The urge to spend money is never greater than during the festive season. The ever increasing commercialisation of Christmas has placed extra pressure on the consumer to splash out often obscene amounts of money to ensure that their loved ones can ‘properly’ celebrate the humble birth of a humble man.

And, despite the ferocity of the Celtic Tiger, the fact remains that a large number of families cannot afford the extravagances, and often have to turn to various people or organisations for loans – a situation which can lead to severe complications once the decorations come down.

One escape route from such problems – the pawn shop – became a casualty of the first great Irish economic boom in the 1960’s. Prior to then, there were dozens of pawn shops in Dublin, but now only four remain. The Christmas period was the busiest time of the pawnbroker’s year, and although the financial refuge they offered was only temporary, it is worth considering that the patron saint of pawnbrokers is in fact St. Nicholas, otherwise known as Santa Claus.

On the local side of things, I’m sure that many people still recall Rafter’s pawn shop, which was situated behind Ringsend Library. Like so many of its contemporary establishments, it closed in the mid-1960’s but it’s place in Ringsend lore is assured. Among other contributions, there is the Rafter’s Trophy, which was presented to the winner of the annual Christmas morning swim, which still takes place in the Half Moon swimming club on the South Wall. Among the many amiable people who worked in the shop, a character known as ‘Dick outa the pawn’ is especially remembered, and if anyone can enlighten us of his surname, please do.

At one stage, there was a pawnbrokers strike, and one local man got down on his knees during his daughter’s wedding and beseeched Almighty God for the strike to continue forever so he wouldn’t have to give his suit back! Then there was the family who were in the habit of pawning almost all of their worldly goods on a Monday and redeeming them all every Saturday – a most interesting approach to household budgeting.

Far from wishing to wallow in nostalgia and the ‘good ol’ days’ – things are much better now – it is undeniable that the sign of the three balls signified greater hope and security than will ever be found in the dangerous waters of the loan shark.

As for the meaning of the three balls – well, a lot of old wits will tell you it that they represented the odds of getting your pawned items back: 2-1 against! But it actually stems from a wealthy medieval Lombardy family of merchants and money lenders. Three sisters of the family were marrying simultaneously and each recieved a bag of gold as a dowry. This triple gift was immortalised when a symbol of three gold balls was inscribed into their family crest. And now you know. Happy Christmas!