Likely this is already in the collection--the book has been out for a
few years--but I've only just gotten around to reading it and now
that I've recovered, dried my eyes, and picked myself up off the
floor beside the sofa, I just had to share:
"What's the most expensive pin ever made commercially, Stanley?" said
Moist quickly.
It was like pulling a lever. Stanley's expression went from agonized
grief to scholarly cogitation in an instant.
"Commercially? Leaving aside those special pins made for exhibitions
and trade shows, including the Great Pin of 1899, then probably it is
the No. 3 Broad-headed 'Chicken' Extra Longs made for the lace-making
market by the noted pinner Josiah Doldrum, I would say. They were
hand-drawn and had his trademark silver head with a microscopic
engraving of a cockerel. It's believed that fewer than a hundred were
made before his death, sir. According to Hubert Spider's Pin
Catalogue, examples can fetch between fifty and sixty-five dollars,
depending on condition. A No. 3 Broad-headed Extra Long would grace
any true pinhead's collection."
-- Going Postal by Terry Pratchett
Su, recovering from her unexpected overdose of endorphins
Williamsburg, VA
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