Did I Make Good Decisions at the Thrift Store?

Yesterday I really wanted to buy something for my vintage Etsy store. It was an itch I seriously wanted to scratch. But I didn’t. Instead I hemmed and hawed. Carried things around the store and then put them back on the shelves.

Here are some of things I left behind at my neighborhood thrift store…

Let me tell you about this ceramic bear figurine ($6+) with the amazing glaze…it’s a hobbyist piece! The owner/artist initials are scratched in the bottom of the greenware. I am absolutely gobsmacked by the creativity and skill here. I’m still wondering if I should have picked this up!! And I adore cloisonne and immediately gravitated to this vase ($11+) but it had small red flags. It was damaged in several places, the brass felt oddly lightweight/new (no patina) and the enameling was rather simplistic. In the end I left it behind.

This tall (19″) wood Don Quixote and horse figures are by folk artist Jose Pinal (1913-1983) and some of his pieces have sold in the $$$. Alas Don here is missing his spear and I did not relish the idea of packing and shipping him. But I think I should have grabbed his sad horse.

I found a couple of newer items that could have gone on eBay, but they were priced too high. The set of four Williams Sonoma Tuscany dipping sauce dishes were cute, but priced at $8-ish. Not bad if you wanted them for yourself, but too pricey for a reseller. (They tend to resell around $20-24.) The agate slice handles on these cheese spreaders were interesting, but would be terribly awkward to use and they came in a no-name box. Hmmm. That’s a no on both. No, no, no.

So my neighborhood thrift store was a bust and my itch wasn’t scratched. Still, I have plenty of items in my backlog that need listing! I’ve been working the last few days on vintage sterling silver charms.

I have a ridiculous amount that need to be listed. My process includes research into current prices for that particular charm, testing for silver if it’s not marked, photographing (and editing photos), weighing and describing–a 15-20 minute process for each.

And this is how it is many days. Not always so fun! But maybe I’ll head to an estate sale or two this weekend to scratch my itch! There’s always more stuff out there.

Wishing you happy hunting,

Karen