"Tomorrow", says Bernard Baruch Steinitz when asked in which of the past centuries of stylistic and artistic zenith that constitute his professional speciality he would most like to live. "You don't know what is in store," explains this intense man who is saved from an apparently serious demeanour by his laughing, twinkling eyes and appealing candour. "You have to be open to possibilities."

The future seems curiously out of place in Steinitz's lexicon, for he is best known for his affinity with the glorious past. One of the top dealers in the world today, Steinitz is also one of its preeminent authorities on furniture and objects d'art of the Renaissance through to the eighteenth century, and he has a remarkable inventory of magnificent furniture and period pieces - that has made him both much admired and reviled amongst the aptly named 'Cult of the Dealer' - to prove it.

Steinitz's reputation and formidable skill spans the globe. Dealers and collectors seeking the rarest of prizes from New York to Argentina to Australia know that if it can't be located, if it can be painstakingly restored to its former glory, if it is to be had at all, Bernard Barch Steinitz will locate it.