Pawnshop Owner Is Amazed When Expert Identifies Boy’s Grandmother’s Book As A Rare Artifact

Many people visit the pawn shop in search of old items for sale, so it was no surprise when store owner Victor saw Tommy with a book in his hand. What was unexpected was the size of the book. Victor immediately informed the young man that he should not possess the item, but his reaction was unexpected.

Something special

Summer

Tommy was enjoying the warmth of the summer sun while indulging in an ice cream treat with his grandmother. It was mid-summer vacation and he had been asked to assist his grandmother in cleaning out her attic. As they were doing so, they discovered a variety of interesting items that had not been seen in the attic since the death of Grandma Alice’s husband, Grandpa Glenn.

Cleaning out the attic

Grandma Alice was unable to ascend the stairs and did not need any of the attic’s contents. As she was planning to retire after the summer, Tommy was asked to help her with the attic clean-out. The summer holidays had come to an end, and Grandma Alice had moved into a retirement home. Tommy had enjoyed his time with her and had learned a great deal about her past. Grandma Alice had told him a lot of stories about the attic stuff they had found, but those stories weren’t all.

Give to charity

Most of the items found could be donated to charitable organizations or used as second-hand items. Grandma Alice provided Tommy with a box to collect the items he desired to keep. There was a box of things that Tommy had collected that he had put under the bed, and had forgotten about for a while.

Nothing like it

One day, while cleaning out Grandma Alice’s room, he found it again. He decided to look again at all the stuff he collected. There were some old photo albums, with lots of pictures of his grandparents as kids, a few DVDs, and some of Tommy’s old toys from his childhood. But there was one thing that caught his eye as he was cleaning out the attic – a book. “This is the oldest thing we’ve found,” he said, “I’ll take a look at it.” As soon as he saw it, he was hooked up to a dusty drawer and ready to go. He had never seen anything like it before!

The ink was faded

Unfortunately, the ink had worn off, so he couldn’t read any of the words on the pages. He could still make out some of the illustrations, but he wasn’t sure what they meant. He asked his grandma about the book, but she didn’t have much to say. She said it was passed down from one generation to the next, and she was happy to give it to him.

Illustrations

He wanted to find out more about it but didn’t know where to begin. He couldn’t read what was written in it or on it, so he probably wouldn’t get very far. But he was a stubborn guy, so he didn’t give up. He decided to start with the illustrations since they were the most intact part of the book.

Becoming desperate

He spent hours on the computer trying to find out about the images and the book. Unfortunately, the illustrations weren’t very clear. He was slowly becoming desperate when suddenly he found something. Tommy was taken aback by the article he was reading; he could not believe his eyes. Was he dreaming? He took a closer look at the image on his computer monitor and compared it with the book; there was no question in his mind that it was real. Could this be happening?

Unbelievable

Still, he could not be sure; he needed to confirm that the book was what he believed it to be, and he knew exactly where to go. He carefully put the book into a bag and jumped on his bicycle to run across town. After a few minutes, he arrived at the pawn shop and was greeted by the proprietor, Victor. When Tommy informed him of the item he had brought, the proprietor scowled and said, “I have no time for this.” It was evident that the proprietor did not believe him.

The book

Tommy was starting to doubt himself – it wasn’t crazy that the guy didn’t trust him, but he didn’t think he could trust himself either! Still, Tommy wasn’t going to let Victor turn him away – he needed answers, and he wasn’t going to get them if he didn’t find out the truth. So he took the book out of his bag and put it down on the counter, and Victor’s eyes went wide. He asked where the book had come from, and Tommy said it was from his grandmother.

The expert

Victor asked him to wait, and he went into his office. He heard someone talking on the phone, and he said, “Yes, I am serious! Come in as soon as you can – you have to see this!”. Victor came back out and told Tommy to wait, saying he’d call an expert and they’d be there in a few minutes. Tommy wasn’t in a hurry – he was actually looking forward to it. Victor was still looking at the book, not understanding how it had ended up in a little boy’s hands.

Suggestion

He asked Tommy, “Are you sure this was your grandmother’s?” as Tommy explained everything. The expert showed up at the shop at the end of the day, saying she had come early and asked if she could see the book. Tommy told her that of course, she could see it, pretending to be a bit nervous. Victor and Tommy watched her while she waited in the shop. She was looking at the book with a very serious expression on her face, and they couldn’t quite make sense of what she was saying.

Special

At last, she turned around and said, “You shouldn’t have this book.” It was only then that Tommy understood how special it was. Reading about it online was one thing, but hearing it from an expert face-to-face was something else entirely. The expert examined the book while Tommy and Victor stood silently by. Her expression was grave and they could not comprehend what she was saying. Finally, she turned and spoke to Tommy.

Donate it

She informed him that the book was extremely valuable and ancient, and had a great deal of historical and cultural significance. She suggested that he donate it to a local museum, but he was free to make his own decision. Tommy decided to discuss the matter with his grandmother before her, knowing that he would do what she wanted!