Damon was dead, or considered so. After all, he vanished to dust and clearly no body was ever found. Unfortunately, if a few people hoped he had ran off somewhere to one day reappear, after a few months he was considered dead for good. Most of his belongings, a large portion in fact, were given to a charity store. This included the lamp, which was priced as a cheap knickknack. The man in charge of the second-hand store was certain the gold on the lamp was simply the typical cheap imitation. What should he waste money on a specialist that would tell him the gold was not gold and waste his money? He had seen enough worthless junk in his field of work, after all. He priced the lamp at five bucks and he reflected that he'd be luck to get THAT much. The lamp was left among ugly tchotchkes and diverse figurines where it would gather dust, until the owner give these their regular cleaning.
"Most of these won't get much pennies..." he grumbled with a sigh.
And indeed the lamp stayed there for a few months. The genie did not mind. She rather liked it. Sure, tricking humans was fun. Super fun, even, but these mortals were boring. Oh, it was always the same wishes. Sex and riches. It all boiled down to that. At least children had more imagination, and she made a point not to trick them, unless they were downright brats. In the meantime, she had all the luxury her lamp could offer, which meant an endless luxury. Her lamp was a little dimension of itself, which included an immense suite with cable TV, an Internet connection and all sorts of things her magic allowed her to get at once. She was happy being left alone. But a new master was coming. A man had seen the lamp, knowing immediately it was genuine gold and purchased it. He eagerly brought it back home, impatient to scrape the gold of of it.