As I look at the Swap & Sells at the tool meetings and auctions, I see very little swapping. To me it appears as if trading is a lost art. My generation grew up on trading. We traded picture cards, bottle tops, match books, mibs, --- and if you were really somebody, you traded stamps. I can remember going to the back of the bank, on the way home from school, to get all their thrown out envelopes so I could soak off the stamps. Every now and then I'd hit a good one, and if it was a "double", it was traded.

Except for New England (the home of the natural trader) I did very little tool trading. I tried, but most collectors preferred just buying and selling. Even the dealers wanted it to be a simple buy-and-sell. I used to think that it was because they felt that they might not get the best end of the deal. But there were plenty of very astute dealers that wanted no part of trading. Not so, in the case of Frank Kerr.

Frank had a barn full of tools in Minnisink Hills, Pa. He passed away in July of 2001. And with him went some of the best "tool times" that I ever had. Aside from the singing and storytelling that we did, our greatest "sport" was trading. We never really tried to "beat-up" the other guy, but we always tried to get just a bit better at the end of the trade. The wrangling that went on sometimes was very misleading to any stranger that had come by to purchase some tools the "proper" way. Anyone would think that we didn't like each other. It couldn't have been further from the truth. Wrangling was an integral part of the tool transaction, not very far from the "negotiating" that takes place today.

Trading has some definite advantages over buying and selling and then figuring out the net difference at the end. If a piece is "not for sale", it takes on an extra psychological importance. If you don't believe it, just see how many offers you get for a piece with a tag on it that reads, "NOT FOR SALE". However, the sword of trading cuts both ways. Your not-for-sale piece can match the other guy's not-for-sale piece. Some high-powered antiques have been acquired in that fashion.

I have to admit that if you are going to be involved in a bulk transaction, trading slows up the whole operation, and most likely louses it up also. Trading is mostly for the fun of it for a few pieces. Frank and I usually traded anywhere from three to five pieces at a time. I can't remember when we touched any money in our deals. If it didn't come out even, we would force it to be even with another piece. Whatever it took. And each of us would always whine about how bad we were "taken" by the other guy. It was great sport.

The only time that I can remember a problem was when we traded "out of our league". That is for something that neither one of us knew a lot about. It was a 15-position ravioli roller in great shape. When I bought it I was told that it was Victorian. Frank had some New York City clients that went big for Victorian, so it became his, after the proper amount of wrangling. A week or so later someone who knew kitchenware advised Frank that it was neither Victorian or valuable. He had the books and price realized lists to prove it. As gentlemen with tool knowledge, Frank and I never reneged nor reversed a deal. Stuck was stuck, and only a good laugh was the recourse. But this was different, and we both accepted it as such. So I took it back, which Frank rued to his dying day, as I never let him forget it.

In the computer world of today, I doubt that much trading of tools goes on. But it's a lot of fun, and you might end up with the very piece that you couldn't get otherwise. Give it a shot!