hearts of gold.

notes on value judgements.

There’s a buzzer outside the local jewelry shop with a sign above it in all caps: PLEASE RING BELL. Inside, the shouty signs continue: MUST HAVE PAPER RECEIPT. CASH PAYMENTS ONLY. There are at least twenty different signs plastered to the walls. Some are professionally printed onto metal placards with rounded edges and others are scribbled on copy paper and taped haphazardly, giving the impression that the scrawler must have finally lost patience with the imprecision of the printed sign and decided to double-down on the instructions. There are double underlines and enigmatic scare quotes for emphasis.

I recently left an antique watch at the shop for a repair estimate and then spent the proceeding weeks nervously checking my wallet to make sure the manilla colored receipt I’d been given hadn’t mistakenly fluttered to the sidewalk. NO PHOTOGRAPHED RECEIPTS WILL BE ACCEPTED.

When the shop calls with an estimate, I decide against repair. The watch would cost more than a hundred dollars to fix and the shop’s watch guy can’t give even his usual three-month guarantee that it would keep working. I tell the woman on the other end of the line that I’ll be back to recoup the broken watch in a few days. Among the shop’s many signs I remember seeing were several declaring WE BUY GOLD and so when I return for the broken watch, I bring two small heart-shaped pendants with me for evaluation.