Allen Zhang picked up the gold and asked Sieg to stay and guard the camp. He immediately drove the Jeep and headed to old George’s pawnshop to convert the items into cash.
He drove through several blocks to the pawnshop, parked the Jeep outside, pushed open the door and greeted old George, only to find him arguing intensely with an old man, both looking anxious and heated. The old man selling things seemed rather upset.
Allen walked over and noticed an ivory white guitar on the counter, decorated with black and gold paint, patterns, and unique musical symbols as logos.
It looked expensive at first glance. Perhaps worth more than ten thousand dollars?
"This guitar is a collectible from Les Paul, a hall-of-fame musician who also invented the solid-body electric guitar. I would never sell it to you if I wasn’t in urgent need of money," the old man said angrily. "If this guitar were auctioned, it would be worth at least 250,000 dollars!"
An old guitar selling for 250,000 dollars?
Allen was shocked, feeling a bit inexperienced and certainly too poor.
Looking at the old man with white beard, ordinary white shirt, long pants, wearing black glasses, without any jewelry, clothes looking not even worth a hundred dollars, it’s really said that appearances can be deceiving.
Seems like old George has snagged a big fish this time!
Old George patiently explained, "Yes, after appraisal, this is indeed Les Paul’s guitar, and your documentation is real, but I can only offer you 50,000 dollars. This is a backup guitar owned by Les Paul, not one used in performances or frequently used for practice. Guitars that were used by Les Paul have been sold in pawnshops in Las Vegas, but they fetched around 100,000 dollars."
"According to what you said, this guitar was given to Les Paul by someone else, and then he gave it to a friend of a friend of your aunt’s brother...oh, I’m honestly a bit lost in this relationship."
Old George put on a mask of pain, clasped his head, skillfully wielded the bargaining Dragon Slayer Sword, "50,000 dollars! That’s the highest I can go, not even a cent more or I would make no profit!"
Without waiting for the old man to respond, he continued, "If you think the price is unreasonable, feel free to check the prices at the pawnshop next door or sell it at an auction where they might offer a few thousand dollars more. But, you’d have to line up and bid, pay taxes and fees, and the final amount you receive would only be around fifty to sixty thousand dollars. Don’t you need money urgently?"
The old man gradually calmed down after hearing his explanation, not saying much but internally he was coming to terms with the price.
After all, what old George said was true; he desperately needed cash, and the pawnshop could liquidate quickly. Even Magic Flute Pawnshop next door offered even less!
"I also have a Rolex mirror here. I bought it in an antique shop in Chinatown," the old man hesitated for a moment, then took out a mirror from the black box he carried.
It looked shiny and impressive from the outside.
But Allen took one glance and felt even giving it to dogs or selling it on street-side stalls would only fetch about ten dollars, even Black from Zero-Dollar Purchase would hardly look at it.
The mention of Chinatown made George’s expression subtly change, falling briefly silent.
He picked up the mirror and examined it, looking at his increasingly haggard pale complexion in the mirror compared to yesterday. He asked, "How much do you want to sell it for?"
"At least ten thousand dollars!" the old man immediately asked for a sky-high price, bold as a lion.
Hearing this price, George gasped, instantly putting on a mask of pain.
Allen also felt it was outrageous, seriously bluffing, what kind of brand could be so expensive?
After contemplating, George stretched out a finger, giving his price: "100 dollars."
"What!?" the old man was instantly stunned, in disbelief.
Ten thousand dollars chopped down to one hundred?
"Firstly, this isn’t a mirror produced by Rolex. If it was real, I believe many would be willing to pay high prices for it, but unfortunately, only the packaging box is from Rolex, none of the mirror’s logos have anything to do with Rolex."
Old George immediately began to clarify and criticize frankly, "I must say, it really belongs on a domestic dressing table, or in the trash bin of a recycling station, not in a Chinatown antique shop, let alone in my shop."
"Are you saying, I got conned by an acquaintance in the Chinatown antique shop? I spent 4,000 dollars on this mirror!" the old man struggled to accept this, clutching his heart nearly out of breath.
"I didn’t say that," George immediately shrugged off responsibility, also afraid that the old man might have a heart attack right there in the shop.
He tactfully said, "But after my appraisal, this mirror is indeed only worth 100 dollars. If you can accept that, I’ll make a small loss and keep it. Consider it a free gift with the guitar."
The old man immediately felt the pinch, began weighing his options.
Hearing old George mention ’I’ll take a small loss’, Allen knew this old man was making a killing again.