The guy at the Columbus flea market who sniffed a $4 brass bell and handed it back
I found a little brass bell at the flea market on Mound Street last Saturday and the seller grabbed it, held it to his ear for a second, and said "nope, that one's got a dead ring." He then pulled a different bell out of a box under his table that he'd priced at $4 and told me to try that one instead, called them "junk drawer bells." Does anyone actually know how to tell a live bell from a dead one, because I bought both and they sound the same to me.