Oh boy, so the story about the ring is it’s own interesting tidbit - my whole life I was told my aunt stole the ring and “traded it for a bag of pot.” Now, my grandfather only had two children so for it to be the exact same story but with my father as the perpetrator makes for an even stranger twist in this whole story.

How did this man have such a similar story? My father lived and worked in the general area of the conman, did their paths cross at a bar? Both my aunt and father were and are substance abusing screw-ups for most of their lives so it could truly go either way!

Unfortunately, I cut ties with my father before leaving for college and so will likely never know. I accidentally found this newspaper article a few years ago while Googling around, wondering if the stolen original ever turned up for auction or something and your comment about searching for merchandise reminded me. I’ve thought about writing to the imposter and or the article’s author but I feel that would sound like a scam unto itself.