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Posted By: Gilbert Maines

Some dealers are valued contributors to the Board's discussion, and many dealers also provide the service of bringing to your attention some items which you may have missed.

Dealers are also consultants, often anxious to offer insight and historical and other information to help with a collector's short and long term planning. Additionally, Board dealers (I believe) sell only items which they stand behind regarding authenticity.

So for the B/S/T a collector only has to have a feel for an items price. In many cases, a dealer is also a collector; just like in many cases a collector sells some items.

In this venue, I do not think that the consensus is "us vs. them". I believe it to be that a dealer expends quite a bit to bring options to you. And begrudging them a fair return for their effort is not appropriate. However, the determination of what is "fair" is debatable.