Aaron Byrnes has worked in the import-export business since 1990, dealing mostly in rugs and antiquities before building his own operation. He moved to Southern California in the early 2000s and has run his business from there ever since. In this interview, he talks about how the trade has shifted over three decades, and what people on the outside still get wrong about it.
How Different Does This Business Look Now Compared to When You Started?
Pretty different, honestly. When I got into it in 1990, most of the trade ran on relationships you built over years. You met a dealer, you met his supplier, you flew somewhere, you looked at the piece in person. There wasn’t much of a shortcut around that.
Now buyers can see photos instantly, get a provenance summary emailed over, wire money across the world in a day. The speed is real. But the part that hasn’t changed is that someone still has to physically touch the object and vouch for it. Photos lie. People lie less, but it still happens. That part of the job never got faster.
What Do People Outside the Trade Usually Assume That Is Wrong?
That it’s basically buying low and selling high, with the hard part being knowing what things are worth. Pricing is actually the easy part. There are references, there are comparable sales, you can get a number.
The hard part is figuring out who you’re dealing with. Is the seller telling you the real history of the piece. Did it come out of a collection the way they say it did. Does the buyer on the other end actually have the funds lined up or are they shopping three dealers at once and planning to disappear. None of that shows up in a catalog description.
Where Do You Think the Trade Is Heading?
More scrutiny, and I think that’s fair. Buyers ask more questions about where a piece came from than they did twenty years ago. Documentation that used to be optional is close to expected now. I don’t see that reversing.
I also think the buyer pool keeps getting more international. In the nineties you were mostly dealing with domestic collectors and a handful of overseas contacts you’d built slowly. Now a serious buyer in Southern California might be competing with someone in Singapore he’s never heard of. That changes how fast you have to move once you know a piece is good.
Has Technology Actually Changed How You Work Day to Day?
Some. I use it to move information faster, not to replace judgment. I’m not on social media much, and I don’t think a piece or a deal gets better because it has a bigger online footprint. If anything I’ve watched people get burned because a listing looked convincing online and nobody checked the object itself before money moved.
I’d rather spend an hour on the phone with someone who’s seen a piece in person than spend a week scrolling through photos of it.
What Does the Trade Get Wrong About Itself?
It undersells how much of the job is reading people rather than reading objects. You can learn to authenticate a rug or date a piece with enough study. Learning who’s trustworthy under pressure, when money is on the table and a deal needs to close by Friday, that part doesn’t come from a textbook. I think newer people in the trade sometimes expect the knowledge of objects to carry them further than it does.
What Keeps You Interested in It After This Long?
No two deals are really the same, even when the objects look similar. A rug from one estate and a rug from another estate might be nearly identical pieces, but the people involved, the timeline, the reason someone’s selling, all of it is different every time. That’s the part that hasn’t gotten boring.
I also like that it’s still a business where a handshake and a reputation matter. I came up in construction before this, watching my father work as a plumber, and that trade runs the same way. Your word is worth something or it isn’t, and people remember which one you are.
What Would You Tell Someone Thinking About Getting Into This Trade Now?
Spend time around people who’ve been doing it longer than you, and don’t rush to make your first deal. I didn’t start my own business the day I got into the trade. I worked for an importer first and watched how things actually moved before I tried to run anything myself.
I’d also say don’t assume the objects are the hard part. Learn the pieces, sure, but spend just as much time learning how to size up the person sitting across from you. That skill carries over into almost everything else you do in business, honestly. It’s served me well outside the trade too, whether that’s at a card table or anywhere else risk and reward are on the line.