Tome Appraisal for Altuun Dalamiq
March 22, 2021
From the Client
A scholarly-looking Xaela woman entered the tea room, gingerly closing the door behind her once her companion – a large, fluffy amethyst carbuncle – saunters past. With a polite nod to her host, she went to take a seat, placing a small metal lockbox down on the table between herself and Amon.
“I apologize for the short notice. My name is Altuun Dalamiq,” she began, accentuating her greeting with another, more formal bow, “A business acquaintance spoke highly of your abilities, and I’ve been sitting on this for… quite some time now. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little overeager to finally learn more about it.”
Altuun settled into her seat, lap now occupied by a mass of shimmering purple fur. Doing her best not to eyeball the nearby treats too much, she tapped the ring on her left hand gently to the lid of the box, prompting it to open with a brief flash of aetherial light.
“I came across this in the immediate aftermath of the Calamity. I’ve considered taking it to the House of Splendors, but I have my fill of Rowena as is without her getting involved in my personal interests as well,” the Xaela stated rather flatly, obviously having some manner of professional experience with the Hyur in question. “If it helps any, I pulled this from an Allagan guildhouse of some sort. I was in Mor Dhona when the Calamity struck; I took shelter in a building exposed by the upheaval, which is where I found the tomestone. Unfortunately, the structure didn’t survive subsequent destruction by the Dreadwyrm’s rampage, otherwise I’d offer you the location for that, as well.”
Tome Attributes: Immaculately preserved: no signs of weathering, age, or even repeated use.
Gil Donation: 5,000
Tea Order: Green Genesis
“Greetings and well-met, Altuun and friend,” Amon gave a slight head-bow to the woman and her carbuncle as they settled in without any prompt from himself. His eyebrows lifted as he peered into the box at the perfectly preserved Tome. Certainly he didn’t see something like this every day!
“Curious! This looks almost newly-minted. You’ve taken great care with it, indeed,” the Elezen remarked as he fixed and served the Xaela her order of green tea. Catching her glance towards the sweet foods on the table, he smiled, “Please, take whatever suits your fancy. ‘Tis freshly made and here for your enjoyment.”
He took out a clean cloth and handled the Tome as carefully as possible as to not leave fingerprints or marks that it had not arrived with. Then, setting up T.H.E.M. for the scan, he began entering the orders to make a scan. He was just as eager to see what might be on such a perfect looking Tome.
Appraisal Outcome
Whoever kept this Tome in Allagan times must have greatly valued the content within. I doubt that it’s been read more than a dozen times, if that. Mayhaps they made a copy of this to use for work and preserved it for a backup?
I’d wager this came straight from a behavioral science lab, and whomever developed this research likely made this their life’s work. There’s a lot of care taken with this piece, and I’m certain this is pretty close to an original edition.
The topic of data is interesting, as well: Effects of Cognitive Selection on Learning and Memory
Value: You don’t see a well-preserved Tome like this very often. That within itself is enough to make it of interest to collectors, especially those who prefer mint Tomes like this. The topic is also very interesting, but unless we can do some research into the scientist behind the work, we can’t really know how credible this work is. Still, I would not pass this Tome off for trade-in without seeing if there’s some interest with collectors first.
Amon handles the Tome with the cloth as he returns it carefully to the lockbox. He also hands Altuun a list of collectors with a few names circled. “If you’re thinking of selling, I’d highly suggest you shop around and get quotes from these individuals to see what kind of interest you have from collectors. Otherwise, you could always put this on display for yourself. ‘Tis pretty unusual to find a Tome of such nice condition after so long.”