Thrift store

[beyelzu]

what have you bought at a thrift store that was cool.

today I bought a couple of books alexander, a biography about a certain world conquering dude and a Adams vs. Jefferson The Tumultuous Election of 1800.

the coolest thing is that all proceeds from this thrift store go to supporting a shelter for battered women. I plan to shop them regularly cuz the money definitely goes to a good cause.

Incidentally both books are in like new condition and hardbacks and were only 1.50 each.

[Petra]

I bought a really cool silver ring of an Aztec goddess for £1. I'm trying to find pictures of something similar on teh internets to show you, but without success. It's a very, very cool ring, though. :yup:

I got my computer speakers at a secondhand store, also in London, for about £10. They weren't made for computers (they're about 25 years old or something), but they're kick ass Wharfdales and they ...well... kick ass. :D

I also have a few thrift shop books that I bought very recently: some Gogol, a book of New Orleans Stories, some Tolstoy, a rather informative little tourist book from Gettysburg, and a few others including two books from the Hitchhiker's Guide series which I will reread then send off to livius so she has no excuse for not reading them. :cool:

[lisarea]

Lots of things, but most recently, a couple of weeks ago, I got a copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Julia Child's first book.

I think it was $1.50 or something.

So, I get it home and I'm reading through it, and I says to myself, "Hey. There's something funny about this." It was obviously old, and a little sunbleached on the spine, but other than that, it's practically pristine. I don't think anyone had ever read it before.

So I look in the front, and dadgummed if it ain't a first edition. Which it is. A first edition, and I think a first printing. So I looked for it on ABE. I didn't see any first editions in as good condition as mine, but the inferior ones were going for around $250.

The downside being that now I don't want to use it lest I mess it up.

[livius drusus]

First you find a few thousand dollars lying around. Then you find a first edition of Mastering the Art of French Cooking for pocket change. Have you been blowing leprechauns behind the ODB's back or something?

I've gotten utlitarian things at thrift stores -- mainly kitchen implements -- but nothing cool enough to remember, never mind mention here.

[Dingfod]

The neatest: a like-new working Toshiba microwave oven for $15. It wasn't a real large microwave, but it was one the tallest microwave ovens I've ever seen. It was an oddball thing with inside measurements something like 9" deep by 9" wide by 11" high. It was kind of handy for heating things in tall containers but standard dinner plates wouldn't fit.

I've bought books, baby clothes, cooking utensils, tools, and furniture from thrift stores. For some reason, 2XL size men's clothing just doesn't seem to show up in thrift stores. I keep looking. I like bargains.

[Ex-zombie]

I got a pristine copy of Carl Sagan's Cosmos. Hard back edition. Complete with all the beautiful pictures. For $2.00.

My spouse had dragged me there. I was moaning in my head about the hazards of matrimony at the time. Out of sheer boredom I wandered over to the bookshelves. I now harass the spouse about going to the thrift store. You're right, bey, it's a plus that the money spent there goes to help the community in some way. The one I frequent most is run by the SPCA, so the money goes to help them achieve their "no-kill" policy for stray animals.

I have found other interesting and cool items as well. Like a set of framed poster size black and white photos taken in Rome.

[John Carter]

A first edition Julia Child for $1.50?

/me drools

As a confirmed bibliophile, I am insanely jealous.

[SharonDee]

I bought a copy of The Celestine Prophecy for 75 cents.
:bag:

/me offers herself up for the requisite spanking.

[Miss Shelby]

what have you bought at a thrift store that was cool.

today I bought a couple of books alexander, a biography about a certain world conquering dude and a Adams vs. Jefferson The Tumultuous Election of 1800.

the coolest thing is that all proceeds from this thrift store go to supporting a shelter for battered women. I plan to shop them regularly cuz the money definitely goes to a good cause.

Incidentally both books are in like new condition and hardbacks and were only 1.50 each.
I have found lots of clothes for my kids in good enough condition to buy. I have to go prepared to do a lot of digging, and maybe shopping around at various thrift shops, but it can be done. (and I can usually get a pretty good haul).

I dread the impending day when they won't want me to do that anymore.

Michelle

[lisarea]

As a confirmed bibliophile, I am insanely jealous.

Actually, it's not uncommon to find stuff like that. It's not the first first edition that I've found in a thrift store. It was mostly just weird because I didn't actually realize what it was until I got it home. It was in such good condition, I just assumed it was a lot newer. People clean out grandma's attic or something and just dump stuff in there that they don't know what it is, and thrift store employees usually don't go around checking the publishing information. So you're more likely to find a valuable book for pennies at a thrift store than you are at a used bookstore, where they're looking for it.

I also have about 60 cashmere sweaters and several cashmere coats that I mostly got from thrift stores. And that's only the ones in really good condition. I have a bunch more that are threadbare or have holes in them, which I fully intend to make into throws or something someday. I can run my hand across the sweater rack and find the cashmere with decent accuracy. Like a cashmere guided missile, I tell you what. And you'd be amazed at how many of them you'll find. Again, I think it's one of those things where people aren't even thinking to look for it. I got a couple of them from this one place where they'd marked up anything with silk in it maybe 300% the standard price, noting "SILK!" on the tag.

What else?

Oh. The day I went to a thrift store with my mom, and as we were getting out of the car, she said, "You looking for anything?" and I said, "I'm going to get a knitting machine." She called bullshit on me, so I walked to the back of the store and got a knitting machine for $20.

Failed yarn projects are good. People will go out and buy a shitload of expensive yarn to make something, then never get started and end up giving it to the thrift store, where they package the lots in big plastic bags. You can get several pounds of wool, cotton, and silk yarn for a couple of bucks sometimes. Same thing with fabric sometimes. I made my headboard out of a partial bolt of nubby upholstery silk from the thrift store. It's a pale green that coordinates very nicely with the pale yellow nubby silk drapes I also got at the thrift store.

I found an Enid Collins purse (a lot like this, (http://www.rubylane.com/shops/pinkpoodlevintage/item/0130?froogle=1) except black) once and bought it just because it was so insanely glamourous, then looked it up when I got home and found out it was a collector's item. So I found I think three more Enid Collins purses in the next couple of months.

I wasn't going to brag, but then I did anyway because I am a big showoff. I am really good at thrift store shopping. I hate other shopping, but I love thrift stores.

My next project is that I am going to find a theremin. Mark my words. I WILL find a theremin. Nobody will know what it is except me, so I will pay less than $5 for it.

[John Carter]

As a confirmed bibliophile, I am insanely jealous.

Actually, it's not uncommon to find stuff like that. It's not the first first edition that I've found in a thrift store. It was mostly just weird because I didn't actually realize what it was until I got it home. It was in such good condition, I just assumed it was a lot newer. People clean out grandma's attic or something and just dump stuff in there that they don't know what it is, and thrift store employees usually don't go around checking the publishing information. So you're more likely to find a valuable book for pennies at a thrift store than you are at a used bookstore, where they're looking for it.


I once found an 1858 edition of Longfellow's The Courtship of Miles Standish and Other Poems in a used bookstore for $8.00. Its a first edition, but not a first printing. It has a dated inscription (in pencil) where it was given to some guy's daughter as a christmas present. I haven't ever had it appraised, so I have no idea what its actually worth.

[lisarea]

I once found an 1858 edition of Longfellow's The Courtship of Miles Standish and Other Poems in a used bookstore for $8.00. Its a first edition, but not a first printing. It has a dated inscription (in pencil) where it was given to some guy's daughter as a christmas present. I haven't ever had it appraised, so I have no idea what its actually worth.

Oh, man. How dare you be envious of my Julia Child?

Sometimes, you can get a rough idea from searching for similar books online just to see what they're going for.

ABE Books (http://dogbert.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=longfellow&imagefield.x=41&fe=on&tn=standish&sortby=1&imagefield.y=14) does searches of a bunch of independent booksellers, and you can narrow your search results to first editions, signed copies, copies with dust jackets, etc. It's not an appraisal, but it can sort of give you a ballpark idea and maybe help you decide whether an appraisal is worthwhile, at any rate.

In this case, it probably is worthwhile.