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<p>[QUOTE="Phil Harrison, post: 878735, member: 11507"]Hi. Let me try to be clearer. And before I go any further, the sale of the chairs has actually fallen through, so from that perspective it’s somewhat moot. But anyway...</p><p>It isn’t that I’m unhappy with the replies, per se. The replies may not be what I wanted to hear but that isn’t quite the same thing.</p><p>People come to forums like this hoping to receive considered advice from those that potentially know better. It’s always nice when that advice comes wrapped in a little civility. When imparting an opinion that obviously collides with the OP’s hopes/expectations, it seems reasonable to expect that some explanation of/context for that opinion might also be forthcoming. Of the two voices that have contributed to this thread, only one, in my view, has offered some context for his opinion - and even in doing that, he explicitly stated that he would not offer an explanation of his claim, which amounted, in effect, to: ‘this is what I think, I’m not going to tell you why I think it, take it or leave it.’ The other respondent simply offered bald, conclusive pronouncements, not remotely admissible of the possibility of error, in a manner which at best might be described as curt/discouraging. The same curt/discouraging (yet utterly conclusive) tone, incidentally, in which he misadvised me about a previous piece.</p><p>But again, it’s not really about the opinions. It’s about the tone in which they’re expressed and that air of wafty condescension in which they’re sometimes - very occasionally and by an unrepresentative few - swathed. I’m not an authority on antique furniture generally or Louis XV chairs specifically. I suspect that very, very few genuinely are. But I am sufficiently well versed in other, closely related areas within the decorative arts to have made a career out of them. I have long since become intimately acquainted with the casual superiority of the faux-expert. I’ve almost certainly evinced a good deal of it myself over the years. You can be confident that this isn’t my first brush with human nature. I feel like I know when someone is genuinely trying to be helpful and when they’re doing something else.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Phil Harrison, post: 878735, member: 11507"]Hi. Let me try to be clearer. And before I go any further, the sale of the chairs has actually fallen through, so from that perspective it’s somewhat moot. But anyway... It isn’t that I’m unhappy with the replies, per se. The replies may not be what I wanted to hear but that isn’t quite the same thing. People come to forums like this hoping to receive considered advice from those that potentially know better. It’s always nice when that advice comes wrapped in a little civility. When imparting an opinion that obviously collides with the OP’s hopes/expectations, it seems reasonable to expect that some explanation of/context for that opinion might also be forthcoming. Of the two voices that have contributed to this thread, only one, in my view, has offered some context for his opinion - and even in doing that, he explicitly stated that he would not offer an explanation of his claim, which amounted, in effect, to: ‘this is what I think, I’m not going to tell you why I think it, take it or leave it.’ The other respondent simply offered bald, conclusive pronouncements, not remotely admissible of the possibility of error, in a manner which at best might be described as curt/discouraging. The same curt/discouraging (yet utterly conclusive) tone, incidentally, in which he misadvised me about a previous piece. But again, it’s not really about the opinions. It’s about the tone in which they’re expressed and that air of wafty condescension in which they’re sometimes - very occasionally and by an unrepresentative few - swathed. I’m not an authority on antique furniture generally or Louis XV chairs specifically. I suspect that very, very few genuinely are. But I am sufficiently well versed in other, closely related areas within the decorative arts to have made a career out of them. I have long since become intimately acquainted with the casual superiority of the faux-expert. I’ve almost certainly evinced a good deal of it myself over the years. You can be confident that this isn’t my first brush with human nature. I feel like I know when someone is genuinely trying to be helpful and when they’re doing something else.[/QUOTE]
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