Thursday, November 12, 2015

Bargains Galore!




All these vintage balls - $5

This week has been a bargain hunting bonanza that started with a gigantic used charity book sale (think 40,000 used books, fiction alphabetized by author and the rest categorized by genre).  Needless to say there are now 10 new-to-me books sitting in the closet waiting to be read.  Today Mom and I spent the morning thrifting as the day after Remembrance Day is the day the Christmas goodies go into the thrift stores.  I scored major vintage goodness - all for $17.  Let me just say we braved a major coastal storm to be at the store on opening and were soaked to the gills after all our shopping.

I am a minimalist in most things.  Two things I do collect (and might even hoard) are vintage Christmas and vintage cookie cutters.  Today was a great day for both.

Rudolph kids book .50 (1980s version)



My one more modern exception - Kregg Christmas ornaments $3

This whole box of vintage goodness .50

This box of East Germany balls was .50

Bag of 15 vintage copper cookie cutters $2.50

1950's Gurley Candle .50 excellent condition

Favorite find of the day - 1960s glass bells (Mom found these) $2


Elvis Christmas Album $1
Vintage Kazoo and noisemakers, likely 1960's .89 cents

I am not a huge fan of Elvis but for $1 I thought I would likely resell the album.  It's not like they are remaking them and vinyl is making a comeback.


A few days ago on a 24 hour Facebook town bidding site I managed to win the bid for this brand new in box car waxer.  I knew what the value was - hubby has a smaller one of these already.  He loves waxing vehicles like I love Christmas Vintage.  Let's just say since retail on this unit is $70 that I basically paid the taxes only equivalent and he is a very happy man.

For hubby, car waxer brand new, retails for $70, bought for $11 on a Facebook bidding group

And just for fun I thought I would share something from another Facebook group I belong too that specializes in Vintage and antique items.  Not everything is for sale, sometimes people are just trying to identify what they have.  A lady's mother was an antique dealer and she had no idea what this was.  It is a Fijian cannibal fork!!  These were used for real in the 1800s and produced in the early 1900s for the tourist trade.  Even the tourist ones are worth good money ($60 USD on ebay) so if you spot one, if it doesn't gross you out too much pick it up for resale :)

Be on the lookout - Cannibal Fork!!

28 comments:

  1. I will pass on the fork tee hee, but the other goodies you found are fantastic. 40,000 books for sale, oh my, I would love to attend that sale. And the cute reindeer candle!

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    1. They have this same book sale twice a year and now we go without fail. I love that they alphabetize it - so much easier to find your favorite authors.

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  2. Love the ornaments - they are beautiful!

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  3. The bells are my favorite. I have one left from a box identical to that.

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    1. Very cool - any idea when you originally got them?

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  4. loving the Kregg ones!! what a haul!

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    1. I am guessing the Kregg ones are from the 1990s and don't usually buy any that new but they were so pretty I couldn't pass them up.

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  5. That combat fork is amazing. I'd have put it down as a sewing implement! xxx

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    1. You never know, you might spot one in someones sewing box :)

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  6. Replies
    1. Thanks - it is one of the only things I collect.

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  7. What a great selection of goodies! I'm so glad I don't live near you. We downsized, but you make me want to COLLECT again.

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    1. I am pretty minimalist except when it comes to this type of stuff - although my collection is getting quite large I might have to sell off some of the bits that aren't my favorites.

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  8. I love a good deal! Last week, I went thrifting and I had at least $50 worth of items in my cart and they said the credit card machine was down. I said "oh crap, well, I only have $20 with me" (which was just luck, as I rarely have more than $5 on me at anytime), so the cashier, who knows me, since I go there weekly, said "well let me just ring it up and see what it comes to" and he rang up stuff less, like way less and then he gave me a senior discount, (I'm 44), and a military discount and a teacher discount. He didn't say that was what he was doing, but I saw it on the receipt. My bill was only$17....so fantastic! He didn't say he did anything special, but he said " well, I guess you have enough money"

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  9. What deals you got - steals, I would say on the ornaments - LUCKY!!

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    1. There were definitely others there doing the same thing - resellers I am sure. I missed out on a box or two but am very happy with what I found.

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  10. I'm so not a hoarder except for Christmas items. I just love the time of year, the colours, the music and on and on. We only have two thrift stores, and one is very small, but they are both packed with amazing bargains on Christmas decorations-oh the temptation!

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    1. I try and stick to the thrift Christmas temptations - so much cheaper than buying retail!

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  11. I had that very same Rudolph book as a kid, and later as a teacher. I went to our Kiwanis book sale last week but only found one book for my reading stack. They had lots of novels, but very few books about the local area or by Canadian authors. - Margy

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    1. You might have to cross the water and go to the Courtenay Rotary sale at the Comox mall - they hold it twice a year and had lots of non-fiction Canadiana. I am sure you would find a few treasures.

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  12. HUGE xmas score!!! I love everything....but the fork is definitely a conversation piece! Do tell where you learned what it was....

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    1. Those on the antique/vintage facebook group used google images to identify it - very smart cookies.

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  13. I have a soft spot for vintage ornaments also. They take me back to a simpler time. You found some great things and had fun doing it. The thought of being let loose around 40,000 books boggles my mind - oh, and alphabetized to boot!! Even better! It doesn't feel Christmassay around here yet - it's been so mild and sunny!

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    1. We have had dreadfully stormy weather, the tail ends of a couple of Pacific hurricanes. Yesterday was nice and sunny but today again totally miserable - I can't even get Buddy to go out to do his business. He has learned to hold it really long on crappy days. Time to put up some twinkle lights!

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  14. I was so excited just by the title!!! And then a bit scared when I saw the fork. LOL
    Awesome haul!!!!

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    1. Wouldn't that fork go over well with your last Halloween costume :)?

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