Best Thrift Store/Garage Sale Find

[Ltlabner]

My wife and I enjoy shopping at thrift stores, antique stores, flea markets and garage sales. It's really got nothing to do with saving money, it's more the thrill of the hunt. When we want something nice we spend the $$$ to get it new, but if we want a little trinket or small peice of furniture it's hard to beat the joy of junking.

What is your best thrift store/antique shop/flea market/garage sale find?

I'd say our best is a 1950's contemporary dresser for $5 + another $10 in stain + labor to strip it down and re-do it. We ended up with a fantastic dresser. It's not a famous brand of furniture or anything, but brought the design of our master bedroom together and it just a great looking peice of furniture.

Our latest score was some lockers out of a school that had shut down. I re-bolted them together and hung them in the garage. Bingo...perfect storage space for winter jackets, boots and who knows what.

Like I said, it's more the thrill of the hunt then what we end up with.

[Falls City Beer]

Originally Posted by Ltlabner

My wife and I enjoy shopping at thrift stores, antique stores, flea markets and garage sales. It's really got nothing to do with saving money, it's more the thrill of the hunt. When we want something nice we spend the $$$ to get it new, but if we want a little trinket or small peice of furniture it's hard to beat the joy of junking.

What is your best thrift store/antique shop/flea market/garage sale find?

I'd say our best is a 1950's contemporary dresser for $5 + another $10 in stain + labor to strip it down and re-do it. We ended up with a fantastic dresser.

Our latest score was some lockers out of a school that had shut down. I re-bolted them together and hung them in the garage. Bingo...perfect storage space for winter jackets, boots and who knows what.

Like I said, it's more the thrill of the hunt then what we end up with.

Beautiful Champagne finish Haywood-Wakefield hutch: $15. Place was kind of shifty--I kind of feared it was hot (stolen from an old lady's home or something), but I turned off my conscience and bought it. Gorgeous piece.

[westofyou]

1st Edition Copy of Gone With The Wind for $30

No DJ (Rats!)

[Falls City Beer]

I found a full set of Richard Simmons's Deal-a-Meal cards. Didn't buy them (should have--cuz they're rad--and had pictures of Richard on them).

I now go to rummage sales/thrift stores to find 80s metal tapes and old reel-to-reel machines, etc. What's cool about finding some of those old reel-to-reels is that they often contain the voices of previous owners--usually children uttering curse words or weird monologues. Great stuff.

[Blimpie]

My favorite is the guy who thought he was buying a nice looking picture frame for like $ 10 dollars. When he removed the ugly print that it held, beneath it lied an original copy of the Declaration of Independence...or was it the Constitution?

If that story wasn't an urban myth...that cat wins hands down.

[westofyou]

Originally Posted by Blimpie

My favorite is the guy who thought he was buying a nice looking picture frame for like $ 10 dollars. When he removed the ugly print that it held, beneath it lied an original copy of the Declaration of Independence...or was it the Constitution?

If that story wasn't an urban myth...that cat wins hands down.

How bout the truckdriver who bought a Jackson Pollack for $5?

Or did she?


http://rhodeisland.cox.net/cci/movie...alidatearticle

[SunDeck]

I bought a gas grill for $10 two years ago. Installed a new burner and have been happy with it ever since. That total purchase amounted to about $29, total.

[Rojo]

I bought a pre-Apollo moon globe for $2. Its dated 1966 and features spots where both Americans and Soviets have landed craft.

Its also all-metal which is nice since most globes these days are made out of cardboard.

[OldRightHander]

A few years ago I went to an estate sale where some old fart had died and his family was selling all his stuff. There was a box of old books. In it was a copy of Around the World in 80 Days, only the title was Tour of the World in 80 Days. I did some checking and found out that only so many were printed with that title until it was changed to the title we all know. Maybe it's worth something, but I've not bothered to check and it's not in the best condition anyway.

At another sale a woman was unloading her late husband's stuff and there was a shoebox of sports cards, most of them baseball. She told me I could have the box for a dollar. When I got home and started going through them I found found a '72 Johnny Bench in what has to be mint condition, a couple Pete Rose cards from around the same time, and a couple Wayne Gretzky hockey cards printed in French. The other cards were all various other players from the 70s and 80s. The Bench and Rose cards were enclosed in some sort of clear plastic holder to keep them good and are in excellent condition.

My wife and I found a chair for $5 a couple years ago that we absolutely love. It's really solid wood with leather cushions and is comfortable as heck. I'm not sure how old it is.

[SunDeck]

Originally Posted by OldRightHander

A few years ago I went to an estate sale where some old fart had died and his family was selling all his stuff. There was a box of old books. In it was a copy of Around the World in 80 Days, only the title was Tour of the World in 80 Days. I did some checking and found out that only so many were printed with that title until it was changed to the title we all know. Maybe it's worth something, but I've not bothered to check and it's not in the best condition anyway.

At another sale a woman was unloading her late husband's stuff and there was a shoebox of sports cards, most of them baseball. She told me I could have the box for a dollar. When I got home and started going through them I found found a '72 Johnny Bench in what has to be mint condition, a couple Pete Rose cards from around the same time, and a couple Wayne Gretzky hockey cards printed in French. The other cards were all various other players from the 70s and 80s. The Bench and Rose cards were enclosed in some sort of clear plastic holder to keep them good and are in excellent condition.

My wife and I found a chair for $5 a couple years ago that we absolutely love. It's really solid wood with leather cushions and is comfortable as heck. I'm not sure how old it is.

Could it be this one?

Or this one?

[dougdirt]

Originally Posted by westofyou

How bout the truckdriver who bought a Jackson Pollack for $5?

Or did she?


http://rhodeisland.cox.net/cci/movie...alidatearticle

Sounds like the local guy who claims he has an original t206 Honus Wagner (you know, like the one Wayne Gretzky bought for a million bucks), but everywhere he has gone to have people look at it, tell him its a fake. He wont let any crad grading service look at it, becuase they will not look at the card with you present and he doesnt trust them. He claims he has had scientist look at it and it has been printed on paper from 1905-1912, and regardless of what anyone says, he claims its legit....

Anyways, my best garage sale find was a Tom Brady Autographed rookie card for 60 bucks.....sold it a few months later for $250.

[westofyou]

Originally Posted by dougdirt

Sounds like the local guy who claims he has an original t206 Honus Wagner (you know, like the one Wayne Gretzky bought for a million bucks), but everywhere he has gone to have people look at it, tell him its a fake. He wont let any crad grading service look at it, becuase they will not look at the card with you present and he doesnt trust them. He claims he has had scientist look at it and it has been printed on paper from 1905-1912, and regardless of what anyone says, he claims its legit....

Anyways, my best garage sale find was a Tom Brady Autographed rookie card for 60 bucks.....sold it a few months later for $250.

I saw that guy and his card on Bryant Gumble's HBO show, pretty interesting stuff.

[minus5]

Best I ever got was a 1966 Batman lunchbox in pretty decent shape for 50 cents. It's no Honus Wagner but I liked it.

[westofyou]

Originally Posted by minus5

Best I ever got was a 1966 Batman lunchbox in pretty decent shape for 50 cents. It's no Honus Wagner but I liked it.

I had that lunchbox, it was this one right?

[SteelSD]

Walked into a pawn shop and they had six of the first 12 Randy Bowen Marvel mini-busts. Purchased them for a total of $80.00. Turned around and sold them on eBay for over $800.00.