Raphael Work Thread Night [ The mystery of the coo-coo clock]

Tick Tock Tick Tock*

The Rococo style clock made in the 1890s continued to chime in on the rusted mechanics that still allowed it to have some semblance or reflection of activating. It was quite spooky, it seemed to have gone on with its movements at points of the night, but it remained motionless during the morning time. He wondered what it meant, he wondered if it even meant anything at all?

"........"

Even if it did, it didn't matter to Raphael. The only thing that mattered to him was the fact that these things were meant to find themselves in his collection. They were to be shared with the world, to be protected and maintained. However, some of the challenges that came with them were the idea of where they were dated and the origin of where they came from. It was one of the harder jobs, even worse than the archeological digs. The pure aesthetics of appraising an item, figuring out it's worth and really going back to the fabrics or resigns of the item in its entirety. It was mentally stressful, it involved tons of books and a lot of other known historic markings that could be linked back to the creator of the item.

"The 1800's, that's not too far back. It should be considered a privilege to be able to be shown in my museum. Hopefully, after the appraisal process is done, I'll be able to discuss with the owner about what it truly is and how much it was worth. If it's anything good that I think needs to be protected."

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From the time that Raphael spoke with the original owner of the clock, he was told that it could have come from somewhere in the 1890s, but the strange design in the middle of the clock was what made him think that it was worth a lot more than he was letting on. With that being said, Raphael was knee deep in his research studies and having a bottle of wine nearby was a telling sign of what kind of day he was going to have. It symbolized the effort to relax in the face of hardship, it symbolized the effort to pace himself and truly think outside the box. The thoughts that he had once before in regards to a piece that he disregarded, he paid more attention tot he second time around due to his semi-drunken disposition. But this was definitely a private sector of Raphael that was kept hidden to others, the side the only saw these objects of discovery as a comfort. During times like this, he was allowed to show weakness, this was a weakness that no one else was going to experience, no one was close to him yet in order to bear witness to it.

" Something about this doesn't feel right. From what I'm seeing from the books, the style matches and the dates feel right. But it's the seller.... the owner himself...... and that symbol...... what is the problem here...."

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Raphael was missing some information about the piece, and the fact of that was eating at him, slowly but surely. He must have noticed it way back then when talking to the owner of the item, Jacoline Lambers. She was a Belgian entrepreneur, working in international trades. She flirted with Raphael a few times, but that didn't bother him, most clients tended to do that from time to time. However, there was one thing that Raphael noticed with her, she didn't seem like she was lying to him when she brought about the Morocco style clock to him in order to see if it needed to be displayed. She said she got it from a friend, but from the interesting information that Raphael managed to acquire from her, it was from one of many suitors that tried to get her attention by showering her with gifts from foreign countries.

"Maybe that........ is that it?"

Something started to click with Raphel, moving past the idea that the piece was fake or that the owner of the piece was trying to pull a fast one on him. At this rate, it seemed as if the gift was stolen from someone else before being passed on to Jacoline. This piece he was holding was in an article about a year ago. Now that it was in Raphael's possession, he felt like he needed to do something that would smooth things over and maybe even make himself look good at the same time.

"I'm going to give her a call, tell her my thoughts and ask her to relinquish ownership. This should go back to where it belongs, I shouldn't be the one to hold on to it."

To Raphael, it was the right thing to do at the time.,

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A little later, Raphael managed to get the full consent to do what he thought was best with the artifact, in which he shipped it back to another owner in the hopes that it got there in one piece. There was also a quick phone call made to place a bolo on a guy who was stealing things from high establishment places and pawning them off at his leisure. It was different from How Raphael conducted his business, he never thought of it as the same. But either way, the newfound respect came with more opportunities to have more artifacts being hosted at his vault.

This in time brought about more money when it came to admission and the nightly auctions that happen behind closed doors. But he did consider those past few days to be a test, fully recognizing a piece but somehow infecting himself with his own ignorance for the sake of pretending that nothing was there. However, there was only so much you can avoid and disregard until you simply have to pick a side. He ended up picking what he thought was less profitable, but at least the wine-induced headaches were easier to sleep through that night.


WC 1009

For the sake of record keeping

3600 >15%= 4140

4140>5% = 4347 grand total VC