Picking a Tiffany & Company Bracelet at Happy's

Here's the bracelet in a Tiffany & Co. ad.^

Here's my 'pick' with the little 1920s pin of the lady and her dog.^

UPDATE: Just had the Tiffany bracelet appraised at Frank L. Moose Jewelers in Roanoke and the jeweler verified that "it's a real Tiffany; it's sterling and it's almost new.")

I had another of those pickers' moments yesterday on a flea market run out to Happy's. This time I came away with a Tiffany & Co. 925 Sterling Silver Mesh Bangle Bracelet Somer, valued at $250 used (according to bonanzle.com). I nailed it for $2. (No, I don't know what a "somer" is, but I can spot a quality bracelet from a mile.)

I also picked a 1920s-era appearing pin of a flapper walking her dog--not sure if it's gold--for $1. (If you're not familiar with the term "picker," you might want to watch "American Picker" on the History Channel. It's about a couple of guys who travel the countryside rummaging through junk and finding valuable stuff. Tonight at 9 p.m.)

Both of these finds came from a guy who appears at the flea market occasionally with thousands of pieces of small jewelry, some of it organized, most not. When he's talking to a customer, you can hold up a piece from a distance and say, "How 'bout $2 for this," and he'll usually agree. That's what happened with the Tiffany. He was engaged in haggling with an Asian woman a few minutes later and I held up the pin and said, "A buck?" and he said, "Two." Later, after the lady had left, he came over and said, "you can have the pin for $1. When I'm haggling, I can't look weak or I get killed. That woman spent $150."

Of course, both of these could be fakes or copies, but the Tiffany looks real and Geoff Jennings Frank L. Moose Jeweler will tell me the hard truth. Right now, though, there's the thrill of victory (Geoff could add the agony of defeat).

A year or so ago, I landed a Vol. 1, first edition copy of Ulysses S. Grant's memoir (the one Mark Twain published in order to give the dying Grant's family something of an income; ex-presidents didn't get a pension then and Grant was broke) at an antique mall between Boones Mill and Rocky Mount for $7. I'm not sure the owner of the stall at the mall took the time to open the book and see that it was signed. My guess is that he saw an old, beat-up book and hurriedly stuck a price on it in pencil. The signature could be a fake, in which case I have a worthless book and a priceless story.

And maybe that's all it's about anyway.