew exactly who and what I was talking about. They said he and the art were genuine, so I went back. I guess the guy thought I was playing games by walking away, but I honestly wanted to be sure the gift I was giving was real. 

So I went back. For years, I could not haggle. I always paid full price, but I've seen enough of these shows on tv now to know how to do it, so I got the guy down by a large amount for two of them, I even got him to not charge sales tax, but he agreed it had to be cash. I agreed.

I didn't have enough cash, I had gone to the teller machine at CocoWalk in the morning, but I didn't bring it all with me, so I told him I would be back and I ventured out to find an ATM. The first one I found gave cash to the girl ahead of me, but when it was my turn, it was dry. I thought it had run out of money.

I then found another machine, passing the guy selling the engravings, who was concerned that I was playing games, asking, "You still want them, right?" I did. The next machine would not give me money either. I was concerned. The third machine told me that I was over my limit. What I had taken out at CocoWalk earlier was it, the rest of the day I could not take more money out. I guess this is a good thing for security reasons, but a bad thing when I want my own money. But after running around for 45 minutes, it would have been nice if the first ATM told me that before I ran up and down Lincoln Road looking for other ATMs.

I ran to a friend who was there and borrowed money, but I had only considered the price of one of the paintings, I should have doubled that figure. I brought the money proudly to the vendor and he looked confused. I wasn't sure why until he told me that I only gave him half the amount. I told him that I would have to just give up on the engravings. And that seemed to work.

He ended up being a good sport and said he would take the same amount with the credit card as he was going to do with cash, so after all that running around (it was like 45 minutes back and forth and him doubting that I was serious) I bought the engravings with the credit card.

I thought of these people on tv shows like Market Warriors and Flea Market Flip and did what they do and I stuck to my price while being polite and firm about it. It worked.