As I've said recently, Hubs and I are off to Ohio later this month for some vacation time.
We'll be spending some time in the Columbus area this trip.
While I am no longer a shopaholic/spendaholic, I did use to hit the second hand stores on occasion in my past.
My jaw about hit the floor when I read this article about what one man found in a thrift store recently.
And the thrift store was in Columbus Ohio.
Price paid?
$14.14
Well played Zach Bodish, well played.....
I heard he sold it for $7K. He's unemployed and used the money to keep afloat.
Now I'm thinking we need to squeeze in some thrift store shopping on this trip!lol
While I haven't found a valuable work of art at the thrift store I did find a "hidden gem" once.
Back in the early 2000's, I found this at a Salvation Army.....
It's a Steiff tiger puppet.
Though mine has it's metal ear button which dates it from the 1950's.
The one I found was perfect in every way except it was missing the paper tag on it's chest(it still has the threads that held the tag there though).
Tiger was lying in a bin with a pile of dirty old smelly no longer loved stuffed animals.
Somebody knew it was worth more than the .50¢ price all the other critters were marked, so they marked it $7.00.
The lady at the register was aghast that this toy was marked at 7 freaking Dollars! She apologized and said that that manager was not there so she couldn't ask her to lower the price for me(not that I asked for a reduction). She had to charge me $7 and was none to happy about it. lol
This was back when this puppet was going for $150 on eBay.
$7 didn't phase me......
Too bad I didn't sell it.
He's packed away with some other dolls from my childhood.
I AM an idiot!!
And if I found a Picasso, I'd probably keep that too. 8-)
What about you? Have you ever found some unrecognized valuable at a thrift store?
Sluggy
If you sold it, you could pay for your Ohio vacation. Think about it!
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I just had a great day at Goodwill! (We call it Grandma Wilis's) I have a husband and a 16 yr old son and on my scavange for some school clothes etc I did a double take when I pulled a pair of interesting looking jeans off the rack...did the tag really say Armani? I just knew it would have one of those "special find" tags where they jack up the price of the really good stuff just to destroy the joy of the thrift store adventure, but no. I stopped scanning and started really looking at the rack and was amazed to see hanger after hanger of super-nice jeans that weren't acid washed, tapered to the size of a softball at the ankle or full of paint splatters. I was starting to shake a little when I put the 6th pair of jeans on my arm, and I quickly realized I needed a cart. I debated a little about the length of the trip to the front of the store, and I surveyed the few men in the area to see if anyone looked like they were getting close to comming over. When I felt it was safe, I took the ones I could carry and bolted to the carts. I didn't run back but it was hard to maintain my composure. Lady luck kept rewarding me with Armani, John Varvados, Lucky Jeans, Seven Jeans, and some that I had to google on my phone to see what thier origin was. When I finished in the Jeans, it occured to me that this man may have donated other items as well. I ran through the shoes with my now extremely heavy cart full of denim, but was dissapointed that I saw nothing out of the ordinary. I was committed now, so I started in the short sleeve section and it didn't take long for more booty to be uncovered. Prada, Holister, Banana Republic, Abercrombie...the list goes on! I quickly called my husband and blurted out the gist of my story in a string of broken sentences, filled with a lot of and, and, and, AND...I ended with "I'm gonna need some more money on my Check Card!" I was litterally drunk with excitement and the bigger the pile got on my cart, the more people started to notice me. A few people made a rude remarks about my load taking up the whole aisle, but a few saw some labels and paused to give me the "You lucky B*#@*!" look. Just when I thought I was starting to loose it by squeeling out loud instead of in my head, a younger guy (in his 20's probably) paused to survey the scene. "You have got to be kidding." was all he said. I was wondering if we were about to have a rumble, or if I was going to have to make a run for it, when he grinned and held up his hand. We rejoiced with a solid five (up high!)and I headed for the check out. All the sizes were close to what my husband and son wear and what ever doesn't fit...craigslist or ebay here I come! This will probably never happen to me again!
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