Chapter 67 Old George's Dragon Slaying Sword
Zhang Ailun rode his bicycle quickly to George Pawn Shop. When he arrived, he found a pickup truck parked outside the store.
When I pushed the door open, I saw several people gathered together, seemingly negotiating the price of an item, and the argument was quite intense.
George turned around and saw that it was an acquaintance visiting the store, and immediately smiled, "Hey! If you have something to sell, please wait a moment. If you want to buy something, please help yourself."
"Ok." Zhang Ailun replied politely, not in a hurry.
I walked over to join in the fun, wanting to see what this rare thing was.
Zhang Ailun stood outside the crowd and took a look. He was a little confused for a moment. This turned out to be a machine gun?
A shuttle-shaped machine gun is mounted on a large iron wheel that looks like a horse-drawn carriage. The magazine cover is like an integrated large steel disc, with a black hole-shaped muzzle made of two steel pipes, and a tractor-like hand crank. It looks like an exquisite exhibit when placed there.
But it is undoubtedly full of lethality and full of 19th century firearms style.
Old George negotiated the price with the customer very seriously. "The Nepalese Rabi machine gun, produced in the late 19th century, was an imitation of the Maxim machine gun at the time. Although only 15 were produced in the world, your machine gun is just an imitation made in a small workshop. It has no company logo, and most of the parts are not handmade. The parts cannot be replaced, and the preservation is not intact. It is basically unusable. I can only offer $9000 for it."
The gun seller had a constipated look on his face. His brain was dazed and his scalp was numb from being chopped by his dragon-slaying sword.
"My ideal price was $35000, but you bargained it down to $9000. Do you think the price you offered is appropriate?" the pawnbroker asked George Sr.
Old George spread his hands, looking like a dead pig that is not afraid of boiling water. "The price I gave is already very reasonable, man. To be honest, if you take this big guy to a pawn shop in Las Vegas to sell it, it will be difficult to sell it for $8000!"
"That's why I asked someone to contact you and drove hundreds of kilometers overnight to come to your city in California to sell it. At that time you said it was worth at least 15000 US dollars! How come it is only 9000 now?" the pawnbroker asked unconvinced.
"You also said that it was an online price. I only looked at the photo and didn't see the actual product. I never thought that your machine gun was so bad. The internal gears and structure were all rusted. It can't be used anymore. A machine gun that can't fire is useless to me, right?"
Old George also explained patiently.
The pawnbroker looked helpless, "Okay, how about adding some more money, $10000?"
"$8500."
"???"
The pawnbroker's face instantly turned red and he was furious. "You just said $9000!"
Old George bent down and took out a screw and a rubber ring from the bottom of the machine gun. "Look, I didn't check the bottom carefully just now, and didn't find the problem with the gun in time. If you delay any longer, you will only have 8000. 7900, 7500, 7000..."
As Old George kept finding faults with a magnifying glass, the price he offered became lower and lower.
The pawner's psychological endurance was instantly overwhelmed, and he collapsed, "I won't sell it anymore!!"
"Okay! 8900! The most I can give you is a friendly price, 8900 US dollars! I'll take a loss and accept this big guy!" When Old George saw that the seller was a little overwhelmed, he quickly gave his own psychological price.
The pawnbroker's face turned pale and he said bitterly, "If I wasn't in urgent need of money, I would never sell this antique. All right! 8900 US dollars! I want cash!!"
"ok!!"
Old George agreed happily, waved to the two porters in the store to move the thing aside, turned into the house and wrote a receipt.
He took out a huge sum of money from the safe in the house, counted it and handed it to the guest.
"Welcome to visit us next time, guest. This large discount coupon is for you."
Old George said cheerfully.
"I think I will never come here again." The pawnbroker took the money, sighed, turned around and left immediately.
Zhang Ailun was also looking at the mighty and domineering machine gun. You can't suffer a loss by buying it for 8900, and you can't be fooled by buying it for 8900.
He leaned over and asked quietly, "Is this thing really unusable?"
Old George spread his hands and said, "It's true that it can't be used. But I didn't say it can't be repaired."
You... you swindler! "How much will it be worth after it's repaired?" Zhang Ailun began to doubt whether it was right for him to sell things in this store.
Old George smiled mysteriously: "Guess?"
"It's worth at least 2 US dollars, right?" Zhang Ailun sighed.
Without more than 2 times the full profit, this old guy from Texas would never smile so happily. Opening a pawn shop is even faster than robbing money!
There were two other people queuing up next to him, and Zhang Ailun continued to wait patiently.
The fat middle-aged man with a beard took out a box and a black canvas bag, and pulled out a rough stone from it. And a pair of... prosthetic limbs?
It looks like the lame-leg style from the pirate era. It's the same prosthetic gun as Barbossa.
Damn, I've learned something new. Can this thing be sold?
As for the stone… Zhang Ailun couldn’t recognize it at all.
The fat man introduced them confidently, "This is a 5000-year-old mastodon ivory fossil, which is very valuable in the market. This pair of nail-legged prosthetic flintlock rifles are said to be the remains of a captain of the Caribbean Pirates. I have checked the information and know that your pawn shop also needs to make a profit, so I only want to sell these two items to you for $."
"700 dollars." Old George took a look through the magnifying glass and immediately brandished the Dragon Slaying Sword. "This is the first time I've seen a prosthetic flintlock rifle. But there are no rifling inside. It's very shabby. I don't think anyone would collect such a strange item. I'll take it for $200."
The fat guy’s brain suddenly crashed.
No, wait a minute. How much?
The expression on his face froze, he looked confused and doubted about his life.
He opened his mouth and wanted to curse, but his good upbringing made him hold back.
"Sorry, I didn't hear you clearly. What did you say?" He didn't even have the confidence to speak.
Looking at the ivory fossil in your hand, are you sure it's worth this much money?
"Five hundred dollars." Old George looked at him with a smile and explained, "After my identification, this is not a mastodon fossil at all. It should be the left tusk fossil of a walrus. This is an elephant species that lives in the saltwater lakes of the west. The Indians once had a history of hunting and liked to use walrus ivory as ornaments. This ivory should only be one to two thousand years old. The collection price in the market is only about five hundred dollars."
After hearing what he said, Zhang Ailun immediately took out his cell phone to search for prices.
I found out it was indeed around $500.
But it's $1 per pound.
A fossil this large must weigh at least 4 pounds.
Walrus ivory fossils can be traded freely on the market, and it would be more expensive to have someone carve them into works of art.
Damn, you old man, you make so much profit just by going in and out?
"Okay, let's both take a step back. How about 1000 dollars?" The fat guy was a little convinced. He felt a headache from being haggled so hard.
Old George hesitated for a moment and said, "750 US dollars. This is the highest price I can offer. If you disagree, I can only express my regret."
"Okay! 750 US dollars! I want cash!" Fatty reluctantly handed the two big treasures to Old George.
People who come to the pawn shop to sell things are either really poor at home and in urgent need of money, or have various other reasons, such as the origin of the items is unknown and they cannot afford to sell them at the auction house. Who would come here to get stabbed?
"Welcome to visit us next time." Old George returned to the house with a proud look on his face, wrote a receipt by hand, counted out $750 in cash and handed it to Fatty.
Then he looked at the next lady waiting in line, as if he were a lamb to be slaughtered, and greeted her warmly, "Madam, what do you want to sell? Pawn or sell?"
The lady was frightened by the way he bargained just now, and hesitated for a long time before taking out the black box.
He took out a gray-white photo from inside and introduced the history.
"This is a photo signed by President Lincoln of the United States, and it also has a certificate issued by an expert."
Old George immediately became serious.
ps: Thanks for the 1500 coins reward from Yincuoerzhi, thanks for the 100 coins reward from LOVEFORYO, thanks for the 100 coins reward from C major, thanks for the 100 coins reward from Jiangshan Yuke, thanks for the 100 coins reward from Daidailang, thanks for the 100 coins reward from Wasteland Rules, and thanks for the 100 coins reward from 羫i.
(End of this chapter)
