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Jewel Heist

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Green Goth Brit Chick - AlternatEve
01/05/09

In reply to Jewel Heist
This does not surprise me in the least. I kinda wish it did.
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Gretchen is a new kitten mom!
01/05/09

In reply to Jewel Heist
Oh fate, you've screwed me again. My love for vintage is beyond measure and the thought of this stuff flooding the market makes me drool. And I don't have cash.

Fuck. Me.
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la.donna.pietra
01/05/09

In reply to Jewel Heist
My very smart but unscrupulous grandma traded five-pound bags of sugar and flour for some eye-popping German family heirlooms right after WWII. My grandpa was stationed in Berlin, my grandma tagged along, and now I am the potential recipient of two full-length mink coats, a huge set of sterling servingware (with ivory handles!) and several other things engraved with other people's initials.

Mostly, I am impressed by my grandma's foresight, even as the net result dismays me.
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Lazy Line Painter Jane
01/05/09

@la.donna.pietra: lucky. I don't like the idea of killing animals for fur and buying new pieces, but I don't think there's any reason not to enjoy fur items that were made a long time ago and passed down. I just inherited a seal (yikes!) coat from my grandma and I wish I had Operas and galas to go to instead of Petco and CVS so I could wear it.
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la.donna.pietra
01/05/09

@Lazy Line Painter Jane: My grandma did, in fact, wear them to the Berlin Opera all the time. She was a huge opera buff, and my grandpa would take her to the Russian Quarter to hear the Soviet Opera perform almost every weekend. A small-town girl from upstate Michigan wearing a mink coat to hear some of the best singers in the world--it must have been seriously cool.

(I'm still kinda freaked out by the fact that she was basically a small-scale war profiteer, though.)
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Gumbina80
01/05/09

@la.donna.pietra: Omigosh. My fiance's grandmother -- also in Berlin with her husband -- did the same thing. She has a really interesting collecton of figurines, china and crystal that she bartered from the poverty-stricken locals.

I wonder if that's what military wives did to pass the time back in the day? Take advantage of a war-torn economy.
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la.donna.pietra
01/05/09

@Gumbina80: I think it was more that living through the Great Depression will make you pretty steely-eyed when it comes to acquiring portable valuables.
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sybann
01/05/09

In reply to Jewel Heist
Great. Just when we cannot possibly be irresponsible enough to buy any - given the state of our 401ks.
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aubonpam
01/05/09

In reply to Jewel Heist
This just makes me want to walk around screaming "diamonds! DIAMONDS! DIAMONDS!!"
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Glitterbug (likes life shaken, not stirred)
01/05/09

In reply to Jewel Heist
I couldn't imagine selling a family heirloom. Then again, I don't actually have any so I guess I'm just jealous. It reminds me when people go on like Antiques Roadshow and flog their great-grandfather's handwritten manuscript of beethoven's fifth symphony, or something. However tight money is, how could you bear to part with it?
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Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!)
01/05/09

@Glitterbug: Probably depends on how much you liked great-granddad.
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Glitterbug (likes life shaken, not stirred)
01/06/09

@Glitterbug: Surely if you have loads of six-carat diamond heirlooms you have a trust fund, too!
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WashingMyHair
01/05/09

In reply to Jewel Heist
I wonder if our descendants will make be making statements like "yes, this belly ring used to be my great great grandmothers". Or attend auctions to bid on overpriced nipple rings.
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haguenite
01/05/09

In reply to Jewel Heist
I have a bunch of three euro Claire's stuff. Think I could pass that off as heirlooms as well?
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Green Goth Brit Chick - AlternatEve
01/05/09

@haguenite: Depends, is it the girly stuff or the punky stuff? Guess which I'd be more interested in *g*
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rockferry
01/05/09

In reply to Jewel Heist
This just made me think that maybe hitting the consignment shops in Palm Beach over spring break is a great idea. In other news, I am a terrible person.
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prestocaro fears the culling
01/05/09

@rockferry: You aren't a terrible person at all. Just smart. I mean, these are probably the same people who were shopping in seclusion a few months ago.
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R_Claw
01/05/09

In reply to Jewel Heist
How much for a Ring Pop?
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linnyt is a walking cliché
01/05/09

In reply to Jewel Heist
should i sell the candy necklace for cash or eat it for sustenance?
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BabyJane
01/05/09

In reply to Jewel Heist
Oddly enough, purity rings have turned out to be worthless.
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Kivrin
01/05/09

@Neely O'Hara (BabyJane was so 2008): Hee! Love it.
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prestocaro fears the culling
01/05/09

@Neely O'Hara (BabyJane was so 2008): Lolz. For some reason, that reminds me of when Bart sells his soul to Milhouse.
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Grim Reaper of the Forest
01/05/09

In reply to Jewel Heist
I knew it was a good idea to keep my jelly bracelet collection!
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lydia_gwilt
01/05/09

In reply to Jewel Heist
I remember reading that when Paris was flooded with Russian émigrés in the early 1920's the price of gold and diamonds bottomed out because the market was so flooded with the heirlooms of the suddenly cash poor aristocracy. I wonder if something similar might happen here.
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katie.scarlett.o'hara
01/05/09

@lydia_gwilt: Some of the crown jewels of England are originally Russian pieces that had to be sold off. Fascinating stuff.
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lydia_gwilt
01/05/09

@katie.scarlett.o'hara: Oh, interesting.

When I said "I remember reading", I should say this could very well have been something I read in an Agatha Christie novel, or something by Nina Berberova, and not necessarily something super accurate.

I am fascinated by that whole era.
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Grim Reaper of the Forest
01/05/09

@lydia_gwilt: Most of my knowledge of world politics and English society comes from Agatha Christie novels I read in the 4th grade.
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sportz.star
01/05/09

In reply to Jewel Heist
Lawsuits over the sale of fake heirloom gems in 5 . . .4 . . 3 . .
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