Sometimes the answers are not what conservators or collectors may want to hear.

What collector would want to sell in a shaky economy with war in the air?

"In the old days, a collector would want the finest example of anything he could get his hands on," he said.

I can easily understand why collectors don't want to live with it.

Some collectors really want to get a jump on their rivals.

The collectors want to know whether the snakes are part of the artwork they would be acquiring.

"Most collectors only want one of something," he added.

In the months after that, business collapsed because collectors from tonier parts of the city no longer wanted to go into his.

"Dealers build a relationship with a piece," he said, in some cases buying back pieces that a collector no longer wants.

When collectors want to sell them, they go to the auction houses.