I need to add something to the above: I see, hardly for the first time, if you are plugged in, every tiny, nuanced thing a human does speaks volumes. e.g,, this vendor above in Nassau. When I sent my first lighthearted email, re Hi, Nassau, he like that and replied immediately, Hi, Manhattan. I asked one simple question about origin. Then, I followed up with more.....which I put in jocular form, cause i already got who he was: this is what I would like to see, know etc. The response to this seocnd ail told me all i needed ot know. He signed "Best Regards," the marker for annoyed, shallow, shut down, PSEUDO COLLEGIAL & INELEGANT. Read: do not waste my time, I told you it was 100% persian' buy the rug or go away.

Elegant ain't about provenance or education or milieu or portfolio or addresses, religion, nationality, color, gender age.....it is inherent. And it can not be faked. It is not profession indigenous. At all.

Do we get this? It is big.

The Nassau rug dealer is a phony. Which is why the title of his Pseduo Sarouk listing is "MUSEUM QUALITY."

What springs to mind is infamous scene in the classic Breakfast at Tiffany's (I have on DVD). Ms Hepburn, hardly to the Manor Born, she emulates elegance....but is actually INHERENTLY elegant( and under it all, heartbreakingly vulnerable and scared) She is ensorcelled by Tiffany's. She takes her lover (impending lover) there like a breathless child. The GENTLEMAN behind the counter has ELEGANCE. Not the fawning of the Phony and obsequious in service of some Agenda.

He knows who they are.....and what they can not afford. The gentleman knows. And, naturally one of it mitigates his elegance, warmth and kindness. When it is real, nothing CAN. He tells them gently, the least costly thing in the store, is a sterling silver telephone dialer (From back in the day when phones had DIALS when this American classic was shot.) Not the stuff of the zephyrs of romance, this item, yes?

The George Peppard character, after hearing Tiffanys is happy to ENGRAVE THINGS... remembers he has a tin ring he found in a box of Crackerjacks. He pulls it out and preesents it. The deal is forged in mutual delight: Tiffany's will engrave the tin Crackerjack ring...and you know, with as much devotion as if it were a platinum band bearing a cabochon, bezel set, Brazilian emerald.

This above, which just sprang to mind....is the antithesis of the Great Neck rug dealer. And all of it was palpable in that second email.

In this industry.....but in all arenas, we are, however unconsciously, STARVED for this AUTHENTIC SPECIES of ELEGANCE.