Biden cufflinks bought at thrift store

COLLINGDALE, Pa. - January 2, 2009 (WPVI) -- John Pickens walked into one of his neighborhood thrift shops like he does almost every other week. He was looking for a white collared shirt. He found not one but three. When he got home he found even more: It still had what area apparently cufflinks belonging to Vice President-elect Joseph Biden.

"I looked at the shirt. It says Brooks Brothers," John Pickens told Action News, "I say, 'Oh man. This really looks good too.' I said, 'French cuffs, this really looks good too.'"

The shirts were clean and crisp on the rack, except for one.

"The third shirt when I looked at it, it had the sleeves rolled up."

The shirts were only $1 a piece. So John Pickens decided to buy all three. When he got home, the one with the rolled up sleeves felt different. "It felt heavy. I said, 'Why is this so heavy?'"

He unrolled the sleeves and found two cuff links with the words United States Senator Joseph H. Biden Jr.

Initially, the 60-year-old retired casino worker didn't make much of the finding.

"It took me about 2 days to say, 'Those are probably his shirts and he probably wants his cuff links back. He probably doesn't want his shirt back but wants his cuff links.'"

But he couldn't be sure they belonged to the Vice President-elect.

"I went to a jeweler in Center City with just one of the links, to see if it was a fake. He said, 'No. This is solid gold."

Pickens believes if the cuff links belong to Vice President-elect Joe Biden, he'd surely want them back. Pickens called Action News to see if we'd be able to reach out to Biden's people. He's not looking for any reward or publicity he just want to return these very nice cuff links.

"I know if was me, I'd want my cuff links back." Action News has made repeated calls to Biden's office but they haven't been returned. So we don't yet know for certain if the cuff links belong to the Vice President-elect.

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inside politics, chad pradelli

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