Diamond Amongst
Junk
by Alice
Chackoletti
When I tell
people that I found a diamond necklace at a
garage sale and bought it for around 5% of its
market value, most people do not believe me. What
many people do not know is that you can find a
lot of valuable stuff in thrift stores and garage
sales, by people who do not know the REAL value
of things they are selling! For
example, I recently read about someone buying a
2000-year-old Roman artifact at a Texas Goodwill
for 35 dollars – they had to send it back to
a museum in Germany.
In my youth, I
heard people say, “Diamonds are a girl’s
best friend”. However, that was
not my life or desire for my future. All
I wanted to do was to get a good “useful”
college degree, meaning, one that I could use to
get a well-paying job, easily. My goal
was to be able to support myself and not be poor
for the rest of my life or depend on others to
take care of me! So, the concept of
getting engaged (with a diamond ring) or being
married in my early years was not a high priority,
compared to having a well-paying job/ career. Education
was the key to getting out of poverty, in my view.
Over time, I
did get my diamond from my future husband, when
he asked me to marry him, a few years into my
career. By the way, there is a short
story that goes with my engagement. I
almost blew the engagement moment because of my
unending curiosity! Since I was NOT
expecting a ring at all, I suggested that we
exchange a Christmas present on Christmas Eve and
I would NOT give in to him saying NO. He
wanted to wait till Christmas day to exchange
gifts. After I continued to ask, he
agreed to exchange a gift after he gets cleaned
up and looks more presentable; I thought it was
kind of ODD for him to make such a big production
out of an early Christmas gift exchange. Okay,
whatever it takes to get an early Christmas
present, I thought. So, while he was
getting ready in this old apartment, I decided to
snoop around and look through all his possible
hiding places, for my “early” gift. He
heard me open different drawers, as I was getting
frustrated looking, in all the WRONG places! Since
he did not even have a normally heated apartment,
as he and his roommate kept the place at very low
temperature, to save on the heating bill, I
wanted to just leave.
Finally, he
took out a little box from the warm sleeping bag
that he kept under the bed and got down on his
one knee and asked me to marry him! I
was TOTALLY surprised and of course I said YES! My
life changed forever, after that. It
was the most expensive gift, I had ever gotten in
my life. Then I gave him his “early”
Christmas present, which was a lighted YO-YO!
Hahaha! My friend had convinced me to
buy this toy, as a gag gift for him that same
afternoon, when we met for lunch. He
still keeps it around so he can share the story
with kids (and maybe grandkids, one day).
Fast forward a
few years: We were married and had a couple of
kids and I decided to be a stay-at-home mom, for
a few years while they were young. After
they were in school, I had the opportunity to do
other adult-only stuff like go to the stores,
bank, Dr. appointments, exercise, etc. without
dragging kids along everywhere.
On such a
Friday morning, after the kids were off to school,
I took a couple of hours of “free” time
I had to head out for a quick shopping trip, as
well as a stop at the local bank. Along
the way, I saw a “garage sale” sign in
the neighborhood and decided to follow the signs
to see what bargains I could find. Once
I found the sale location, I realized that the
lady holding the garage sale was someone I had
already known.
Soon after I
arrived, one of her neighbors walked over to the
garage sale and declared that she had a “diamond
necklace” for sale! “Who
sells diamond necklaces at a garage sale”, I
thought. She also said, “I do not know if I
should set it down or just hold on to it because
someone may walk off with it” – so, I
asked her to let me look at it to see if it was
real or NOT. I held it next to my
wedding ring and decided that it could be REAL. However,
I needed someone to verify before I could be sure
of its authenticity – I asked her how much
she wanted for it. She said, “I
don’t know; maybe like 100 dollars”. Seriously? How
real can it be if she is trying to get just 100
dollars, for a diamond necklace? She
mentioned that it was a gift to her daughter from
the daughter’s ex-husband; so, the daughter
gave it to the mom to hold on to or use it
because she did not want to be reminded of him
anymore. After a while, the mom
decided to just sell it at this garage sale! What
are the chances that what she said is a true
story and that it is a REAL diamond?
I quickly
wrote her a check for 100 dollars and asked her
to wait another hour or so for me to deposit the
check, as I was on my way to the bank. The
check could “bounce” if she deposits it
before I have a chance to put the funds into the
account! Because I was acquainted with
her neighbor, she decided to trust me and wait
for me to come back to let her know I had put the
funds into the account.
My first stop
was at the jewelry store close to the bank and
grocery store – I asked them to look at this
necklace and tell me if it is a REAL diamond. The
jeweler said YES, it is real! Then I
asked how much do you think it is worth, along
with the 14-carat gold necklace. He
said maybe like 1800 dollars. I was
glad that it was a REAL diamond and gold necklace.
Then I stopped at the bank to make the deposit
and decided to skip the grocery shopping that day. I
returned to the lady at the garage sale and told
her the check was GOOD and she could deposit it
any time. So, I drove away as a happy
customer wearing my new gold and diamond necklace.
Several months
later, I saw the same lady at a social community
event, in the neighborhood. She told
me her daughter was so very UNHAPPY with her for
selling her diamond necklace for ONLY $100. Oh
well, you win some & you lose some; I gave
her what she asked me to pay for it! Even
now, I still think it is the best bargain finding
in any of my shopping! Of course, my
daughters are awaiting for me to decide who I
will be leaving it to one day, when I do not need/want
it anymore.
Copyright
May, 2023 – All Rights Reserved
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