Show us your Thrift and/or yard sale finds

tonyb said:

Normally, I wouldn't pay anything approaching 8 bucks for a 7-inch bowl at a thrift shop, but this one is a genuine vintage Cathrineholm enamelware job. People routinely pay 50 bucks and more for one of these babes.

Click to expand...

jamespowers said:

Nice find. :eusa_clap

Click to expand...

tonyb said:

Thanks.

I was a bit taken aback that they knew enough to mark it well above your typical prices in that shop, but nowhere near what it could easily fetch. There's a sufficient number of people collecting this stuff, and the shop (operated by the local senior center) is located in a district where those sorts of people are known to congregate. So I'd think they could find somebody willing to pay, say, 25 or 30 bucks for it, because that would-be buyer knows how slim his or her chances are of finding a similar piece for less money elsewhere.

Click to expand...

jamespowers said:

Never argue with being in the right place at the right time.
...

Click to expand...

V.C. Brunswick said:

Don't laugh but this one sold for.... $125,000

Click to expand...

AtomicEraTom said:

Jimmy - that clock face is identical to a mantle clock I have, though the furniture itself is a little different.

Click to expand...

tonyb said:

That's what it boils down to, really. You find this stuff (at reasonable prices) only if you go looking, and the more you look the more you'll likely find. You gotta be open to whatever might turn up, and you gotta be willing to walk away empty-handed if the bargains aren't there.

All of which points to what irritates me so about that g&*d&%$ed "Market Warriors" show on PBS, and what an unrealistic portrayal of the antiques/collectibles business it is. They set the competing "pickers" loose at antiques and collectibles fairs (a la Alameda Point, or Brimfield, or the Rose Bowl) with instructions to come back with items within a fairly specific category, to be resold at auction. This is fundamentally flawed (if the aim is to turn a profit) for three reasons: 1.) you can't limit your search to such narrow parameters, 2.) you have to be willing to come away with nothing, and 3.) the places they hunt rarely yield the really good deals, because so many of the sellers are professional dealers who usually have a clearer idea of what their swag is worth.

It's certainly not the case that you can't get a good deal at such a place, but you have to know how to play it and, again, you gotta be willing to walk away. Hitting a weekend-long event during the final hour can be fruitful. I've found many a bargain on items the seller was just getting tired of packing up and moving from flea market to flea market. The guy might honestly think that old enamel cigar sign is worth 150 bucks, and he's probably right that it indeed is worth that or more, to the right buyer. But he's had it for a year and a half now, packing it up and unpacking it over and over again, and that right buyer has yet to come along, and its very presence has become an annoying reminder of what he isn't selling.

Click to expand...

Shangas said:

Oooh that's a pretty clock.

I'd love a nice small mechanical clock for my desk. So far, I haven't found one which I like.

Click to expand...

jamespowers said:

Interesting. I picked up my clock at Alameda Point. It was the only thing I found that was worth buying too.
I looked at everything. The clock was one of those things that the guy was tired of hauling around.

Click to expand...

tonyb said:

I've never been to the Alameda Point Antiques Faire (yes, that's how it's spelled, sorta like Ye Olde Pizza Jointe), but I'm acquainted with an old-junk peddler who typically makes the monthly trip down that way. She finds it worth her while to load up her van and drive the 750 miles each way, which is some indication of just how lucrative it can be, at least for some of the sellers. And of course she hits some thrift stores along the way, to help replenish her inventory.

It's the sheer volume of potential customers, she tells me, that draws the sellers, and vice-versa.

Click to expand...

Shangas said:

That is quite a Singer! I bet it weighs a ton, though.

Click to expand...

RetroToday said:

Great finds DNO!

Have to admit, I've never seen that model of Singer before. Beautiful, in an almost "brutalist" style of industrial design.
I also went to Goodwill today and found squat, so to me you are definitely having a bout of good luck!

Click to expand...

DNO said:

It's a model 301A and was made in 1953. We've never seen one either. Reminds me of an old steam locomotive. We managed to get it at half-price as well (50% off all electrical items today).

Goodwill has its ups and downs and some locations are definitely better than others. I find that their prices have been creeping upwards at a pretty steady pace. Although the sewing machine was an interesting find (particularly for my wife) and I certainly like its 'look', I was pretty excited to find an autographed copy of Sting's autobiography. How does something like that end up in a Scarborough Goodwill store?

Click to expand...

RetroToday said:

Goodwill doesn't seem to be doing very well at all in our area lately, too many thieving opportunists.
I wouldn't be surprised if they shut down completely in the local area. Too many of their employees cut off the merchandise before it can even get to the sales floor. They grab it for themselves and then hit ebay.

Click to expand...