People News

Jason Statham ran profitable jewellery trade

Mar 21, 2012, 11:02 GMT

Jason Statham

Jason Statham used to make £2,000 a day selling 'hokey' jewellery.

The 'Transporter' actor admits he had a very profitable trade selling phoney accessories on the streets of London before embarking on his showbiz career .

He said: 'Man, we was doing £1,000, £2,000! In pound notes, mind you. Selling s**t you'd buy for maybe 60 pence? See, that's bunce, pure profit.

'Sold some real hokey watches in my day. I used to work four chains, a two-foot rope, 18-inch rope, a bracelet, a Figaro chain, a horn of plenty, and a lady's or gent's ring. Take them out of the set, wrap 'em each in tissue. If they'd say, 'Can't we have a box?' You'd say, 'We all get a box one day, want one or not. And there'll be flowers in the room, but you won't be able to smell 'em neither. ''

Jason learned how to sell the products from his father, who used to train him by staging 'mock auctions' in their home.

He recalled to Details magazine: 'We'd set up shop, mock auctions, the run-out, ram shop. These are all words and names describing the way people get ripped off.'

However, the 'Crank' star - who is in a relationship with model-turned-actress Rosie Huntington-Whiteley - insists he didn't deliberately 'rip off' people, but their own greed led to them buying more of his wares because of their desire to pick up a bargain.

He added: 'It's people's own greed that allows them to get ripped off. If your intuition served you at all, you'd never be in that shop or that corner. And we never said, 'That's gold, that's Cartier.' We just never let them ask.

'Forget £100, forget £50, forget £40, forget £30. Should I keep going, Miss? Yes? That's what she said last night. Never mind a tenner, never no fiver ... See, it's that necessity for a bargain, that relentless thirst for a discount, that lets me create the illusion. That's what we played on, and, you know, that's all I ever really knew.'