Peking, Pechili province, China: a dealer in curiosities. Photograph by John Thomson, 1869.

Three men inspecting vases and boxes on the kerb-side outside a house. Another man, with a pipe, looks on from a window in the house. The same as Thomson's negative number 725, probably one half of a stereo pair. Even in the second half of the 19th century, foreign visitors were a regular target for antiques dealers, who tended to charge very high prices. One evening Thomson found himself waited on by a dozen such dealers, who sought to sell him old porcelain bowls and dishes and various other items at exorbitant prices. The dealers were introduced to him by a servant he had previously employed. It was a common practice for household servants to introduce dealers to foreigners, for the servants received half of the profits