Thrift Store Spree

Orchidflower said:
...a NEW mint condition Tiffany ashtray in the Tiffany blue box for $4 (worth $125-150), ...
Keep junking, because it is fun and you never ever know what you can run into.
...
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Several years ago on a visit to New York City, I went to a resale shop that sold all kinds of clothing, jewelry and props used on several of the daily soap operas. As I don't watch any of them, that part was lost on me, but I did find a beautiful bracelet for I think $8 or $10. I bought it because it was a perfect match to a Tiffany necklace I own, but the sales person was sure it wasn't a Tiffany piece. I took it home, cleaned it up, and sure enough....there was the T & Co mark. The bracelet was featured in a Tiffany catalogue for $625!!
 
Oh, WOW! See how beneficial it is to either live in a major city when it comes to junking? You would never find anything Tiffany where I am now. Maybe Tiffanie or Tifany, but never real Tiffany anything.
I'm in an area of about 400,000 yahoos at the Iowa-Illinois border the last 3 years, and the junking's just is lousy here. I looked already.
I found 2 WWII little statues of a pregnant woman with a funny saying for $4 each (probably cute during WWII but tacky now) that sell on ebay for $20, and a Kangol cap for $4 (worth $30, I think). I mean, it is hardly worth the gas to go over to the Salvation Army or Goodwills here. Very conservative area where nobody ever spends any big money--even if they do have it. Always been that way here and will never change, I guess.
I tell you, I am dying to see what is in the L.A., San Francisco and NYC junk stores in the future. Ahhh...such lofty dreams and goals I have...ha!
 
Yeah, but I bet someone in your area is holding onto some valuable WWII memorabilia or a classic car parked in the barn that we'll see on Antiques Roadshow some day!

I love to go to the garage sales in the high net worth suburb nearest my home -- average homes there are $1.5 million and up -- way up! Anyway, a couple of years ago I stopped at one garage sale where the majority of items were from a young couple who were divorcing after I think one year of marriage. I bought a bunch of typical wedding gifts (a teak tray, silver serving dishes, towels -- some still in their gift boxes) for pennies on the dollar.

When I got home, I discovered that the gift cards were still in the boxes! Wonder if she ever got around to writing thank you notes for those gifts??
 
Achiever51 said:
Yeah, but I bet someone in your area is holding onto some valuable WWII memorabilia or a classic car parked in the barn that we'll see on Antiques Roadshow some day!

I love to go to the garage sales in the high net worth suburb nearest my home -- average homes there are $1.5 million and up -- way up! Anyway, a couple of years ago I stopped at one garage sale where the majority of items were from a young couple who were divorcing after I think one year of marriage. I bought a bunch of typical wedding gifts (a teak tray, silver serving dishes, towels -- some still in their gift boxes) for pennies on the dollar.

When I got home, I discovered that the gift cards were still in the boxes! Wonder if she ever got around to writing thank you notes for those gifts??
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Maybe you should:D.
 
Achiever51 seems to know the mentality of this area well--people here have some very valuable old antique stuff and will be hanging on to it with their cold, dead hands, I think. People are always in the local papers with some cool, old item...but they won't sell it. This area may just be typical of mid-sized, established areas that are not transient at all (you are born here, you live here with your entire family around, and you die here...the end).
 
We lived in Indy for awhile. Spouse found all sorts of treasures...the more rural, the better. The 2nd hand junk stores in rural areas are bargains compared to the 'antique gallaries' we find in the big cities...same junk, tho. Nothing exquisite, mind you. We always thought bartering/trading was more a way of life there than in the big city where people get everything from the store.
 
My Mother lived in a nursing home for over 6 years. Before then she would make finds at the local Jr. League thrift shop. As much the laundry at the facility tried to take care of her things the antiseptics they must use took a toll on her clothes, so I went back to her former resale clothing sources. Mom always looked well turned out with fashionable duds, her fellow residents were none the wiser.

In my youth mother would say that the wealthy got that way by wise use of resources. Old money 'passes' things along, including clothing they can no longer use. Often residents in this facility are wearing clothing left by former residents with the finest of labels. Things would show up in Mom's closet and an aid would say "it looks nice on her". When she passed away we left Mother's things for use as the staff felt best.
 
I have read on the net in a piece by a resale organization or someone high in junking that the coastline of America is not so good as the center of the country for junking. Makes sense.
And where I am now, I understand for Depression and other old glassware, you can pick it up for a song in SW Iowa. Dealers from Chicago--where the fancy antique stores are--go on auction junkets thru this western, NW Illinois and Iowa area alot; but, too, they go to places like W. Virginia--which I doubt is a hotbed of fancy antiquery (did I coin a new word?).
Since I am eldercaring my feeble parent, we watch alot of Court TV. Lots of suing ebay sellers. Lots of crooks selling, I think. And these buyers went thru PayPal, too. What is wrong with PayPal not to do anything about that? Really has made me balk at selling all the stuff I have here from an antique stall I had before thru ebay.
 
jazz4cash said:
sounds like an oxymoron
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Well, the moron part might be accurate! In my area, the local paper runs notices of subdivision-wide sales, so you can cover a lot of territory in one trip. Seriously, some of these garage sales are just crazy! You can tell that the stuff is practically (or totally) brand new...sometimes it still has the original price tags on it.
 
I just have trouble picturing a truely upscale home featuring a garage sale. DW has been saying for years we're going to have a yard sale, meanwhile I take a load or two per month to the thrift store and try not to bring back more than Im donating. Now Im getting down to some stuff that might be valuable and may have to find a consignment shop
 
Achiever51 said:
Well, the moron part might be accurate! In my area, the local paper runs notices of subdivision-wide sales, so you can cover a lot of territory in one trip. Seriously, some of these garage sales are just crazy! You can tell that the stuff is practically (or totally) brand new...sometimes it still has the original price tags on it.
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and if you wait for the last day, late afternoon, sometimes the people will give you stuff for free cuz they are burned out from hauling it out of and into and out of and into the garage. pickings can be slim, but ya never know. this is how I get my ceramic plant pots. very pricey at new retail, but available for a song at garage sales. i like the old fashioned glazed kind from long ago.

the better the neighborhood, the cooler the stuff.
 
jazz4cash said:
I just have trouble picturing a truely upscale home featuring a garage sale. ....
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Au contraire! I've even been to [-]garage [/-]excuse me, estate sales in gated communities around here! And, unfortunately due to the increasing numbers of foreclosures, it seems that just about every weekend there's another garage sale followed a few weeks later by the sheriff's auction in some of the best neighborhoods around! (Not too long ago, out of curosity I went to one of the foreclosure auctions of a home assessed at $1.3 million. The highest bid at auction was $625,000...an amazing thing to witness, a bunch of people gathered on the front lawn with the auctioneer on the front porch, like the old West or something!)
 
Achiever51 said:
unfortunately due to the increasing numbers of foreclosures, it seems that just about every weekend there's another garage sale followed a few weeks later by the sheriff's auction in some of the best neighborhoods around!
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May I suggest that as well as garage sales, consignment stores may be worth checking out in your area? After Katrina, I expected to see a lot more estate sales than I did, due to wealthy residents hightailing it out of here en masse. There were a few more, but the consignment furniture stores and other consignment stores had some real treasures (and very low prices!) at that time. We got some terrific bargains there.
 
In Australia the ONLY way to sell a home is at auction from what I was told when I got my...yup, auctioneer's license around 1984. Just something I was interested in, so spent 2 weeks of my vacation at the best auction school in the country (Missouri Auction School in Kansas City, MO.). Great experience and fun.
You can call me "Colonel" now....(everyone who graduates from there becomes an automatic "Colonel").
 
Orchidflower said:
Since I am eldercaring my feeble parent, we watch alot of Court TV. Lots of suing ebay sellers. Lots of crooks selling, I think. And these buyers went thru PayPal, too. What is wrong with PayPal not to do anything about that? Really has made me balk at selling all the stuff I have here from an antique stall I had before thru ebay.
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With PayPal and many other online companies I think it is that they do not want to pay someone to spend time on the telephone which can drag on to a lengthy conversation.

Before I retired I worked in law enforcement on computer crime and computer forensics stuff, including online fraud. Years ago, on a worldwide LE list serve the complaints from law enforcement people were legion in trying to reach a "live human being" at Ebay and PayPal security. Those two were the worst. I'm still on the list serve and they have now established a tightly guarded list of contact information for those and other companies, such as AOL. But each contact took hours or days to reach.

The reason the list is tightly guarded is that the promise is extracted that their contact information is to be given only to other law enforcement people. Apparently they have little interest in dealing with the unwashed masses who have been bilked, by any means other than E-mail.

For this reason I will deal ONLY with online companies who post both a physical address and a telephone number on their web sites.
 
Orchidflower said:
Since I am eldercaring my feeble parent, we watch alot of Court TV. Lots of suing ebay sellers. Lots of crooks selling, I think. And these buyers went thru PayPal, too. What is wrong with PayPal not to do anything about that? Really has made me balk at selling all the stuff I have here from an antique stall I had before thru ebay.
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I assume you have not spent much time on ebay. There are lots of 'too good to be true' deals there. Ebay is notoriously arms-length when it comes to resolving disputes. They really depend on thier user-rating system. I think Ebay now owns paypal, so........
 
Thanks for all that info, Walt 34 and jazz4cash. I've purchased about 100 things on ebay and never had a problem, but then I am one of those very immediate payers who does look at the ratings of the sellers before buying anything. I've done okay so far, but it do make one leary. Lots and lots of scammers on ebay, so I am not sure I would buy anything very expensive on there (over $300--probably not).
 
Everytime I peruse the listings on eBay (Motors, usually), the Will Smith song "Wild, Wild West" starts playing in my head. Definitely buyer beware. Not surprising many on this forum are Craigslist types. I listed a Nordic trak ski machine on CL under FREE STUFF and got deluged with offers, my intent was to do first come-first served, but I revised the offer and got a Starbucks gift card in exchange...I think it was $10.
 
Well, a $10 Starbucks for a Nordic Trac...wish I lived closed to you. I surely did not mean that insultingly, jazz4cash. Just shows you aren't greedy for money is all.
 
Orchidflower said:
Well, a $10 Starbucks for a Nordic Trac...wish I lived closed to you. I surely did not mean that insultingly, jazz4cash. Just shows you aren't greedy for money is all.
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No insult taken. I chuckled when I read your response. I felt sorta bad raising my price from FREE, but seeing how much the guy that got it appreciated the bargain, it was a reward in itself. When I donate to goodwill or salvation army, I imagine that someone will appreciate the item, but it felt good to see firsthand. It just dawned on me I can't write the Nodic Trak off on my taxes, tho.............
 
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