Hoard of the Rings

Hick has been sending me pictures of his storage unit finds intermittently. Once you get past the horror of seeing his pinky finger, you might notice these shiny baubles.

UGH! Yeah. Sorry to spring that one you. It gives me flashbacks to the time Li'l Val was in 7th grade, and looked down at her 5th-grade sister Li'l Future Ex-Mayor's Wife's bare feet crammed into gold strappy sandals about two sizes too small. BRRR...dog-shudder!

Anyhoo...Hick's been trying to figure out how to tell if the jewelry is worth anything. First he said he would take it to the pawn shop. I said that he won't really know what it's worth there, because a pawn shop won't give him what they think it costs. And I also told him that a jewelry store probably won't want to appraise it, because they would be doing work for free. What's in it for them if people walk in off the street (or storage unit lot) clamoring to know if they're going to get rich with their newly-mined gems?

While mulling this problem over, Hick found another ring.

He sent this one with the caption: "My newest find big diamond I hope." I told him that the picture was blurry (who would have imagined, him taking a picture with one hand while standing over by the woodpile), so he said he'd resend it the next day.

That's probably an even worse focus, there at the bathroom counter. The point is, Hick found these rings, and he wants to sell them at the auction or his Storage Unit Store, but he doesn't want to give away a crown jewel unknowingly.

At the doctor's office, he showed a lady in the waiting room. I'm thinking that HICK was in the waiting room, and she's one of the staff. He had the one with the single pinky/purple stone, I think, and she offered him $30 for it. He almost took it, but he told her he'd have to think about it.

Yesterday, Hick went to the pawn shop, where the guy told him he doesn't deal in silver, and said he sends everybody to a diamond store over in Bill-Paying Town. Hick took his rings there, and the lady behind the counter ("She wasn't nowhere near as nice as the pawn shop guy!") told him that the gold was just plated, and that the silver ring was junk. I asked about the stones, and Hick said, "She didn't even mention the stones, so I figured they weren't nothing either."

He also said that he has a contact at the auction who deals with jewelry, and he's going to ask on Friday night. But that if the lady is in the doctor's office Friday afternoon, and still wants that one for $30, he'll sell it to her.

Hick just wants to unload his merchandise. He sold a love seat and chair the other day for $50, and has a lady coming to look at a couple of tables on Friday. He's been listing stuff (with pictures) on the county Buy/Sell/Trade website.

Last night, he sold me $25 worth of change. Yeah. He counted it out himself, but I guess I'll trust him. He found a big jar of it, and says that $25 is not even half. I always need change for my 44 oz Diet Cokes. So I might even buy more change from him.

That's Hick. Getting his money back a few cents at a time.