What's the best bargain you've ever found at a garage sale or thrift store?

I bought each one of them for 25 cents at a thrift store and later sold them on Ebay for 5 dollars each :-D.

I am not as lucky as one of my friends who found a first edition Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson at the local Salvation Army.

The first one needed very minor work, but both are fully functional. I don't know what they're worth, and I have no plans to sell them, but it felt like quite a score at the time.

Columbia Twosome in perfect condition. The chain tensioner needed adjusting and I put on a better seat and now my wife and I can go riding together.
Stationary bike trainer for $2.00
I have a lot of records that I have picked up for $1.00-.25. When my kids were little I would get clothes for them all the time for next to nothing.

autographed by Franz Beckenbauer and numerous other players. I'm not sure what it might be worth now. Someone needs to do "Antiques Roadshow" for sports memorabilia.

The chairs are very heavy, American made from the 1950s....much sturdier looking than the ones in this photo.



Six of these chairs would go for about $1500 or more these days, and they probably wouldn't be near as well made.

those things weigh a ton, but aren't very comfortable. They have nice design lines, though.

I found a 65 gallon aquarium with stand, hood, lights and filter, all in good shape for $20 at a garage sale several years ago. We are still using it.

Here: http://www.musicboxattic.com/relabomujebo.html
If I'm lucky, I have the 22-note, not 18. But I don't know how to determine this.

And last Saturday, my flea mkt find was a Michael Jackson pendant/necklace for $3.00. Someone is selling one on e-Bay today; bid is up to $41.00 (Item number: 160344663674).

I keep all my stuff; wouldn't buy otherwise!

I sold it on ebay for $212.00.

(except for the ones we have had).

I have no clue if I bought anything at those and what it might have been.

My poor grandfather, getting on in years, unknowing of the value of his stuff, and about to move into a nursing home, held a huge garage sale to sell off everything he didn't need. Among the items: a WWI-era German Pickelhaube (the old German military dress helmet with the big spike on top) in perfect condition, a couple dozen German beer steins dating 1915-1955, a fairly large collection of German and French artwork dating from the same period, and on and on, all at typical garage-sale prices.

I went to a yard sale where they were selling brand new clothes -- tags attached -- for $1 apiece. I can rarely afford new clothes, so I buy most of my things from yard sales or thrift shops. My size isn't an easy one to find, but the clothes at this yard sale fit me. Someone's shopaholic relative had passed away, leaving a huge number of new, unworn clothes and accessories.

Even though the vast majority of the clothes weren't in my styles or colors, I picked up a number of short sleeved summer tops, an embroidered denim vest, a skirt and matching top, several pairs of slacks, a fall jacket and more. I later calculated, from looking at the original prices, that I'd gotten more than $500 worth of clothing for $25.

I feel so blessed.

windsor-style dining room chairs in terrific condition at Goodwill for $5.99 each. At my local Goodwill, all dining room chairs are $5.99, so it pays to check it out now and then.

Four were simple, the other two for the head and foot of the table were larger, with arms, and comb back style.

just shove in their closets. :wow:

that they have been blessed with.

Actually, my mother in law found it. Back when my wife and I were considering looking, there were only a few nice neighborhoods that potentially fell within our price range. My MIL was out doing her yard sailing and came across this one house with a sale in the front yard. She asked the owner whether there were any houses for sale in the neighborhood, and she said, "Yes, this one." But she hadn't listed it yet. Mind you this was at the very height of the real estate boom market when houses would be sold within days of putting them on the market. We were able to move in and buy this house before it ever got listed for at least $50,000 less than any of the comparable houses in the neighborhood.

:patriot:

I'm just not witty enough to say it right.

church when I moved to Florida. I still have it.

though technically, she's the one that bought it.

here every year - the women who run it are from a pretty upscale area. I've found lovely bags there, usually for a buck or two, esp. if it's the end of the day.


Otherwise, just various pieces of art from around the world that I have found at Goodwill, etc, including pottery and batik wall-hangings.

For 25 cents.

Several new RPG books and magazines for $35.
A load of comics for a quarter each. More for 50 cents at another sale, too. Damn near the entire run of Alias, once.

Well, only the duplicates that I accidentally get.

That was awesome!

I find strange large pieces of furniture or kitchen equipment I just HAVE to have. sigh

Sustained some damage in a mishap (haven't found out what yet). Even damaged ones, if they were once airworthy, go for quite a bit.

I got it for $7.

It hangs over my fireplace. I still have to make up a war story to go with it that doesn't make me look bad.

at a church sale for a buck. Checked on line--$85. at Williams Sonoma. Years ago I found an ivory necklace for .25 & a sterling rope bracelet for .50.

I use them on our upstairs hallway window and they look great. A new pair would run well over $150 in that size and quality. I bought that pair at Salvation Army.

I got another pair at a garage sale for $10. That pair was around 144" wide so I split them and restitched and made two pair for the computer room.

Orwell - Animal Farm (they had it in with the children's books)

for $20 I got a groovy old-school looking exercise bike. It's pink and brown, it cleaned up very nicely :)

This is too hard to answer because all my favorite stuff came from yard sales and thrift stores. Those sales were how I started my antique camera and photograph collections.. now I look for them more at antique stores but I still get lucky at yard sales sometimes.
A couple weeks ago I got for a dollar a bagpipes fridge magnet, when you push on them they play Scotland the Brave! I love them!!! $1 worth'a love :headbang:

I paid about $20 for it. I saw a small shop that still sells that brand and was told that style was only made in the early 1970's for a short time and I was offered $300 for it.

I still have it.

mark

still in business - New ones are over $300, but they are made of horsehide and last forever.

I am still thinking of taking it along next time I go down to that shop...you never know.

mark

suitable for bathroom or deck, for $45.

Day last year.)

"Just Like Us" is THE Paul Revere & The Raiders album, the most garage rock of them all, with "Just Like Me," "Steppin' Out," covers of "Baby Please Don't Go," The Animals' "I'm Cryin'," The Stones' "Satisfaction," James Brown's "Night Train"...

Jacket and album were in mint condition. This was in the pre-CD says and I was just starting to collect the Raiders' music.

:toast:

The English equivalent of these sales was, 25 years ago, called a jumble sale.

I bought a collection of Victorian era weather instruments, a very long mercury type barometer, a hydrometer, and a prediction instrument for 10 pounds sterling. The exchange rate at the time was about 1 pound = $1.70. The prediction instrument was a nested series of copper disks that you aligned, based on a couple of observations, and it yielded a weather forecast - it was very much like a round slide rule in that sense. Very high quality, clearly made in very limited quantities. The barometer's tube is about a meter long, and is wall mounted.

Anyway, a couple of meteorologists I've known (basically, former military meteorologists who were married to former military aviators who, in turn, were friends of mine) were quite taken with these items and have offered to buy them from me on the spot for some really eye-opening sums. Apparently, I stumbled into an incredible bargain.

I rode it all the way through high school and into college. Still have it. It was vintage in 1964 when I bought it, and must qualify for antique by now. One of the most comfortable saddles I ever owned, but the tree is too narrow to use on my broad backed Quarter horses so I have not been able to use it for 20 years.

Turned out it was about 400 years old.

No idea what it's worth.

And there was much rejoicing. :D

with original accessories, for like 25 bucks at a local antique store

from the 70s. The reciever gets a great sound, good radio signal and well, the 8 track works..but I got no tapes...

but in white leather on the cushions....for $25 for the pair.

Later found out that the same fixture retails for over $300. There was a small, barely visible crack in one of the globes.

a pile of stuff with a sign that said "Free". I got a full set of copper pots and pans for free. Best deal ever.