I think Duckboots (when I first met her) didn't really believe that you could know enough about instruments to actually make a living buying and selling them. I suspect now that she's aware of Stan Jay, George Gruhn, and Stan Werbin (and the empires they've created) she knows it can be done. Once while combing the garage sales, she watched with bemused tolerance while I examined several old beat up fiddles that were going for 20 bucks each. I asked her for a twenty and she was reluctant. I said the fiddle I wanted to buy was factory-made French and would be a good investment. I offered to split the profit with her, and she weakened. Next day we took it to Lorius Violins (here in Toronto) and got 400 for it. (meaning that they would sell it for 800) Peeling off 200 and handing it to her was a sweet feeling!

Rick