Show us your Thrift and/or yard sale finds

[Wire9Vintage]

Tom, those clocks are the best! Beautiful!

 

[tonyb]

Not really surprising. Small towns and rural areas are really the places to find stuff anymore. I get the sense that many of the dealers out here find most of their stuff on buying trips back east. Where I am even the so-called "estate sales" are a real joke.

Ain't that the truth. The farther I travel from large population centers the richer I find the pickings, and the better the prices. There are fairly remote areas out here (the Washington state Pacific coast, for instance) where the local economies are in the dumps and will likely remain there for quite some time, seeing how the industries that built those settlements have largely disappeared and there is nothing stepping in to take their places. Stuff bought new way back when can be had for a song, often.

I've noted also that even the "major" thrift shops -- Goodwill, Value Village, etc. -- ask lower prices in the lower-rent districts, even in the major metropolitan areas. Gotta sell the stuff, you know, and when your customer base is predominately lower income folks, you gotta price your stuff accordingly.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Thank you both very much. I was the most excited about the clocks, and an old copy of 'Better Homes and Gardens' that I also picked up over the weekend had an ad for the smaller clock in it.

Tom, those clocks are the best! Beautiful!

It's amazing that you're thrift-shopping in a smaller community and come up with these terrific finds, Tom. Those clocks are great!

 

[TackCollector]

Singer buttonholer but it's for a Singer slant machine: Model 301, 401, 403, 404, 500, 503, Touch 'N Sew (a.ka. "Touch 'N Swear" hehe)

The green box buttonholer is for a low shank Singer, and will also fit many other brands (old and new) that use low shank attachments.

The slant machines are only Singers, I believe.

Greist made aftermarket attachments that fit Singer and other machines. Might have made the singer attachments for them, for all I know. Templates for Griest and Singer buttonholers are interchangeable. Templates are the all same for either the slant or the regular buttonholer.

 

[DNO]

Church rummage sale find today: Edwardian copper quart measure from 1902 made in Waterloo, Ontario. I just wish the previous owner had been a little less enthusiastic with the metal polish...it's a bit tarted up!

 

[Shangas]

Everyone seems to be finding Singer buttonholers these days! Haha!

Congratulate me, gentlemen.

Today I purchased my PANAMA HAT!

It's a beautiful white, black-banded Montecristi, Ecuadorian-made Panama. Brand-new. Size 58.

I paid $35 for it.

Have I done well?

 

[AtomicEraTom]

I've got a buttonholer here, too. I don't even have a sewing machine lol I just thought it was neat.

 

[Shangas]

This is the buttonholer that I bought:

As you can see, Singer-branded. Goes perfectly with my vintage 99k and it's all solid steel. Solid as a rock!

I had to disassemble it, clean it and oil it before it would work, but otherwise, it's dandy!

 

[TackCollector]

http://www.sewmuse.co.uk/singeraccessories.htm has some pictures of the various models through "the ages."
The squarish dark green and dark burgundy cases with black buttonholers are from the postwar '40s.


This was the first one, I believe: http://img2.etsystatic.com/il_570xN.327036618.jpg

 

[Shangas]

So, mine is from the 1950s! Cool. So is my machine, so that's wonderful! Mine also comes with the original box, feed-dog plate, nuts, bolts and anti-corrosion-paper. It was sans-manual, though. So I had to figure out how to work it using my brain.

 

[MikeBravo]

Congratulate me, gentlemen.

Today I purchased my PANAMA HAT!

It's a beautiful white, black-banded Montecristi, Ecuadorian-made Panama. Brand-new. Size 58.

I paid $35 for it.

Have I done well?

Well, it sounds okay. Only pictures will reveal how good a deal

 

[Shangas]

Oh very well, Michael.

Here:

I know it's nothing fancy, but I couldn't afford to be super-picky. I knew if I didn't ****** this, I'd probably never own one.

 

[The Inspector]

It has more color than mine XD

 

[Giftmacher]

It's actually not a thrift or yard sale find.
A wire stand for standard records from 50's, certainly without the records but in good shape. Also found a pile of photos from A-U monarchy through 40's to 70's. All for free, somebody found it useless and threw it away.

 

[TackCollector]

I got a Singer model 404 straight stitch Slant needle machine with a cabinet, matching seat, and some of the attachments, for only $10. The machine is seized up solid, lol. I oiled and Liquid-Wrenched and TriFlow'd the devil out of it, and put it in the car for a while to soak. (It gets real hot in there on sunny days.) I must have 20 sewing machines but I never had owned a Singer 404.

This is what it looks like, but this one isn't mine. My $10 one looks this nice, though. Once I get the mechanism(s) to move again, it should run fine.

 

[BigFitz]

Oh very well, Michael.

Here:

I know it's nothing fancy, but I couldn't afford to be super-picky. I knew if I didn't ****** this, I'd probably never own one.

Looks great to me! I'd like to find one as it's starting to warm up around here. Isn't it starting to snow down there Shangas?

 

[AtomicEraTom]

You don't see these 'cut-corner' Stromberg-Carlsons too often!

I was excited to find this beige 1961 WE 500 with extra long handset cord. I really like the soft-center dial and the alphanumeric phone number on it, as well. I put the silver handset cover on it, had one laying around and looks good in the display case like that.

 

[Shangas]

Looks great to me! I'd like to find one as it's starting to warm up around here. Isn't it starting to snow down there Shangas?

It never gets cold enough to snow around here. But it *is* starting to get nippier.

I've been after a hat like that, not so much for *summer*, per se, but rather for tropical wear. I find myself going to Singapore and Malaysia fairly often. And none of my current hats are suitable for humid tropical heat. I figure that this, being lighter and breathable, would be more comfortable for extended wear in hot climates, without getting all sweaty.

 

[I Adore Film Noir]

You don't see these 'cut-corner' Stromberg-Carlsons too often!

I was excited to find this beige 1961 WE 500 with extra long handset cord. I really like the soft-center dial and the alphanumeric phone number on it, as well. I put the silver handset cover on it, had one laying around and looks good in the display case like that.

You've got a good eye, I would have never noticed the cut corners.

Your beige one? That was the phone we had when our number was CE3-3042W

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Thank you! I love collecting phones.

We had a beige one like that, too!

You've got a good eye, I would have never noticed the cut corners.

Your beige one? That was the phone we had when our number was CE3-3042W