The Pot Thief Who Studied Einstein Read Online Free PDF

raises you and where they do it, not by your genes.
    In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that several years after I earned my business degree, I was kicked out of the anthropology graduate program at the University of New Mexico. You may want to take my opinions with several grains of salt. If you suffer from hypertension, I recommend a salt substitute.

5
     
     
    After I surprised Susannah by telling her I knew the address where I’d appraised the pots, she decided the explanation of that would probably take us through another round of drinks, so she had summoned Angie for refills.
    After delivery, I took a sip to make sure they were as good as the last ones. They were.
    “I discovered something surprising during my appraisal. Three of the pots in that collection are copies I made.”
    “You sold the collector three copies? How come you didn’t recognize him?”
    “I don’t think the guy I saw there was the collector.”
    “Then who was he?”
    “I have no idea, but I think the collection actually belongs to a guy named Segundo Cantú.”
    “What kind of name is Segundo?”
    “It’s the kind that comes after Primero and before Tercero.”
    “You’re kidding, right?”
    “No. I’ll admit it’s not too common these days, but some Hispanic families used to name their male children after the order of their birth.”
    “What, they couldn’t think of any names so they just went with numbers?”
    “Ordinal numbers.”
    “Huh?”
    “When people say numbers, they normally mean cardinal numbers – one, two, three, like that. I was just pointing out that the names are ordinal numbers – first, second, third.”
    She gave me that impatient look she always gives me when I say anything about math. “What difference does it make what sort of numbers they are? It’s still weird.”
    “I don’t know. Look at all the kings and queens with numbers. Elizabeth the First, Henry the Eighth—”
    “I rest my case. No one is weirder than the royals.”
    “Good point,” I replied and hesitated. “I’ve forgotten what we were talking about.”
    “Segundo Cantú.”
    “Oh, right. Well, he brought me a pot last December and paid me five thousand dollars to make a copy of it.”
    “Why would he want a copy of his own pot?”
    “Let’s come back to that. He came back again in February with a second pot he wanted copied. Then he brought a third one in April.”
    Susannah recited the order of months out loud while sticking up a finger for each one. “December, January, February, March, April.” She studied her fingers. “He was bringing you a pot every other month.” She paused briefly to think then said, “You should get the fourth one this month.”
    “Somehow I don’t think I will. So let’s get back to your question of why he was having me copy his pots. Here’s my theory. He had decided to sell his collection. But before he sold a pot, he wanted a copy of it. So he sold the first pot in December, telling the buyer he could take delivery in a few weeks. Meanwhile, he has me copy it. After he gets the copy, he gives the original to the buyer and collects his money, let’s say fifty thousand.”
    “So he pays five thousand for the copy and sells the original for fifty? He’s coming out way ahead.”
    “Right. Then in two months, he sells another one, and we go through the same rigmarole. Same again two months after that. But then some buyer – maybe one of the first three, maybe someone new – offers to buy the whole collection. Cantú agrees, so I’m not going to get any more copying business from him”
    “Why not? If he wanted copies when he was selling them one at a time, why wouldn’t he still want copies when he’s selling them all at once?”
    “My guess is the buyer isn’t willing to wait that long. It takes me at least two weeks to make a good copy. Multiply that times the twenty-two remaining originals, and you get forty-four weeks.”
    “That’s almost a year,” she