Nature of trading stock

I have a small confession to make. I am ‘Engine Driver’ who posted the query ‘Was book find an appropriation from trading stock?’ in the new queries on 17 October. The replies were published in the issue of 7 November. The query reads as follows:

‘My client is a dealer in rare books. He also collects books and memorabilia on railway history. Quite often he will buy a collection of books – say when somebody is clearing their deceased parent’s house – and if he finds a rare or interesting railway item he will often take it to add it to his personal collection rather than put it as stock for sale (he doesn’t have a shop and operates exclusively online). Some of these items can be very valuable.

‘When buying a collection he will pay a single price for the collection and quite...