“Mom would never have given you that box!” Henry said as he poked Felix in the eye with his finger. “My great-great-grandfather was a famous politician, and he bought it from a famous craftsman!” There are only two likе it in the whole world! I’ll give you $1,000 for the box when you give it back to me. Deal?”
“No.” Felix got up. “If you want to buy it, you can do so when I put it up for auction. Well Henry, goodbye.”
Felix went to a nearby sales house the following day.
Mr. Whitaker, a serious man with a snobbish accent, asked him to come into a back room for the evaluation and a woman named Ellen joined them.
“I can immediately verify that the craftsmen’s mark on the underside is authentic,” said Mr. Whitaker. “That means this is a pretty important piece, sir. One of only two in the whole world.”
Ellen bent down to look at the box. “That is quite lovely…may I see your provenance documentation?”
“Excuse me?” Felix exclaimed.
“You need to provide a certificate of authentication, or any verifiable document that proves the artifact’s authenticity and your ownership,” Ellen said.
At that moment, Felix stood up and said he would leave, but they wouldn’t let him, telling him they needed to contact the police so that he could explain how he got to possess something that valuable. But Felix fled the place.
That night, he decided to enter Mrs. McAllister’s some in hopes of finding the papers. But just as he entered through the window, a flashlight blocked his sight. It was Henry.
“Not so high and mighty now, are you Felix?” Hendry said.
“This is not how it looks. I only need—” Felix said scared.
“The documentation for the box, I know,” Henry said. “Because that box is linked to my family, the auction house called me after you tried to scam them. Yes, I did tell them you stole it—”
Henry then gave Felix an ultimatum. He either brings the box by 08:00 am the following day or he was reporting him to the authorities.
Felix went home running. He though hard and decided not to return the box that his neighbor wanted him to have it. Then, he took the box, together with his daughter, and went to his mother’s place. He told his girl, Suzie, to sell the box for no less than $100,000 and use the money for her studies. He then returned home and waited for the police to knock on his door.
And that’s exactly what happened. Felix was accused of selling the box and spent four months in prison while waiting for his court date. But then, he was informed that someone paid his bail.
Once free, he learned that the bail was paid by his mother and daughter.
Stunned, he asked them if they sold the box to someone, but Suzie said no.
“Well, I didn’t listen to you about the box,” Suzie said with a smile on her face. “I found a way to open it instead. That was a real award and a note from Mrs. McAllister inside. That box was very important to her, dad. It was written in the note.
“So I showed the note to your lawyer, and then I took the box with all the papers to an antique dealer,” Suzie added. “He gave us enough money for it to post bail and we still have $100,000 left!”
What a story!
