I Said I Would Never Buy One of These

After a hiatus of nine days I finally ventured back to my neighborhood thrift store. I have been cutting back on shopping and buying inventory because, frankly, my buying is outpacing my selling and I have too much stuff! But I had to run errands today and decided to risk a trip into the store.

Here’s what I passed up!

Thankfully I was super tough on myself saying no to a lot of bread-and-butter items.

This carved wood, signed, hand-painted Mexican jaguar was fabulous (priced at $15), but quite large (over 14″ tall) and I found myself reluctant to take him on.

This heavy 6″ jellyfish paperweight was stunning, but unsigned. Likely a made-in-China piece, I discovered similar ones sell for $28 brand new. Not worth the $6 price tag.

I have sold a similar ceramic pot with the same colors of crystalline glaze, but this one was unsigned. While it represented a $20-$25 profit, I realized I have too much inventory at that level and in the end I took it out of my basket.

This little piggy plush (priced $3.09) was from Harrods in London. Though he was in fabulous condition, his resale value wasn’t high enough. (I found a similar one listed at $14.)

This square 50″ tablecloth/throw ($5.09) was made of pretty brocade patchwork, but it wasn’t super quality and the fabric was scratchy. Not good enough.

This bag of little vintage stone and ceramic animals (dogs, cats, chickens, a skunk) at $3.09 was cute, but didn’t have much resale value.

It was weird going around and around this small Goodwill saying “No” to everything and looking for that illusive great item. In the end I decided it was the one thing I thought I would never buy.

Here’s what I bought…

I walked past this item six times before I picked it up. To be frank, it creeped me out, but it did have the handmade, quirky, uniqueness that I adore. I got excited as I looked it over because it has some age and is not like any other African mask I have seen before with its thatch of animal fur, movable lower jaw, red fabric eye treatment and inset beads.

This feels like something special, but is so out of my wheelhouse!! So far I think it is possibly1950s to 1980s from the Dan people of the Ivory Coast. The movable jaw and fur may represent a monkey.

Obviously I need to do a lot more research on the mask, but in the end I’m glad I didn’t buy a lot of mediocre or low-value items. This mask I think has potential!

I’ll close for now wishing you happy hunting,

Karen