With only 10 days until Halloween, preparations for Spookyville, as well as a similar Harvest Festival, got into high gear. But there was some really amusing things going on.
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A Russian historian that was contacted by the jeweler that Anastasia replied with verifiable proof that Anastasia's necklace not only belonged to Alexander II's wife, but was also able to explain why it had seemingly shown up in an ordinary thrift store. The proof not only included paperwork that verified it as commissioned by Alexander II, but also included a black and white photo that showed Alexander II's wife wearing it at an "anniversary dinner" that celebrated the 50th anniversary of Napoleon's failed invasion of Russia.
"It was most likely looted during the storming of the Peterhof palace during the Bolshevik Revolution. After that, it's real value was overlooked and the necklace ended up changing hands until it ended up at the thrift store."
After that information, the necklace was officially appraised/confirmed as the real thing. The Guinness Book of World Records, after word reached them of the offer to buy it for $500 Million, had an official recognition ceremony where the award was presented to her for "Most Valuable Piece of Historical Jewelry."
There was one person on the internet who seemed to be a perpetual skeptic who questioned why such a valuable piece of jewelry would be found in a thrift store and not a museum. But fortunately another person helped clear some things up.
thrifty_store_shopper: It's not unheard of. There have been lots of incidents where people spend petty cash on something that's actually worth thousands, if not millions, of dollars. I've heard of someone who managed to find a West Point sweater confirmed to be owned by Vince Lombardi, to a copy of the Declaration of Independence commissioned by John Quincy Adams in 1820 bought for $2.38.
But perhaps the funniest thing that resulted from this was the fact that, despite both private collectors and museums in both Russia and the US offering to purchase the necklace, Anastasia had decided to keep it for the time being.
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Some other funny things that were a bit more typical for Halloween were the various "costume tests" that tended to end in funny failure, either due to not really thinking it out or (more often) Animalians not getting the joke or intention.
But since Halloween was 10 days away, there was a lot of fine tuning that was going on with said costumes, especially since the costume contests at both the Slaughterhouse, and the family friendly one, both had $10000 grand prizes this year.