odd finds..

whispering hands

I do alot of "yard-saling" in the summers, and I love old antique shops and thrift stores too. the saying "One man's trash is another treasure" is very true for me..Well this morning my family woke up early and we went to our Church's yearly yard sale to see what we could find... I've been in desperate need for a new Dictionary, so I perused the book section for quite some time and finally I found an exhaustive edition that I simply HAD to have..So I bought it and took it home..well I started looking through it, and came across several old photos from an Army man, depicting several images from WWII!!! Some crazy pics are in there!! So tonight, when we go to service, I'm going to try to return them to the family that donated the Dictionary..
I also found a Press et of Aretha Franklin's RESPECT 45!!!! Anyone who collects Vinyl.. knows this is a hard single to locate!! I got it for 5 dollars.. I tried to give them more cause I know the value, but they wouldn't take it.. They said the lady who donated it was adamant on giving it up!! Can you believe that!!!?? So my question is..
what is the oddest thing you've ever found in a thrift store or antiquity "buy".. So far those WWII photos top my list!! There were several of the pics that showed just HEAPS of dead bodies!! Was sooo crazy to see..

pjfan31

My dad found an old violin which was quite worn which said on the inside 'stradivari' so he sent photos of it to some expert in Europe who said it wasn't real.... But I understand even fakes can fetch a fair bit of coin...

pearljgirl2010

I haven't been to many yardsales recently, but last summer I found an awesome 1957 dictionary :-)

PJ88

Yard sale. Jerry Beaumont salt glazed pottery crock called, "Man with a Hat/Cat on His Lap". Serial numbered and signed by Beaumont himself. My wife went totally insane when I gave it to her. There were only around 80 of these crocks made. Unreal find and I will probably never find one again.

If you are into old-time (1970-1980's era) salt-glazed crocks this artist and his crocks are unbelievable!

whispering hands

Isn't so awesome to find the rareties in these places!? That's half the reason I love em so much!!

brianlux

Those photographs sound interesting. My father has some photos from WWII taken in the Solomon Islands. He tells me they were taken by a buddy of his in the Navy and that soldiers and sailors were not allowed to take photographs so this guy had film and chemicals sent to him by family members so he could develop these in a make-shift dark room.

My most interesting yard sale find was a first edition Jack London that was on a table with a sign that read "free". I said to one of the people at the sale, "Look, I can't take this for free. I'm sure it quite valuable." The guy pointed to the sign on the table and said, "Can't you read? The sign says FREE! Now take it and get lost!" Honestly, this is true! Later that year, I sold the book at a book fair. This was very early on in the beginnings of my work as a bookseller and I've lost track now of what the title was- a pity- but it was my first good sale and it help get my career off the ground.

chiquimonkey

That is so cool about the photos, and very nice of you to return them to the family

I LOVE flea markets, garage sales, you name it. One thing I got from a yard-sale type thing was the local school's library clearing stuff out. Found a signed Dr. Doolittle book for 5cents. It's not in great condition so probably not worth a lot but just thought it was neat

ZiggyStar

I love shopping for clothes and other cool things at secondhand shops....I love vintage stuff!