Thrifted Finds

Who knew?

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 12:43:00 -0400

In my last post you’ll see in the photo a yellow plate that I got at a yard sale. It was signed and dated on the back by the artist. I paid probably less than a buck for it. I really didn’t think too much of it at the time. At the sale, I had done a quick search on my phone for the artist’s name (Breininger), and saw that people collected his work. He’s a Pennsylvania potter who makes pottery in the old German style using local red clay. This is from his early days (1976). Well, I finally got to listing it and it sold last night at auction for $137.50! I certainly didn’t think it would sell for that much when I first bought it. Goes to show you that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure!

And while hubby was gone a couple of weeks ago, the kids and I hit a couple of yard sales (usually I try to go sans kids). It was a dud of a day (though we only went to a few), but I did come home with two vintage Liberty of London scarves that I paid $2 for. They sold last night for $31. That paid for donuts and gas! :)

And the vintage Pyrex refrigerator dishes sold quickly with a buy-it-now listing of $50 (I paid $20 for them, though that’s a lot more than I normally would spend. But I knew I would have no trouble flipping them quickly).

Sales Update

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 16:51:00 -0500

Just a quick update on recent eBay sales. Remember the box of rubber stamps I bought at a yard sale for $30? Well, I sold $566.47 worth of them! I have several other stamp sets I still have to list, so let’s just conservatively round it up to $600 in sales - less eBay/Paypal fees and the cost to buy them - which would make it about a $510 profit. Not bad! The Waylande Gregory plate sold for $115 - about a $100 profit. Sadly, Big Josh didn’t go for much more than I paid for him so I only made a couple of bucks, but hopefully his new owner is happy. The Arabia of Finland heart bowl’s auction ends tonight, but it’s currently at about $100 (I paid $5).

Saturday I went to some garage sales with the kiddos. I got quite a bit of random stuff (see pic below). Not pictured, I got an Ann Taylor cashmere sweater, Banana Republic camel colored leather blazer, and an Old Navy winter white wool coat - all for $2 each! See that creepy Ronald McDonald action figure? He’s what nightmares are made of, but for 25 cents I couldn’t resist. Plus, he’ll probably sell for $10. There’s a knob on his back that makes his head turn. Don’t try this before bed. :)

SWEET DREAMS!!

A little late for Valentine’s Day, but I found this sweet...

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 12:28:18 -0500

A little late for Valentine’s Day, but I found this sweet vintage Arabia of Finland Finel heart enamel bowl for $5 at the thrift store around the corner this morning. They have most recently sold for $100-$200 on eBay. I hope this one finds a happy home! The listing goes live tonight.

Flea Market

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 17:12:00 -0500

I haven’t been to a flea market in years, but on Saturday morning a few ladies from church and I went to the Waldo Flea Market. Where’s Waldo, you might ask? It’s about 20 minutes from my house in the middle of no where. Unfortunately, I didn’t see any men in red and white stripes with large glasses. :)

I had my fussy daughter and it was cold. That combo didn’t make for the most pleasant experience, but I still had fun and found a couple of interesting things (polar opposites, I might add). The first thing I got was a vintage Mattel “Big Josh” action figure and accessories for $8. I had never heard of him, but he was quite funny with the beard and orange undies. I did a quick eBay search on my iPhone and found that people do collect him. We shall see! Next, we meandered to the indoor antique mall which was nice and warm. I did spot a cool plate and upon reearch on my phone, Waylande Gregory pottery is very collectible. It was marked $9.50, but when I checked out it was 1/2 off! Along with the Big Josh doll, it goes to auction tonight. Here are pics:

Stamps!

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 17:19:00 -0500

A couple of weeks ago I bought a huge bin full of rubber stamps for $30 at a yard sale. Most are Stampin’ Up! brand, a bunch from a company called PSX, a few StampCraft, and the rest have Big Lots labels. Today I finally got to sorting through them. There are hundreds!! I spent time on eBay looking at completed listings for each set, and put a sticky note on each one with the price range it has sold for. Any that have sold for $20 or more each will go in an individual listing, and the rest I’ll sell as a lot. There are about 25 that have sold for over $20 a pop, a couple in the $50 range. I’m hopeful I’ll make a decent profit off of them! I’ll be sure to update my two faithful readers, Agents S and J. Here you can see how many there are (these are just the Stampin’ Up ones):

I seem to find a lot of second hand designer bags, some vintage...

Sat, 19 Jan 2013 16:51:00 -0500

I seem to find a lot of second hand designer bags, some vintage and some newer. I’ve never been one to shell out a lot of money for something that is meant to hold money, but if I can get a nice bag for less than Target prices, I’m thrilled! Agent S. (remember my partner in thrifting) has a keen eye for these pieces. And my dear husband found his first out thrifting a couple of weeks ago (vintage Dooney and Bourke). I sell some and I keep some. Sometimes I use one for a while, then sell it, and sometimes I wish I would have kept some that I sold right away. Oh, well. They’re just things….things to hold stuff. Here are some that I currently have listed on eBay.

Balans Variable Chair

Sat, 19 Jan 2013 08:42:30 -0500

A couple of weeks ago I went to the local Salvation Army thrift store. Usually I don’t find anything good so don’t know why I bother going there, but I found this vintage Balans Variable chair in red. It’s in excellent condition. I didn’t know what it was at first, so whipped out my handy dandy iphone and googled it. At $11 I couldn’t pass it up! Modern ones sell for $395. My dear husband likes it so much that he’s using it in place of his regular desk chair (it’s great for posture). Perhaps we’ll sell it when he wants his regular chair back. But here it is (along with a terrible demonstration photo):

Estate Sale Haul 1/18/13

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 12:14:08 -0500

Last Saturday, I went to an estate sale when they had everything marked 1/2 off. I only came out spending less than $5, but got got a couple of goodies. I got some vintage Pyrex decanter looking S&P shakers, vintage Disney sheets, Swedish Sea glass votive holder/vase, and probably something else I’m forgetting. Sorry, no pictures yet. But when I was there I remembered seeing a photo of a green Cathrineholm lotus teapot in one of the estate sale company’s photos for their next sale (today). I asked if they would please set it aside for me and they graciously did!

When I got to the estate sale this morning, I asked her for the teapot and she said she had so many people interested in it. I am glad I asked them to hold it for me! They only had it marked for $10. Woohoo! I found a couple other things, but had to be quick as the kids were waiting for me in the van. I overheard some people talking about another nearby estate sale and got directions. I went there and the house had lots of interesting things, but priced a bit high. I got a couple of things, but probably paid more than I should have. Anyway, here are pictures of today’s finds. I spent $47 total including tax:

Here is everything (on top of a fantastic vintage buffet we got for free at a garage sale):

Bag of cologne $5, vintage Night Before Christmas book $6, retro turquoise timer $5 (got these three at the higher priced sale). Cathrineholm teapot $10, Franciscan bowl $.50, Blenko bowl (still has sticker) $2

Vintage California pottery lazy Susan and serving dishes $8

Arabia of Finland souffle dish $4, silver plated utensils $2, vintage Japan cardboard Christmas house and Erzgebirge candle holder $2

Estate Sales

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 08:15:00 -0500

Estate Sales? Garage Sales? Thrift Stores? It’s hard to say which of those I like best, but they all are fun and have great things to be found. I’ll talk about estate sales here, and do two other posts on garage sales and thrift stores.

I think estate sales are my favorite venue for finding things to resell. I still can’t believe the two awesome ones from last spring. I wish I knew then what I know now and I could have probably gotten tons more. But it was definitely a fun, profitable, and great learning experience. In my experience, the best ones are the ones run by older people who look at stuff and think of it as old junk, but others (ie: eBay shoppers) look at it as valuable vintage collectibles. It can feel a bit awkward going to estate sales run by family members of the home owner, so I always try to remain respectful. Ones run by estate sales tend to be less awkward. I have to remind myself that their goal is to get rid of stuff, and try not to hold onto things that might have sentimental value. Sales have been few and far between the past couple of months, but http://www.estatesales.net/ shows a few good ones coming up. So, my one loyal reader and I will have to make some plans! I’ll refer to her as Agent S.

Speaking of Agent S., last month we went to a promising estate sale which ended up being run by an extremely stingy homeowner who was asking waaaay too much for stuff (probably the same price he paid for things decades ago, including stuff like electronics - $250 for an old laptop). I did, however, get away with three vintage kitchen towels for $1 each. Two of them sold for about $12 each, and another for $45 (plus free shipping). Not bad! I really wanted to walk away with some of his vintage Pyrex, but he was asking way too much for it and he wouldn’t budge. I don’t know why I always feel I need to buy vintage Pyrex as it’s not always super profitable, but it’s just fun, I suppose. Hopefully 2013 will bring lots more estate sale fun!

Sorry for the sideways shot, but this one is a 1956 Francis Dearden dish towel. Paid $1 sold for $12.51.

This one is also from 1956, by Ivan Bartlett. Paid $1, sold for $11.51.

Finally, this vintage Tammis Keefe towel (again, sorry for the sideways shot). Paid $1, sold for $46.99.

New Year

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 10:12:00 -0500

So I was kind of hit or miss with posting last year. My plan is to post here on a more regular basis, more for myself to document my thrifted finds - for reselling and for personal use.

2012 was a great year for reselling, especially considering I treated it as a part time job and exceeded my expectations. I don’t know exactly how much I made since my computer crashed last spring, taking my spreadsheet with it (I never did get to creating a new one), but I probably netted around $4-5,000 for 2012. Not bad! I mean, it’s no lucrative business that I’ll ever get rich from, but it is a fun hobby that pays! My goal for 2013 is to net $3-500 a month. Last year, I had two really good months (April and November) where I netted about $1,200.

Not only has reselling been fun, but Joel and I have had a fun time building our wardrobes. In 2011 we purged our old clothes and have slowly been building our closets with mostly thrifted clothes, but of higher quality stuff than we had and for cheaper prices. For instance, just this past week I was hoping to find a sweater dress. I found a really cute Banana Republic one for only $6 at the thrift shop around the corner. I can’t wait to wear it with my boots!

Well, I don’t know if anyone in cyber space will actually read this post, but it doesn’t really matter. This is my own personal thrifting journal that I hope to look back on. Here’s to 2013!

The Verdict

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 14:42:00 -0500

So, I need to update my sales from my last post:

The American Girl perfume sold for $88 (paid $2)

The gold cross sold for $250 (paid about $5)

A silver rosary necklace sold for $100 (paid $10)

The Cricut sold for $65 (paid $3)

Not too shabby, I’d say! I used the money made from those sales for a few things, including my oldest son’s math curriculum, and some nice boots for my husband and me (among a few other odds and ends)! I would never spend as much as I did on said shoes without eBay sales. So I’m thankful for that venue. It’s nice to have fun money for clothes, house projects, vacation, and things we need. Also, I’m a huge adoption advocate and like to contribute to adoption funds and orphan grants from my sales, too.

I’ve been putting away Christmas items I’ve found throughout the year and will be listing those pretty soon. I’m really excited to see what some of them will go for. I can’t remember everything I have stashed in my box. I’ll post on that soon.

Struck Gold....

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 17:49:00 -0400

….literally!

Saturday morning I got up early and met 5 friends from church at a coffee shop. We headed out to a couple of neighborhood garage sales. It was FUN! The first stop I scored a vintage Fisher-Price toy for $1 (it should sell for over $30), and a couple of other vintage toys (some vintage Construx for my boys to go with my husband’s childhood collection). I got a cute Ann Taylor Loft dress for $1 at another. I got two new bottles of American Girl perfume for $1 each, and they’re selling for about $50 at another. I got a Cricut Cuttlebug for $3 with some cartridges at yet another.

The best was probably when I went to an estate sale later in the afternoon. I got some jewelry for about $40, and a few other things including a vintage Ginny doll. Turns out most of the jewelry is sterling silver and there was one 14k gold cross that weighs 1/4 oz! I took the jewelry to a pawn shop to get it authenticated and was offered just under $200 for it as scrap metal. I decided to post it on eBay instead as the gold cross/crucifix retails for close to $1,000 on different websites online. I’m hopeful that the money earned from these finds will help pay for the completion of our screened in porch remodel. Anyway, here are some pics:

Dansk

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 16:43:00 -0400

Dansk always seems to sell well, so whenever I find any vintage Dansk items I don’t hesitate to get them (not that I’m finding them all the time or anything). I found some candles at an estate sale for $1, quickly flipped them for $20, and I found a s&p shaker for 50 cents, quickly flipped it for $30. I love these under-the-radar items, not only for my own profit, but because it’s fun items like these that some collector elsewhere is looking for. I like finding things that other people want. Here are a few items I’ve found over the past week or so:

Dansk long skinny tapers:

Dansk pepper grinder and salt shaker:

Vintage Rorstrand of Sweden serving/baking dish:

Great avocado green Hall pottery baking dish:

I just love these mid century hand lathed candle holders! If they don’t sell, I won’t be disappointed:

I’m linked up with Apron Thrift Girl:http://apronthriftgirl.typepad.com/apron_thrift_girl/2012/10/thrift-share-monday-october-8.html

Arabia of Finland

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 08:31:00 -0400

For those of you who are savvy with thrifting or designing, you know that mid century modern is hot right now, especially Scandinavian designs. Particularly when I go to estate sales, I keep my eyes open for anything that might fit into that. On Saturday, I was about to skip out on one but glad I went at the end when they slashed the prices half off. I landed an amazing Arabia of Finland Ruska dinnerware set, service for 12, for a steal! I just listed it on eBay, so we’ll see if there are any takers. I am only offering local pick up at this time because shipping would be outrageous (over $600 from UPS). I also found some other goodies for myself at some yard sales. I got Darya some adorable Gymboree swimsuits for our beach trip next week at only $1 each. And I desperately needed new sunglasses (my only pair is horribly scratched). I found a pair of like new Valentino sunglasses with a case for only $2 (they were probably $200+ new). For right now I’ll just post pics of the dinnerware. I am linked up with Apron Thrift Girl: http://apronthriftgirl.typepad.com/

Back in Action

Sun, 29 Jul 2012 14:57:33 -0400

A little over a week ago, we returned from our mostly annual trip to California to see family and friends. We had a great time! I won’t fill in the details, but we had an awesome time! I got to sneak in a couple short thrift stops, and Joel got in another. I only found one overpriced sweater for myself, but that’s okay, it’s cute and still cheaper than Target. Joel and I went with his sister and her husband (visiting from Sweden - hi Sharelle and Matt!), and Matt got a beautiful Burberry suit for $20. Nice! And Sharelle gave me a few goodies to sell that I ink will do fairly well. Oh, and my sweet twin sister gave me a practically new Michael Kors leather jacket for free. Can’t beat that price!

Before I left on our trip out west, my biggest score was some old Super Nintendo games for $2 each. I grouped three of them together, and they sold for $175 BIN within minutes of posting. I sold another one (Earthbound)) for $175. Lastly, I sold the SNES console for $60 (paid $20). Those sales we’re helpful extra spending moneymaking :-)

I’m not going to post pictures this post out of laziness, but I am back in the game! I think I found my biggest score yet…possibly worth hundreds if not over $1k…..for less than $1 at an estate sale. To be continued…..;-)

Weekend finds

Mon, 14 May 2012 20:19:00 -0400

Early Saturday morning, I went to a couple of garage sales with a dear friend (I’m loving these early morning excursions with my girlfriends!). The first one I found a stack of vintage French comic books for $.50 each, a Burberry teddy bear for $1, and a silk plant for our house. I also found a vintage Annalee reindeer to go with the Mr. & Mrs. Claus my mom is supposed to give me one day (she bought them in the early 70s, so I grew up with them….this reindeer will go perfectly with them come Christmas!) We went to a couple more sales, but nothing that fantastic. Oh, I did get a chair for my daughter for just one buck - the same one sells on Amazon for $50. Not bad! I also got a cute little ceramic boy in a blue snowsuit, made in Norway (by Porsgrund) for $.50.

Today, I went thrifting with the fam. It’s becoming our Monday traditions to hit a couple thrift stores go out to lunch at Crispers. Fun! I found a really cool 35mm mint green Holga camera for $2.99 at Goodwill today, and it’s now listed on eBay with my other stuff. You can see my current listings HERE. Any good finds for you?

The Dog

Thu, 10 May 2012 11:33:13 -0400

Well, my son must have a good eye! His $1 investment on the wooden dog sold for $76! It was at $15.50 for the longest time, but in the last three seconds of the auction, it jumped up to $76. I wish you all could have seen him laughing when it got that high. When I asked what he’d do with his money, he told me that he’ll tithe to church, buy a big Lego set, and save the rest (maybe to buy something else to resell).

On another note, I haven’t had any really big sellers, but have been selling a few things here and there. At least it’s consistent. Here are a few pics of some recent finds:

Vintage Pyrex mixing bowl, paid $5:

Vintage Pyrex divided dish, paid $8 (probably paid too much, but it’s in such great condition and I’m sure will make someone happy):

My awesome hubby found these Aldens (they sell for hundreds new), paid $5:

April's Total

Thu, 03 May 2012 14:41:21 -0400

I posted a while back that my goal is to net $300-500 a month in reselling. Well, April was a very good month - I netted just over $1,000! Granted, I probably spent a bit more time reselling than I normally would (because it’s fun and I found some really good things), but in God’s good providence, that money was able to cover some unusual expenses we had that month (think dryer going out, medical/dental bills, etc.). What a blessing! I don’t have such lofty goals for May, but I would love to net $500+ in the next two months to go toward our vacation this summer to California. Our family of 6 will be flying out there to spend a few weeks visiting family and friends. It would be nice to have some extra fun money when we’re there. Oh, and I’d love to squeeze in some thrifting time when I’m there, too!

"Wood"n't you know it?

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 17:17:52 -0400

I seriously cannot believe that another vintage wooden animal was found this weekend. That’s the third time in about a month. This time it was by my 9 year old son! He found this little Zooline dog at a yard sale for $1. I believe Kay Bojesen designed these, too. My son has been holding on to some of his birthday money for something that he could buy and resell. I can’t wait to see what he gets for this cute pup. I’ll definitely keep you posted:

Another good weekend

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:38:19 -0400

It all started with another fun early morning out with the girls on Friday. We met at Starbucks then headed to a promising estate sale. It wasn’t as great as I envisioned, but there were a few things to be found. My friend found a wonderful vintage luggage set (think Jackie O. style) for only $5. She should be able to sell it for $100+ on eBay! I got a box full of vintage sewing patterns for $5 (76 total). I bought a few other random things, nothing spectacular. Then it was time to go to anther estate sale, but it wasn’t that great either (there was tons of stuff but I thought most of it was overpriced). I did get a vintage Pyrex green mixing bowl. Goodwill was the most fruitful. I found a vintage Gucci purse and wallet, some Coach shoes, Fossil purses, Dymo label maker ($5, should sell for $50+), etc. Here are some pics below (I haven’t taken all the pics yet, but these will all be going on eBay):

These are from the 50s, 60s, and 70s

$14.99 for both Gucci items (not good condition, but they still seem to sell)

Not my style (or size) but I hope someone will enjoy them:

Dymo LabelMaker, new is $100+