Linda and James loaded the last box of junk into the trunk of their car and slammed down the lid. They slid into the front seat shoving aside knick-knacks as they buckled their seat belts.

“Another hard day at the office,” James said, laughing as he pulled their clunker away from the curb. “You know, babe – that last sale will make us enough cash to live on for a month!”

The couple were con artists for sure, but not your regular run-of-the-mill sort. Linda and James considered themselves to be ‘artist entrepreneurs’. They delighted in the idea they could turn a cheap yard sale find into a ‘valuable’ antique just by banging it up to give it character. In fact, they employed a variety of techniques to their goods to give them their well-worn authentic look of old.

Quite by accident, James realized the potential of such a business while scamming at a swap meet. He observed people going absolutely crazy over antiques. The fact that his girlfriend Linda had artistic talents, well – that just sweetened the pot. Start-up costs were low – a few bucks for art supplies and a few more for junk (and, if they hit the yard sales near closing time they could snag boxes of goods for next to nothing). Combined with Linda’s magical touch – voila! An antique was born!

Setting up shop at flea markets and swap meets meant the most bang for their buck. The pair discovered that a few genuine antiques intermingled with the imposters gave credence to the authenticity of the other items scattered on display. By the time unsuspecting customers realized their ‘valuable’ antique was nothing more than yesterday’s cast-off, James and Linda were long gone.

James clinched another sale and turned to Linda, who was busy schmoozing yet another victim. “This is the scam of a lifetime”, he thought smugly. He strolled over to Linda, mentally adding up the day’s take. As Linda turned to face him he noticed her face paling visibly. It struck him that she was trembling as well. The man she had been chatting with moments before spoke. “Sir, as I was just telling your lovely colleague, this item is a priceless artifact!”

James smiled inwardly. “Jackpot!” he thought. He maintained a calm appearance. Linda, he figured, was probably overwhelmed by this new-found revelation.

The man continued. “Let me introduce myself. I’m Joseph White, curator at the local museum. As I was saying, this was a priceless artifact. Unfortunately, however, someone has recently nicked the edges and painted the surface of this piece rendering it absolutely worthless! What a terrible, terrible shame. It could have been the find of a lifetime!