This is a microcosm of so many things inside the shrinking bubble world of scientology.
Selling guy is trying to offload his “OT” bracelet (at a loss of course, anything scientology is ALWAYS overpriced) to get money to do the Purif. Probably REDO the Purif. After all he was “going OT” or was already OT back in 2012. But then of course, the first time he did the Purif it was “out tech.” I wonder if the “success story” from the first, second and third Purif he did was real? Did he actually have the gains he attested to? If he did, why redo it? Simply because it is a way of soaking money out of the dwindling number of remaining sheeple still inside the bubble.
Of course, when Miscavige announces that he has discovered, yet again, that something they have been selling for years or decades is “out tech” (i.e. a shoddy substitute, Condition 1 level “exchange = ripoff) there is never a thought given to “perhaps we should give those people their money back, at least credit their account or offer them the “new” in tech service for free as they actually PAID for a Purif and we didn’t deliver that to them, which is why they have to redo it.
It is also interesting how things have devalued — a “Clear bracelet” or “OT bracelet” was once a symbol of having achieved a prized state in scientology. Now it is merely “bling” — more “MEST” to be traded.
A bracelet worth perhaps $100 in 2012 was sold to this guy for $1848 – “never used” it is now being offered for $1400. Who knows what it might eventually sell for? It’s real value of $100 (14K gold is not very expensive…). In fact, just for shits and giggles here is the first men’s 14K gold bracelet result from Google. And this is being sold by a FOR PROFIT company:
Finally, it is interesting that the seller here wants to be sure it goes to “someone in good standing.” Haha. Why? They don’t want some “fake” scientologist to pretend they have the fake status of OT? Hey, it’s just “bling” so who cares who wears it?
Worlds “Coolest” and “Fastest growing religion” should be producing plenty of demand for jewelry, and lots of Scientologists in good standing.
I am sure he will sell the bracelet quickly and with minimal loss.
The heading says ‘Scientology jewelry other’ Surely he means ‘offer’ . Guy also wears glasses. Maybe there is kryptonite in that chain weakening his OT powers.?
😂🤣👍
Checked him out on fb. Seems he met ex British pm Tony Blair in Barbados in 2006. Photo of him presenting Blair with a ‘youth for human rights ‘ dvd . Says his wife is a Catholic as well as $cilon (hard to believe) Looks like he might be close to 70 now. Can’t have managed his finances very well . Wonder why ????
Mike, I’m not defending the cult, but that “14K gold” bracelet is high quality (925) sterling silver with a 14K gold finish. Much cheaper than 14K gold.
Actually, I’d love to know if the Clear and OT bracelets are actual 10/14/ 18K pieces, or if they too are gold finish over sterling silver. I wouldn’t put it past the cult to try to palm something like this off. Even at 18K they are outrageously overpriced.
Not that 925 sterling silver jewelry isn’t beautiful, btw. But its much cheaper than gold.
And silver is so pretty as itself that its a shame to try to make it fake gold. But its done all the time, unfortunately.
Hi Aqua,
I can tell you that the Ohhhh Teeee Ate bracelet that I bought for $3200.00 in 2004 was 18K gold with a value of $850 or so in 2015. The cherch always assumes a high value added to their endless supply of worthless shit.
As it turns out, I had some funds on accnt after experiencing the real ‘truth revealed’ rundown on the freakwinds in 2003 so I decided to have them send me the bracelet figuring it would be far more valuable that some sort of book pkg. and there was no fricken way it was going to be given (that is scientologese for stolen) to ‘shit for brains’ Teddy Braggin. And I knew with ‘total certainty ‘ that I would NEVER, EVER set foot on that rust bucket again.
By the time I had pretty much recovered from my brush with insanity (called life being connected with a cult) and fell in love with my wife I came up with a solution for the nasty little bracelet that I would never wear.
We melted it down to recover the intrinsic value while obliterating the cult symbolism and ended up with two very nice wedding bands and are living happily ever after.
That of course is the long answer to you short question!
Newcomer, thanks for the confirmation that the actual 14K solid gold bracelets were that expensive to begin with – that fits with what I’ve seen elsewhere.
Gold was about $435 an ounce in 2004, and a 14K solid bracelet at a weight of around an ounce and a half has about an ounce of pure gold in it, so $3200 would be about about a 800% markup – which is about right for Scientology’s ripoff on top of typical gold jewelry high markups.
So a bracelet that was less expensive more recently, when the price of gold has gone up significantly, was probably not actually solid gold – 14K gold filled, maybe.
Laughter as always, Newcomer! And well done on getting the 18K bracelet, overpriced as it was, instead of the books, and MUCH applause for putting that solid gold to its most perfect usage. That’s my idea of Cause Over Mest. Yo Teddy Bragin, stop gnashing your teeth, you hear?
First of all, the Purif does not remove toxins from the body. And drinking straight oil in large quantities does not replace “bad fat”, it just makes you fatter. However, if you insist on sweating your ass off for no good reason, then join a gym that has a sauna, much more reasonable rates. But please, don’t drink straight oil. (Unless you hate your arteries).
When I first got uninvolved, I wanted to pay for the purif but didn’t have the $, sod they talked me into selling my truck (my only source of transportation) so I did but after finishing the purif, I h a d no means to getting back and forth to work. I to bum a ride from others. I felt like such a fool.
When they sold me on a ‘ll those lecture series I must have played over 3k.. the lectures were so boring that I stopped listening to them and tried selling them with many still in the original seal, ..I couldn’t get Any bites even when I came down to 500.
So I donated all of them to the local library. Wish now I would have just trashed them.
Once there was a way
To get back home
Once there was a way
To not be phoned
Sleep, little sheeple
Do not cry
And Dave will sing a lullaby
Golden pipe dreams
Fill your mind
Reges wait you when you rise
Sleep little sheeple
Do not cry
And Dave will sing a lullaby
Boy, you gotta carry that weight
Carry that weight a long time
Boy, you gonna carry that weight
Carry that weight a long time
You gave them all of your withholds
Then they did an interrogation
And in the middle of investigation
You broke down
Boy, you gotta carry that weight
Carry that weight a long time
Boy, you gotta carry that weight
You’re gonna carry that weight along time
On a side note: Cattlecar Mirth…oops, Battlefield Earth 1st Ed signed Limited Edition /555.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Battlefield-Earth-by-L-Ron-Hubbard-1st-Edition-LTD-201-555-Signed/132961784726?epid=1180136&hash=item1ef523d396:g:cwAAAOSwvL1b7dq1
Then you have –
https://www.bonanza.com/listings/Battlefield-Earth-Signed-Edition-Number-10-out-of-555-Limited-Edition/278440399
Slight price difference?
Then there is –
https://www.amazon.com/Battlefield-Earth-Saga-Year-3000/dp/0312069782
“Rare Collector’s Edition”? The two or three book exchanges where I am won’t touch this waste of paper. Even the Op Shops are iffy about it as well. It does, however, make for some pretty good landfill.
“signed” lol – I wonder who really signed them!
Signed by the guy who wrote “Diabetics” I guess..
Ha!
L. RON HUBBARD Leather Bound – Red – Limited Edition- Diabetics No 98/500
$148.50 $150.00
I found a reference to OT bracelets weighing 42 grams, or about an ounce and a half, which seems about right. That would make its current gold scrap value around $1,000 if it were solid 14K.
Gold jewelry retail prices are typically marked up ridiculously, with labor and manufacturing costs on top of gold value, and then several layers of additional mark-ups – and Scientology would only take that a money-grubbing step further. So I doubt that a bracelet originally sold for under $2,000 was solid 14K gold, and it may well be something more like the 14K gold vermeil bracelet that Mike found, or 14K gold filled – the markings on pieces like that are often 14K but followed by initials.
“Of course, when … something they have been selling for years or decades is “out tech” … there is never a thought given to “perhaps we should give those people their money back, at least credit their account or offer them the “new” in tech service for free …”
Actually that is SPECIFICALLY covered in L Con policy. It is forbidden and a high crime to do so. Even if an auditor did nothing in session except beat up the parishioner they cannot re-credit or refund the hours. The stated reason being that a person is responsible for their own condition and the CoS is responsible for nothing.
Just wondering. If I bought this magic bracelet would it give me ability to sense when I’m going to back into something? That would be great! How about see over the hood of the car without sitting on a pillow? That would be really really great. OH! Parallel park?! Or would it bring me bad luck because I was a fake? Never mind, I’ll just make sure to keep my auto insurance current and maybe shop for one of those cars that warns when you are about to hit something and parks the car for you.
I know that was a ridiculous post but I feel so bad for this guy. He’s spent all his money, yet he’s still trying to be an ATM machine (for DM) to keep paying for things he already paid for and never achieved whatever magical superior abilities he was told he would get. How sad! His mind must just be in a confused loop of “if I just can do this things will be wonderful”. LRH and DM said it so it has to be true. This poor guy. If the reality ever hits him I hope there is someone there to help him pick up the pieces
I suppose one can feel sorry for him the way you feel sorry for a woman who is in a physically abusive relationship.
There’s all this pity and it wrenches your heart…fast forward a few years and she’s still making excuses, still allowing it, still getting beaten up …one starts getting impatient…more time goes by…same situation, same excuses, no confront…more time…annoyance, boredom, but sorry, no more pity…the well is dry…at some point, there has to be some personal responsibility kicking in, and if not, well, suffer then! I’m done with you!
At least, that’s my viewpoint.
Good analogy Aquamarine. Years ago I found myself trying to help, not an abused wife, but an abused mother. A bit of a different situation and it and my choice to help, or try to help. It took a while to realize that all that help financially and even getting them into a safer place didn’t make a difference and that person’s choices were were not my responsibility. I don’t regret trying to help, I do feel bad about the choices they were making and I had to just walk away.
It’s pretty sad that the guy has to sell shit to raise a lousy $1,400 bucks. I guess the reg would usually open up a new credit card for him to get that, but his credit is probably trashed from his visit to AOLA back in 2012 (and I’ll bet he charged that bracelet too).
Yep, he’s hit the bottom of the barrel.
Gawd, when I was in, people were always trying to sell me their crap so they could give it to some reg or even just make their rent because they gave that to some damned reg.
A funny aside, I know someone who has a gold clam bracelet that the cult tried to get back because it didn’t have issue authority lol. I think I have a couple of silver clear bracelets laying around here somewhere but I doubt they are worth the effort to sell off.
When I was in the SO I stupidly got regged by ASI regges for a Leatherbound Mission Earth Series, paid for by selling stock (worth about $5000) my then-wife had inherited from her grandma. Gawd how stupid was I. Luckily, years later when I was in the RPF, I was able to sell the set to another RPFer for $3900, and considered myself so very lucky. They were such a huge rip-off. The con I fell for was that since they were a numbered set, and only so many sets were made, that they would greatly appreciate in value. Sure. Of course then they came out with additional leather bound sets of Mission Earth. And when I pointed out to the reg that she had lied to me, I was immediately threatened with ethics for “Black PR”. Jeez, what a bunch of criminals.
That comparison of the ‘gilded’ ie gold plated silver chain is misleading Mike. The .925 means sterling silver (.925 parts of silver = 92.5% silver, an alloy. Pure silver is too soft for the daily wear and tear use of jewellery. I deal a little in antiques, including jewellery and gilded sliver is very common.
Oh, as a warning, an increasing amount of jewellery coming out of China has .925 stamped on it, which indicates that it should be solid sterling sliver, when in fact it’s .925 silver plate over base metal = it’s a rip off! Be careful with jewellery coming out of China. In fact sales are increasing for retro, vintage & antique silver jewellery because the Chinese are doing this.
I still have my silver Clear bracelet, it’s in the jar of scrap sterling silver I will eventually sell as scrap. Sterling silver is worth about $US15 an ounce scrap value. 14K gold is valued at about $US712 an ounce right now, melt value.
Gee, I dislike spelling correction sometimes, sliver is not silver, but you get what I mean. Pity the editing function no longer works on this blog.
Me too, Jewelry has 1 “L” and 2 “E”s, 5 times
Not to mention the notifications! Kills me. Lol
That looks an awful lot like the one I’ve seen Tony Ortega pictured wearing. Anyone asked him if his has gone missing?
This goes to show how in debt most scientologists are. If this guy could afford an 1800.00 bracelet the first time around (in 2012, that would equate to a lot more money than today), but is now having to sell it to re-do a course, he obviously is hurting financially now.
It is obvious that the cult has drained this guy dry and is now asking for even more money to get to where he was in 2012. Its sad that these people still believe that the payoff will happen for them. The cult is obviously pushing people for every last valuable they possess. When this thing blows, there will be a lot of fallout left in the form of broke older people with no saved retirement. Yet another way the cult is creating long term damage to society.
Before Guy ‘OT Jewelry ‘ Grant starts his ‘purification rundown ‘ (again) he should review the origins of Hubbard’s theory about radiation. Ortega has a fair use excerpt on his website today. It’s worth checking out. It’s from the ol’ con’s 1957 book, All About Radiation. This book outlines the basics about radiation and I know every word in it is true because of the extensive research conducted by a REAL HONEST-TO-GAWD nuclear physicist AND a medical doctor. So there you have it, no need to look for further info on the subject and there is no need to question or think about it either. You just have to wonder though how many times someone has to overdose on vitamins, bake their brains out in the sauna and drink straight All-Blend oil chased by a tall refreshingly cool glass of Cal-Gag before they realize that they are being fucked outta their time, money, and their life?
As the old saying goes, “fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, fool me ad infinitum and I’m foolproof”.
Haha! There you go again. Now, I did the Purif once, of course got the gains available and administered the Purif for others. They all did well on it. Funny that eh? Perhaps the saying should now be changed – “you can lead a horse to the sauna, but you can’t make them get case gain!!” Something like that anyway eh? Or how about a variation of “casting pearls before swine”?
Ok, back in your hole Effy. Time to dig in and git yer lowly stats up. What did yer buddy Dave say …………… for every nastygram you come up with I will reduce yer ass kickings by one.
By the way, howz yer finances this week?
Let’s be honest here. Even if the “Purif” were beneficial, anyone can buy those same vitamins and sit in a sauna at their local gym without having to pay a shitload of money for it.
But hey, $cientology’s just trying to save the planet… one dollar at a time.
I stopped reading that piece about a third of the way through because I was quite literally getting a headache from the awful mind-numbing pulp fiction, sorry fact, he spewed out on his typwriter way back then. It’s my mothers fault because she obviously read something El Con Tubbard wrote while pregnant and that affected me while in the womb so anything by him causes me pain even to this day.
That last sentence is priceless. Love it! 😆
The gold this planet carry is in the middle of the it. The gold at the surface is brought to ihe planet by exploding super novas.
If it is so good for dissemination, why didn’t the seller ever wear it? Embarrassed?
Bought a 14 carat Eternity (figure eight on its side) ring from the cult about 10 years ago. Price for it was $500. Last year I sold it to a jeweler and was given $50 . I was told that was the market value for the gold it contained. Well, unlike my getting absolutely nothing for all the “services” I’d taken at least there was SOME return on this!
NEVER sell gold to a jeweler. Google & sell to gold buyers who’ll give you something closer to melt value. They still have to make a profit but jewelers for the most part operate without scruples with buying scrap value precious metal. It’s a real bonus they get sometimes by playing on the ignorance of jewellery owners who know nothing about how used gold is traded.
I have sold to jewelers. All you have to do is determine the carat and weight. Then check the daily price and negotiate.
Depends what sort of jeweler you’re taking about. Very few people across a jeweller’s counter have done an apprenticeship, they are sales/business people. Most jewelers are simply retailers. If you find one that can and will negotiate fine but that generally means the customer must have an idea of what is going on hopefully. If so, it’s worth their while to get more than one offer from different buyers if a lot of money is at stake. I use a number of jewelers to repair jewellery – they are not gold brokers but know a bargain when someone attempts to sell them gold jewellery. In Australia and my daughter in LA we have both decided with our experience i’s safer to deal with the pros. Business is business, but hey, it’s your money.
If one has an IQ >50 you can keep from being taken. Just figure out the F’ing value of the gold in hand and negotiate. Why are you trying to present it as rocket science?
You know Wynski, just when I thought you were a reasonable person, you present yourself as an asshole once again! I’ve helped lots of people sell their gold jewellery for the best price, especially for recently widowed and deceased estate sales. Go f..k yourself!
I call em as they are. Some people cannot handle that level of truth & reality. Maybe someday you will. Remember when you first came to this blog? You have come a long way to dealing with the real world since then.
Who in the hell are you to judge me? I don’t need people like you in my life. What you really “call ’em as you see ’em” and present is something I’ve observed in you for a long time too – you’re full of hate Wynski. Old folks forced to sell their stuff due to the death of loved one, need help, not analytical sharks like you to start circling. As I said, I deal in antiques part time because I like it, but quite often run into the sad part of life when people are forced to sell their things because circumstances changed with the death of someone close – that’s something I don’t think you would understand. Go away!
Who do you think that jeweler sells that gold to? If you like to pay a middle man when you don’t have to, fine, that jeweler needs to eat I suppose.
DearLord Xenu! $1800 for 14k trash? Just another empty “status symbol’ that means nothing to the real world, or to the owner once they’ve decompressed from the bubble.
The bracelet Mike posted is 14kt plating over sterling silver so price wise it’s not in the same ballpark. Gold prices have gone up since 2012 so if OT’s bracelet is solid gold (vs hollow) depending on the weight he could get good money for it at a pawn shop (if he dared wander into wog territory). 1oz of 14kt gold is currently worth more than $700 Cdn. If solid, that bracelet likely weighs more than that.
Currently, gold prices are taking off and I’d hold on to it for a bit and see how far it moves. It’s now over $1300/oz.
Peter
I did a search and it appears that Mr. Grant has deleted the ad. Found a willing buyer by chance? 🙂
Of course, Mr Grant did.He sold it on E-bay!
Eh, it says 6200 L Ron Hubbard items for sale.
Oeps 0 bids.Well maybe he just got the only winning bid out of 6200 items!https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=l+ron+hubbard&_sacat=0&_sop=16
Just because (of the OSA BS): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSfVatge1QE
Chris Shelton: Sensibly Speaking Podcast #75: Fair Game & Scientology with Steve Cannane
In the church back in the 80’s there was all sorts of status symbols (and still are) regarding Scn jewelry. I bought a gold Scn bracelet and a snarky Scn girl told me I can’t wear gold until I’m Clear and that people who are not clear can only wear Silver. Only when you standardly attest to the state of Clear can you wear gold. I ignored their rant and wore it anyway.
And in today’s article I’m surprised the Ship will let him sell an OT VIII bracelet to anyone. They want to be the one to make the sale when you come to the ship to do VIII. Probably the guy will get in trouble with the Ship re selling his VIII bracelet.
They will put Sharron Webber in a rowboat to track ya down and slam in ethics hard for wearin one of them gizmos without proper Eye Dee.
You got that right, Newcomer!
It looks a lot like desperation
Well, you know
We all have to pay the bills
You say you need purification
Well, you know
You gotta swallow all those pills
But when you talk about a hamster wheel
Don’t you know that you can count me out
Don’t you know it’s gonna be
All right, all right, all right
A solid, 14k gold bracelet would be much more than $100 – probably closer to $1,000. Your Google result shows a silver bracelet with a gold overlay which is inexpensive because it is mostly silver. You’re comparing apples to oranges. I have no doubt, however, that the guy overpaid for his OT bracelet so that the cult can make a profit.
Anyway, I love the Aftermath TV show and think you’re going excellent work. I just heard about the Aftermath Foundation and I’m truly happy that you’re helping individuals escape their dire circumstances. Continued good luck and God speed.
Zoe, you left out a word. Just before the word “profit” should be the word “huge”. 🙂
I wonder if he’ll be hauled into Ethics for calling it bling on the internet and then end up having to selling it just to try to buy himself out of Ethics trouble. The predatory practices built into Scientology should never have been allowed. I’m in favor of freedom of religion, but not religion being used to cover for crime, abuse, and manipulation.
Doesn’t Mr Grant realize that a sieno in ‘good standing’ does not have $1400?
Maybe he should swap the bling back to the reg for the price of the purif re-re-re-do-do.
You got the ‘do, do’ right but, you need many more ‘re’
Re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-do-do.
Hey!!! How about we do the whole Bridge again? It sure seems popular for bubble dwellers.
The STAAD denounces this as pure Bling-bling bigotry !
So he’s looking for a Scientologist in good standing with a spare $1 400 to spend on bling? Best of luck with that!
Oh dear. What are the odds it is real gold?
When it comes to the scam, I bet it is gold plated and the plating is 14K. That would make the thing worth about $1.50.
That much, huh?
Don’t forget that $1.00 of that total is for Demonic Midge’s bank account, 20c for advertising, 20c commission to the person who sold it, and 10c for the actual cost of the item itsel.
On a good day, yes.
That bracelet looks very coppery to me. Fourteen caret? I don’t think so, but then Lron once tried to get his first wife’s family to buy in to a gold mine Lron found in Maryland. And you know how successful Maryland Gold Mines have been.