The Spirit was Willing, but the Flesh…

A few days ago I nipped into my neighborhood thrift store for a quick peruse. Wasn’t particularly hopeful, but blimey I started finding things. Ended up with four items in the basket (rare for me in this store) but the truth was, none of them were scores. They were good, but I didn’t need more “bread-and-butter” finds and I knew I should leave them behind.

So what did I do? I bought them all! I suppose I was more susceptible because I hadn’t been there in days and I was itching to buy something. But mainly I bought them because I thought each had “something.”

The little black burnished carved pottery vase is a barro negro piece from Mexico. (Was hoping it was a signed Dona Rosa piece, alas not.) Still it is lovely and I could picture it with yellow daisies or a couple of red tulips. Or how about bird feathers or dried flowers?

The vintage Glit Iceland Lava pottery candleholder is fabulous, but I have one in my store (different colors and shape) that has been sitting unsold for four years. Should I really buy another one? Well, yes. I think the shape and neutral colors of this one are more appealing. Plus, it can double as a vase!

This vintage chip-carved wood box was just lovely and I have a weakness for boxes like this, but the lid didn’t fit quite properly. Nothing a little sanding wouldn’t fix. But I kept thinking “Girl, you don’t need another project.” But I couldn’t leave it behind.

[Later that day I sat outside in the shade and spent over an hour sanding away at the inner lip of the lid. Hmmm…it was better but still doesn’t fit properly. Another hour was needed to get the lid to fit without a huge gap. Afterwards I gave it the Boos Mystery Oil treatment to condition it.]

The little English hammered pewter jam pot by Civic (likely circa 1930/40s) is a cutie and had its original blue glass liner–a rarity for these older pieces. The tiny spoon that came with it wasn’t original to the pot and turns out it’s English sterling silver hallmarked for London 1872. Always love finding a bit of sterling silver. I’ll sell that separately.

Total spent $14.59.

Is there profit to be made with these items? Of course. Do I regret buying them? Yes and no. I do think they are good, pleasing items but they are not helping me towards my long-time store goal–which is having fewer items of higher value.

Still, I can’t get upset. These are the sort of items that started me on my way 12+ years ago and still sustain my biz at times! And frankly it takes more effort and way more knowledge to find higher value items with meat-on-the-bone prices. Don’t get me wrong, I have found them. Scores that blew my mind–a $5 Towle sterling silver water jug at a rummage sale was one of my best. It sold for over $500. But to find these type of scores would mean spending a lot more time sourcing and certainly going further afield. So it’s somewhat of a trade off–spend more time/gas on the road trying to find “better” things or find lower-value items a mile or two away on a fairly regular basis that individually don’t make as much profit.

Well, in future I’m going to try and be a bit more disciplined! Maybe!

Wishing you happy hunting!

Karen