AmotQ - what was your most unusual find....

Frank McCoy wrote:
PhoenixWench wrote:

.... at a thrift store, yard sale or flea market?

For me it was the over-sized waist pouch that turned out to actually be
a bit of "personal armor" - AKA a small bullet-proof lower spine
protective 'belt'. The ladies at the thrift store were as stunned as I
was - and very happy to let me take it off their hands for $1 ....
I just found the thing again in the course of my ongoing de-cluttering
project.

Well ... The day before yesterday, at a local Garbage-Sale, I saw a
*mint condition* Kodak Brownie Camera for about $10. There were two
other classic cameras for about the same price; but none with that
sort of history. All three looked essentially unused and brand-new.

I've seen others, with the paper covering peeling off and almost junk
going for more than twice what they were asking. Nostalgia stuff.

I told the person running the sale, "For Heaven's sake! Put that on
Ebay!" You'll get more than ten times the present price if you do."

She told me that SHE wasn't the one selling it; but that she'd pass my
words on to the original seller.

I told the wife that I was sorely tempted to buy it myself and then
re-sell it on the net; but I'd feel guilty about doing-so.

People like you are so naive. That's the fun of yard sales. Finding
that treasure that is worth far more than you paid for it. You remind
me of those fake pawn brokers on the tv show Pawn Stars that sometimes
offer people more than they actually asked for. Think that happens in
real life? Those Jewboy pawn operations won't offer you anything close
to the actual value because they want the big score too.

I kept wondering afterwards if somebody else with far less conscience
than I do snapped it up to resell.

Probably so and they likely made a hefty profit after resale. Again
that's what picking is all about. It's the thrill of the hunt and the
chance to possibly pick up something special for next to nothing.

I guess, as a reward, I went from there to another garbage-sale (funny
how everybody leaves out the 'b' in "garbage") and bought a nice
secretary-chair that we plan on giving the kid to replace the
computer-chair the kid keeps destroying by leaning over backwards.
Also found a 15" monitor that I talked-down from $20 to $7; and turned
out to be well-worth the $20 (but I didn't know that when I bought
it.)

In other words, you would have offered them more money? lol You are a
strange man. I found a humidor at a yard sale once made in the late
teens early 20's. They wanted 25 dollars for it and i jewed her down
to 15. I sold it for a hefty 1000 dollars. No harm no foul.