Freakin' Fridays

If I say "barley twist" would you know what I mean? When it's ivory wrapped in gold, would you remember it from decades ago? Maybe, maybe not, but I've found two pairs of earrings in the last year that would fit at least the mix of materials. And today I found a ring that appeared to match (no pictures - hey, I'm walkin' here!)

When I caught a mark in the store (über-tiny) I thought it said 800. With a branchy thingies that almost looked like a tree. Or a face. Or a really pointy cloud. And I know 800 is silver, right? Low grade at that. But it was at least gold-washed, and I couldn't be sure I saw it correctly, and it was only a couple of bucks, and it had been there over a month, and it didn't feel like silver ... What the heck, it was time to learn!

Now, understand, I've been getting my learning lately in roller-coaster fashion. A big aquamarine in a box lot here, seven watches I thought were 14K there, earrings that had gold posts only (a lot of those lately) and even ten times the fake-marked stuff than I've seen altogether in five years ... the hits, even the great hits, are almost just statistics.  What fun is that?  So lately I've been scaling back, only buying what I could find on the cheap (passing up a couple of gorgeous pieces because I didn't want to spend my entire allowance on them ... sigh).

But this was worth a look, yeah?

Took it home, acid tested it. It held at 14, then 18. Huh. I studied it with the real 30X magnifier, the one that gives me vertigo. Definitely 800, still WTF on the pointy hallmark. So I Googled "800 gold" and got this:

http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/285/800marking.jpg

This was almost exactly my mark - some weird-ass moose or giant deer, right? Wouldn't you have shrugged and just left it in the store?  Not if you knew it was Portuguese for 19.2 carat gold!  Which I do now!!!

Dude, if this is what school is all about, I never want to freaking leave!

(Yeah, I really need to stop teaching teenagers.)

Happy hunting!

Another Peek ...

Taxes.  Don't mind paying them, hate tallying receipts for Schedule C's.  Doing a lot of thinking about taxes and hunting lately, and I've come to a few realizations:

1.  I don't buy to resell, so I don't count buys or sales in any tax form any more than I would for clothing or household goods.  Yes, when I buy I won't buy to lose money (in any area!), but that's a hangover from being $75K in debt and crawling out of that hole inch by painful inch over a three-year period.  I do screw up more times than I can count, spend too much on impulse, but that's a hangover from the days when (mall) shopping was therapy - and food was love, and exercise was stupid.  I haven't sold more than I would sell at a yard sale, and I've donated 20 things for every 1 I've sold ... and not junk, either - that ends up recycled or just trash.

2.  I need to get more receipts from the charities I donate to, and donate even more.  Selling is a pain in the *ss.

3.  I vow to work on my metal detector skills this year - thrift shops and yard sale people are going a bit batty with prices.  $10 for a gold plated chain?  Really??


Suffice it to say, I still refuse to cheat anyone, I still refuse to pay more than it's intrinsically worth (or learn not to buy for therapy ... nah), and I still love my life.  I'm just a little number-burned right now.  And I haven't even finished yet.

See you later ... assuming I survive this week, yeah?