Last fall at the Atlanta Bead Expo, a customer saw my stainless steel European 4-in-1 chainmaille cuff on my wrist and fell in love with it. I really didn’t want to sell it, because it had been a bugger to make and I knew it would take me a while to make another to replace it. She finally did talk me into selling it to her right off my wrist (for a pretty penny, of course, and it did take me a year to make its replacement).
She stopped by our booth this afternoon at the Down the Street Bead Show, and told her that she had worn it constantly, until someone STOLE IT from her. She didn’t know who, or why — maybe they thought it was sterling silver and much more valuable monetarily than it is; maybe they just really liked it themselves. Either way, I told her that if she ever found who did it, I wanted a crack at them also (DH suggested with a baseball bat, mind you). I sold it to her because of her reaction to it and her appreciation of the energy and time and labor that had gone into it.
I hope the Karma Fairy ensures that the thief gets no joy out of that bracelet, and that it eventually finds its way to someone who recognizes and appreciates its true worth.