Brain Game: The Great Bracelet Mystery

Almost all my Brain Game puzzles are original creations, but I occasionally stumble upon an old challenge that’s worthy of reintroduction. Today’s Friday Free-for-All is one of those, and it comes from Martin Gardner’s Perplexing Puzzles from way back in 1969. Enjoy!

A lady had four pieces of gold chain (as pictured above). Each piece contained three links. She took the four pieces to a jeweler and asked him to join them together to make a bracelet, like this:

“I’ll have to charge you one dollar for each link I cut apart and weld together again,” the jeweler said. “Since I have to cut and weld four links, the job will cost you four dollars.”

“Oh no it won’t,” said the lady (who was very good at puzzles). “It should cost only three dollars because you can make the bracelet by cutting and welding only three links.”

The lady was right. Show how the job can be done in just the way she said.

Here is the SOLUTION.