Show us your Thrift and/or yard sale finds

[esteban68]

and a few more details before the 'hardware';

 

[esteban68]

Here's the crockery etc;

Total spend IIRC was a tad under £50, March as been a good month!

 

[DNO]

Really like those scarves and the cravat, esteban. That Tootal is quite nice.

 

[DNO]

Any broad arrow marks on the 8x30's ?

 

[esteban68]

No DNO, the Noctovist are 1970's-80's I believe and the Wrays are mid 50's, I do have a pair of Wray's somewhere with broad arrows/'crows feet'( WD markings) markings on them and they are actually centrally adsjusted, I think they and many other pairs were handed in by the public during the early part of WW2 then assesed and stamped by the WD before being given out for plane sdpotting/fire watching roles, obviouslky not field service as water can get into the internals quite easily.

 

[tonyb]

Shangas.. thats a nice find, I don't know what the charity shops are like in melbourne, but here in Sydney its out of control.
The prices here are rediculous, on the North shore expect to pay anywhere from 15 to 25 dollars for a shirt, and anywhere from 50 to 300 dollars for a suit. If i would have picked up that clock here in my local i think it may have been double what you paid, so well done buddy.

Recent posts in the sewing machines thread report dramatically escalating thrift shop prices at points all over this continent as well.

It hasn't gotten as bad as you've seen down your way, R&B Man, but I've observed that prices are up perhaps 50 percent on average around here over the past six months or so. Some categories ("vintage" furniture and small appliances, for instance) are up well more than that, while others are hardly changed at all.

As an avid thrift-shopper, I find this more than mildly annoying. But it isn't all bad. The stores (most of them, anyway) benefit not-for-profits, for one thing. And seeing how much of the more interesting stuff in thrift stores (just how much is hard, if not impossible, to determine) is snapped up by resellers (vintage dealers, eBay and Etsy sellers, etc.), well, the not-for-profit may as well see more of the amount the eventual end user pays.

A couple of once all-volunteer staffed thrifts I visit frequently now have paid managers, who are still learning their jobs. One in particular goes online to check on what she thinks are "comparables" and prices her inventory accordingly. I happened to be in her shop when she was pricing a late-'50s/early-'60s record cabinet that had just come in. I said nothing when she attached the $175 price tag, but my facial expression must have spoken volumes. She said they're asking $300 for these things on eBay. She even showed me, on her smartphone. But the one on eBay was comparable to the one in her store only in that both were record cabinets of roughly the same vintage. The eBay one was of clearly superior quality, and it was on eBay, for crying out loud, not in a thrift shop. And that $300 was the asking price, which no one had yet paid.

Just another reminder that a little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing. That, and not to pretend to an expertise one has yet to attain.

 

[jamespowers]

Hi James,

It says "UNICORN", and underneath, "MADE IN GERMANY".

I'm ASSUMING that's pre-WWII Germany, since stuff made after then would've said "Made in W/Germany", or something to that effect.

I'm not sure how old it is, but I was attracted to the style of the clock. It's got a beautiful simplicity and artistic look to the glass case.

Oh yes, the hands (and to a lesser extent, the indices) glow in the dark

Hmmmmm... It might be worth looking into the age of the clock further. It might have a serial number or some such thing that would be helpful in the long run.

 

[The Rag And Bone Man]

Hi tonyb, mate i have my brother out here at the moment on holiday from the UK, and i would consider us both to be op shop veterans.
He cannot believe just how expensive it is here compared to the UK, which he reckons pricing is still very very good with items priced to sell quickly and not just sit on the shelves for weeks on end.
Only yesterday he felt strong enough to complain about being charged $65 bucks for a tortoiseshell effect mirror and two brushes. It would not be so bad if they ALL knew what they where doing, from store to store.
Out west its still possible to obtain decent items still at resonable prices, thats where i am at a loss to understand exactly why one store can offer something at vitrually half the price of another store. I know most stores now have paid managers, but i know most helpers are still doing it for nothing.
Here is an article i found when looking around at the high pricing system here in Sydney salvos stores, http://mosman-daily.whereilive.com.au/news/story/fashion-salvos-is-this-the-harrods-of-neutral-bay/
All's not to bad though i have found some really nice items over the years, but as you said it near impossible now unless you happen to be lucky on the day, when its just gone on the shelf.

 

[tonyb]

That link you posted almost had my jaw hitting the keyboard, R&B Man.

The thrift shops will charge these kinda prices only if people will pay these kinda prices. I suppose they're betting that at least enough people will.

I can offer my own reasonably well-informed (or so I like to think) views as to why the prices have escalated. Much of it, I think, is the confluence of aging baby-boomers and their offspring both desiring stuff dating from the 1950s into the '70s. (Seen what those spring-tension pole lamps go for these days?) And then there's a sort of reverse snobbery that's taken hold. You know, people gloat over scoring all their groovy swag at thrift shops and garage sales.

But I'm wondering if the thrift stores risk killing the goose. People donate goods for various reasons, but among those reasons is a desire to know their old stuff will see use by people who couldn't afford it at prices even remotely approaching what it cost new. And it has to cross their minds that if this stuff can sell for that kinda dough, then maybe instead of donating it, selling it on craigslist would be worth the trouble.

 

[The Rag And Bone Man]

Your spot on correct there mate..

 

[The Rag And Bone Man]

Ok have had my little moan about pricing, i will be sure to upload some of my finds that i have obtained soon, and hopefully i may be able to get some information off some of the knowledgeable forum members here on a few items.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

This morning's antique flea market find.
http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?57087-Show-us-your-Militaria&p=1613787#post1613787

 

[Shangas]

Hmmmmm... It might be worth looking into the age of the clock further. It might have a serial number or some such thing that would be helpful in the long run.

Hi James,

I didn't keep the clock. It was really a present for a relation. I wanted to clean it up before I gave it to him. My cousin. He recently (last year) got married, and I thought it'd make a nifty housewarmiing gift.

That said, I made a THOROUGH examination of the clock and there isn't any other markings on it. Not inside, not on the movement...nowhere.

Either way, I hope my cousin gets a kick out of it.

 

[jamespowers]

Hi James,

I didn't keep the clock. It was really a present for a relation. I wanted to clean it up before I gave it to him. My cousin. He recently (last year) got married, and I thought it'd make a nifty housewarmiing gift.

That said, I made a THOROUGH examination of the clock and there isn't any other markings on it. Not inside, not on the movement...nowhere.

Either way, I hope my cousin gets a kick out of it.

That is a nice gift with potential to be worth a WHOLE lot more.

 

[MikeBravo]

Hi James,

I didn't keep the clock. It was really a present for a relation. I wanted to clean it up before I gave it to him. My cousin. He recently (last year) got married, and I thought it'd make a nifty housewarmiing gift.

That said, I made a THOROUGH examination of the clock and there isn't any other markings on it. Not inside, not on the movement...nowhere.

Either way, I hope my cousin gets a kick out of it.

I went to a housewarming one time. and they got 6 clocks!

I hope you fared better

 

[Shangas]

Fortunately, yes. I mean, I believe that a gift to someone should either be...

- Useful.

- Pretty.

- Memorable.

And should cover at least two of those bases.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Fortunately, yes. I mean, I believe that a gift to someone should either be...

- Useful.

- Pretty.

- Memorable.

And should cover at least two of those bases.

Tell that to relations who give you nothing but socks for Christmas and birthdays!

 

[jamespowers]

Tell that to relations who give you nothing but socks for Christmas and birthdays!

And they meet none of the qualifications.

 

[tonyb]

No need to post a pic, 'cuz it's just a Kenwood 5-disc CD changer. But I am pleased to report that it set me back all of $12.99 plus tax at Value Village, and it works just fine.

Unlike a certain member of this household, I am quite resistant to purchasing music as a download only, because sooner or later the device(s) on which it is downloaded will go fffft. Sure, we have at least one iEverything around here, and each and every one of those devices has music on it, but in my case, it's all copied from CDs. So when the phone or pod or pad or mac goes the way of all things, well, I still got what I paid for.

 

[DNO]

Unlike a certain member of this household, I am quite resistant to purchasing music as a download only, because sooner or later the device(s) on which it is downloaded will go fffft. Sure, we have at least one iEverything around here, and each and every one of those devices has music on it, but in my case, it's all copied from CDs. So when the phone or pod or pad or mac goes the way of all things, well, I still got what I paid for.

Hear, hear, sir!