Paris Comes Through

I gather there have been a number of commercials lately about selling your gold/jewellery and Ter thought it might be a good idea for this pendant she had but no longer wears. However, neither Ter nor I had any idea of its worth and didn’t want the sketchy “Sell You Gold” type store to take advantage of that. So, on the way into Paris on Saturday Teri and I stopped at a Mississauga mall to see if a jeweller could give a rough estimate of what it could be sold for. This was a very snobby mall, any mall that contains a Holt Renfrew is pretty upscale. We went into 3 or 4 jewellery stores, including Peoples and Birks but no one would talk to us. They kept saying, “Oh, only gemologist can tell you that.” Even though we were only asking for a brief approximation. For these places to have their gemologist look at it would cost $40 for an appraisal, which was way more official than needed.

I finally just said to Teri that we should try in Paris at the local jewellery store since he is super nice and I’m sure could tell her about the pendant. I seem to remember bringing in some pieces I had at one point and he told me about them. (It is also the place I bought my High School Ring and just in general the place my family and I go get things repaired, cleaned etc.) She was very discouraged and quite sceptical. However, we were getting no where at this mall. I kept insisting we try again when we got to Paris since we had to go shopping downtown anyways. When we got into Paris we ended up doing a few errands downtown and sure enough decided to try out Paris Jewellers, the local guy. I was worried that my faith in the kindness and general helpfulness of small town people would fall though. I like to think that, regardless of location, humanity will come through for the best, but cynical people get me scared that it isn’t always the case. However, in my experience it really usually is.

He came through, and was amazing. Looked at it with his loop, told us what carat of gold it was, approximately how many carats of diamonds were in it, and what its value was new. He also told us that he thought it was a piece from Peoples that they had a few years back. We had gone into Peoples!!! They hadn’t told us anything. He also said he would be able to buy it but only at its wholesale price, which would be less, and so he gave Teri suggestions of where to go to sell it and how much to ask for. We were so surprised at his willingness to share his expertise at no cost to us and even give suggestions to sell that would be best for Teri and not himself. Such a kind man!! I was proud of my small town. Paris truly is amazing!!