I left the opticians with a new prescription and less eye strain.
Yesterday I continued with the task of pricing up my items for Sunday's car boot sale and happened across a box of jewellery. Hmm... I wonder what the gold clown pendant is worth?
Searching on eBay, I found similar items selling for a minimum of £40, put the necklace to one side and decided to do a quick check to see what other gold items I had that I didn't want. I found two potential candidates: a small round pendant with a Capricorn zodiac sign on it (curious why my Dad ever bought this for me, considering I am a Gemini and have never expressed a preference for goats) and a gold sweetheart necklace set with an emerald. These have got to be worth something, surely?
I could see a hallmark on the clown and the goat, but nothing on the heart although there was a small tab attached to the chain with writing on it. Perhaps this was the hallmark. It's a pretty little pendant and it looks 9ct gold.
The only problem was, with my new perfect long-vision lenses, I couldn't focus on the hallmarks. I strained, I moved the objects closer and further away, looked from different angles, moved in to the light, blinked, looked at them sideways, held them up to the sun... I even resorted to attempting a close up photo that could be enlarged on the computer. Unfortunately the camera couldn't focus that close up either. I tried to figure out the writing on the tab of the heart pendant - is that a 3? and a 7? and maybe a 5? *blink blink* Can't tell.
There was nothing left to do except take my lenses out and study the hallmarks without them.
The clown pendant was 9 carat gold, with a chunky chain also 9ct gold.
The goat pendant had a hallmark of 333, which after a quick Internet investigation turns out to be German 8 carat gold (never heard of it). This is the lowest quality gold, but better than a poke in the eye with a plastic carrot.
And the writing on the tab of the heart pendant? Avon. Priceless.
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