Show us your Thrift and/or yard sale finds

[LocktownDog]

I have found tons of things in old books and have used old books for tons of things.

Yep. Lots of money, photos, pressed flowers, etc. Once found about 5 years of comic strip clippings in a dictionary.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Things I've found in the pages of old books:
-- 1909 Russian 10 ruble note
-- 1917 Russian 500 ruble note
-- Business card of our current District Attorney from when he was a judge
-- 1981 snapshot of Richard Nixon taken at an airport (original print)

These old photographs

 

[RetroToday]

I also bought the following items for a dollar total at that sale with all the old telephones.
Not quite the era I focus on collecting, but interesting.

The Teletype Story, 1957 brochure on the 50th anniversary of Teletype.

Trans Canada Airlines / Air Canada luggage tag, c.1960s

J. & J. Taylor Ltd. safe works, Toronto. Promotional ruler.

1958-59 Ontario Motor League Road Book. A great local research reference.

 

[Shangas]

I found two things at the shop today...

A friend of mine knows that I have an old typewriter. He gave me three boxed typewriter spools. Two of them had never been used. Still sealed. The third one, which had been used (I rejuvenated it with some stamping-ink), has ribbon which is wound around original, pressed-steel spools:

I took it all home, and installed the steel spools into my 1920s Underwood portable. They look much better than those plastic ones!

The other thing I saw at the shop, was this:

Ol' Blue Eyes here is my friend Andrew! We were big friends back in highschool, but we hadn't seen each other since we started university. Until today, we hadn't been in contact for at least 5-6 years! It was a big shock, but a very happy one.

We swapped emails and phone-numbers, and now we can hang out again, like we used to

 

[DamianM]

Found this at a thrift shop I frequent. Made by Plasto MFG Lamp, a company started in 1945.
for 10 bucks I am really happy.

 

[tonyb]

I also bought the following items for a dollar total at that sale with all the old telephones.
Not quite the era I focus on collecting, but interesting.

The Teletype Story, 1957 brochure on the 50th anniversary of Teletype.

...

Really, really nice design. What're the dimensions on that brochure? If it were mine, I'd consider framing it.

 

[tonyb]

Found this at a thrift shop I frequent. Made by Plasto MFG Lamp, a company started in 1945.
for 10 bucks I am really happy.

Groovy lamp. And a very good price, certainly by LA standards.

This one was also priced at 10 bucks, but the store was having a 30 percent off sale, so I went home with it for $7. (It actually wasn't even marked. I asked the thrift-store manager if it was for sale, or if it was a shop fixture. She said, "sure, we'll sell it." I asked "how much?" She said "$10 dollars?," lifting her voice and eyebrows such as to suggest she was posing it more as a question than a statement. I said, "okay, I'll give you 10 bucks for that, but let me go grab my car and park it out front, so I won't have to carry it far in the rain." By the time I got back, that 30 percent off deal was extended to this item as well. I wasn't expecting that.)

It came complete -- chain, socket, cord and plug, and even a perfectly good 40 watt lightbulb. But I spent more on ceiling hooks than on the swag lamp itself.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

This month's haul from the diecast collector's show over the weekend.

 

[Shangas]

What's that little red one on the right? It looks cute!

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

It's a '53 Corvette. The one on the left is a '34 Chrysler Airflow and the middle one is a Ford Model A.

 

[jamespowers]

This month's haul from the diecast collector's show over the weekend.

Geez, I remember when you used to buy them like the first row one on the left. You got a car a button and a cool package. Now they try to make them look the same but the car isn't the same and the button looks cheap.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Yes, that's an original MOC (Mint On Card) Special Delivery from 1970. I also like the Fedco price sticker. Loungers in Southern California will no doubt remember the Fedco discount chain.

 

[jamespowers]

Yes, that's an original MOC (Mint On Card) Special Delivery from 1970. I also like the Fedco price sticker. Loungers in Southern California will no doubt remember the Fedco discount chain.

And you paid 67 cents right?

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

You don't want to know what I paid.

 

[jamespowers]

You don't want to know what I paid.

I know what I paid in the 1970s.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Don't laugh but this one sold for.... $125,000

 

[tonyb]

Marcel Breuer Cesca chair knockoffs (aren't they all?). The design first appeared in 1928. You know, Bauhaus and all that. These days they're about as common as canvas sneakers.

Got 'em offa craigslist. Free.

 

[jamespowers]

Don't laugh but this one sold for.... $125,000

I wouldn't give 125 cents for a VW.

 

[RetroToday]

Really, really nice design. What're the dimensions on that brochure? If it were mine, I'd consider framing it.

Hi tonyb,

It's not really that big, I guess it could be framed though. It's 8 1/2" x 11".
You could always enlarge the image and print it to frame, would also save the original from fading over time.

 

[tonyb]

Hi tonyb,

It's not really that big, I guess it could be framed though. It's 8 1/2" x 11".
You could always enlarge the image and print it to frame, would also save the original from fading over time.

The original (as contrasted with reproduction) travel and movie posters and such around this house are framed behind glass (or plexi) and hang where they aren't exposed to direct sunlight. Maybe it's just wishful of me, having no real expertise in these matters, to think that'll keep 'em from undue degradation.

If it were mine, I'd consider framing it with a matte about 4 inches wide top and bottom and maybe five inches on each side, which would make it 16 1/2 by 19. But that might run into real money. Lots of the stuff hanging on the walls here occupies frames found at thrift stores. You know, nice frame and matte, but hokey art, bought cheap at the Value Village or Goodwill or whatever. I've been known to buy such items with no immediate use for them in mind, just to have 'em on hand when I find something worth framing.