This finely crafted abacus is carved from dark hardwood and strung with polished gemstone beads that softly click of their own accord. Tiny runes etched into each bead shimmer faintly whenever an item is pressed against the frame.
The abacus has 3 charges and regains 1d3 expended charges daily at dawn.
As an action, you can expend 1 charge by pressing a complete physical object against the abacus and sliding a single bead from one side of the frame to the other. The remaining beads shift with impossible precision before settling into a final arrangement. You immediately learn the object's approximate fair market value.
For mundane items, the estimate is typically accurate to within 10 percent. For magical items and other exceptional treasures, the abacus reveals what it determines to be the item's current fair market value, though this value may differ from what a particular collector or desperate buyer is willing to pay.
The abacus only functions while touching the actual object and cannot appraise illusions, images, or incomplete items. It cannot identify an item's magical properties, history, or curses, nor can it determine the value of coins, gemstones, trade goods sold in bulk, or other commodities whose worth is already commonly established.
When used on an artifact or an object whose value cannot reasonably be measured, the beads rattle endlessly without ever coming to rest, and the charge is not expended.
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