The arrival of loot

This is a loot-themed post...

First, a real-life bit of "loot" arrived. A while ago, I impulse-bought a Geralt of Rivia (of the Witcher game and book series), I came across it at a price I couldn't resist, and pulled the trigger before thinking twice.
Here's the man himself:

 

If he seems a bit moist in this picture, that is correct. As a second-hand, he was missing his box and had been wrapped in bubblewrap for transit. This, as well as the mandhandling he received during his travel by post resulted in some warping of the figure: The sword on his back was bow-shaped and the one in his hands seemed distinctly noodle-like. Luckily some hot water allowed me to reset everything to its intended shape. This picture was taken right after his form-correcting bath...

It's a very good figure, with only a few flaws: the mould-lines that were left unremoved and the misplacement of the eye decals, making Gerald distinctly cross-eyed. I'm going to enjoy him in his unmodified state for a few days/weeks as I debate wether or not to go ahead on a full repaint.

The other loot is more gaming related. A while back, I ordered some sets of fantasy coins to use as in-game currency for, for example, tabletop RPGS or my own idea for Questing/Chivalry based fantasy skirmishing. These coins can accomodate a range of wealth from the daily loaf of bread costing a copper bit, up to major purchases using an impressively large golden coin. But as adventurers have a tendency to end up ludicrously wealthy (especially in things like D&D) and like their wealth portable, I needed a way to represent even greater riches. In come precious stones...
Another cheap online purchase:

In this picture you can see a few of them. (for reference, the largest coins in the pictures are about an inch across).

Unfortunately, the glass jewels came with that typical silvered backing, that I'm now trying to remove.
Apparently, a mix of salt and vinegar should work, but I'm not yet seeing much effect:

If this fails, it's on to sterner measures, and I'll see if the same oven cleaner I used on my Gaslands Hotwheels will have a similar effect on these gems silvery coating...

See you next time!