Yard Sale, Thrift Store, Junk Heap Shopping (Part 1)

[Kouign Aman]

I am reminded by the Tenor that we acquired a 12 place setting of Four Crowns china to complement the set he'd brought home from Japan in the belly of a fast-attack sub. Of the thrift store set, it is missing one bowl, and one plate and has one cracked teacup handle. We paid $20.

[JanMcBaker]

Rachel said

DOUBLE AMEN, SISTER--it's great to find soul mates here

I think it was $8--and I just heard from a thrifting list I'm on that Magna-Lite is going out of biz--so we must rescue and cherish M-L when we can

Zoe

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By the way, can Magnalite be used over a flame on the stovetop, like if I wanted to brown something in it then put it in the oven?

[Anna N]

I would advise you to do one thing to "treat" it, prior to use.  Give it a soak in enough water to cover them (I would put them in separate plastic bowls or containers) and add a bit of bleach to the water,  about an ounce for a gallon of water. 

Allow to soak for about an hour.

Then rinse well and again soak it for 30 minutes in clear water then repeat. 

This will make sure that any mold spores that might have been introduced in years past will not be able to transfer to anything you place in it.

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What would we do without you, Andie. Thanks! I am not a bit afraid of bleach and use a mild solution in the kitchen all the time. After all, that's what my drinking water is treated with in this neck of the woods. I know that because when I returned from B.C. I was almost overcome by the chlorine smell of the water here.

[petite tête de chou]

Actually, my mother found these. She gave them to me many years ago when I loved to entertain. And even then, I still didn't use them. But I still love the Irish linens.

[MissAmy]

I wondered into a Goodwill about a week ago, not really looking for anything in particular, just killing time. In the cooking section I found TWO Calphalon (original first line with the straight handles) sauce pans for $2. Do you realize that that was, like, the best thing that has ever happened to me?

[andiesenji]

I wondered into a Goodwill about a week ago, not really looking for anything in particular, just killing time. In the cooking section I found TWO Calphalon (original first line with the straight handles) sauce pans for $2. Do you realize that that was, like, the best thing that has ever happened to me?

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Mazeltov! Sounds like you hit the jackpot.....

[MissAmy]

I wondered into a Goodwill about a week ago, not really looking for anything in particular, just killing time. In the cooking section I found TWO Calphalon (original first line with the straight handles) sauce pans for $2. Do you realize that that was, like, the best thing that has ever happened to me?

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Mazeltov! Sounds like you hit the jackpot.....

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Thanks! I rarely find amazing deals, but when I do, they're doozies!

[andiesenji]

Here is my newest thrift store acquisition.

I have some research to do on it. I have a platter and a large bowl somewhere in one of the various storage places, with the same or very similar design. I've had these for many years.

I love the colors.

It is in excellent condition, not even a fleabite anywhere. The tiny white spots on the rim are under the glaze. I was amazed in the store that I couldn't find a single flaw anywhere on it.

I paid a whole dollar.

[Kerry Beal]

My personal best find. In a liquidation place close to my home I found 3 All Clad LTD pots, the 8 quart, large saute pan and a 9inch frying pan for $10 each. The finish on the outside had been damaged, god knows how, but the inside is in perfect shape and I have used them happily for several years now.

[Anna N]

Here is my newest thrift store acquisition.

...

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That is just tooooo cute! Love it.

[Anna N]

My personal best find.  In a liquidation place close to my home I found 3 All Clad LTD pots, the 8 quart, large saute pan and a 9inch frying pan for $10 each.  The finish on the outside had been damaged, god knows how, but the inside is in perfect shape and I have used them happily for several years now.

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WOW... I have seen some decent saute pans but they were mostly pretty small. But I keep going out there every Saturday and one day I know I will hit a jackpot of some sort.

[andiesenji]

I don't get about as well as I used to so rarely get out to the yard sales, however I do visit the thrift shops here in Lancaster and in Palmdale on a fairly regular basis.

My best thrift shop find was not a kitchen item and it was quite a few years ago, when I still lived down below in the "Valley". I used to go to the West Hollywood and Santa Monica thrift shops because one could still find some really good items BAR... (Before Antiques Roadshow).

I always looked for kitchen stuff but also checked out the books.

I came across, not only a first edition, but an author's proof copy of Death In The Afternoon, with the author's signature and a note "To Errol, Nice boat Buddy, Thanks for the ride around the islands." penned on the flyleaf.

I have it in a archival box, in my safe deposit box along with some of my silver and some jewelry.

[racheld]

I'm curious--when you say "we" does that mean there's a significant other of the opposite sex involved in your thrifting?  If so, I will die of jealousy right this minute.

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Yes, there is---it's one of our favourite things to do when we're out and about. The TV ads here with the Goodwill Guy state that there are "27 stores" and I believe it. We call it "retail therapy" and it really is---just mindless wandering with nothing in particular to look for, though my route takes me usually first to the dinner plates---we love the hand-painted ones, and are always on the lookout for florals. Then, since I'm RIGHT THERE, I indulge my dish junkie leanings to my heart's surfeit. When you look up and there are six Mottahedeh c/s, each taped to its match, in all-different fruit designs, for 3.00 a set, THEN you start loading your cart, looking around furtively for a canny price-setter to come snatch them back and put a BIG price on the lot.

Or nine small-to-medium pressed-glass bowls of every imaginable shape and use, all stacked together, with a haze of yellowing from the owner's gas heat/smoking habit, with 49c on each tag---that's a grab and run, as well. They appear on our table holding jelly, pickles, homemade cranberry/orange sauce in the tall compote, butter/jam in the divided one, with pens and a nailfile living in the HEAVY thumbprint spooner over by my chair.

There are finds, all right. Chris' lookings range from old cameras, photography books, old picture frames for his endless collection of b/w photos of families-we-never-knew, posed unsmiling in their Sunday best, captured for possibly the only time in their lives. They got tossed out by their great-great-grands when they closed out Grandma's house and had no more thought to their ancestors than to a passing car.

We love them and are soon to have a beautiful wall of them, a surprise from DD to Chris on Fathers' Day...they stand ranged all around about two dozen old black cameras on a big shelf just above my head as I type. He also loves to scan the books, finding old Hardy Boys and Bomba and Tarzan, as well as fifty-cent copies of all the modern writers he enjoys. He practically dresses from Goodwill: soft jeans, lots with the tags still on, shirts, new T-shirts and unders from the absolutely-new rack, 99c each. And he spots for me. I'll hear a soft whistle, in our code, answer back, and we gravitate to the spot, playing a middle-aged "Marco Polo" til we meet and show each other our finds. He knows what I'll like, and has found some outstanding buys.

Yesterday, it was a dollar copy of Escoffier, unearthed from among all the How to Microwave and brown-photo seventies Betty Crockers.

I mentioned yesterday that our museum and symphony and opera consumption has gone down in the last couple of years, and he said, "We're out here acquiring bits of history, their books and music and the dishes they used for breakfast. What better commemoration?" (and entertainment, as well).

I also do a lot of delving into the big tupperware tubs of old tableware-I use an unattractive knife, picked up from the dozens in the bin, and gently dig and move the bits and pieces, til EUREKA!---the yellowish gleam of silverplate or sterling amongst the graysteel of the pile. I've been finding baby spoons lately, for some reason, and just days ago, five HEAVY restaurant forks, with "Albert Pick Hotels" gouged into the back.

So we go, and we enjoy, and we cart home history not our own, but soon a part of our family's days and dinners and reading and listening and the beautiful of our lives.

You may find this strange and crazy, but we've already told the children: When we die, we'll be cremated, the ashes mixed, and they're to take a baggie to every bookstore, library and Goodwill in town and sprinkle a tiny bit of us into the shrubbery. Seems fitting.

And Andie, a Hemingway, owned by Cap'n Blood himself, and a $1 MANN!!!

You win.

Edited June 9, 2006 by racheld (log)

[zoe b]

well, I'm dead, now! Sounds like so much fun. The hub here tolerates my thrifting--but does not tolerate the Zen experience you describe--beautifully put, by the way--he's a go in and get out fast shopper.

So when we are travelling I get to stop at 1/2 of the thrifts I'd like to stop at--and he generally drops me off and comes back, unless he's short of reading material, and then he will have a fast browse around the book section.

Does anyone here sell on ebay? I do, I confess--it's a way to keep my collecting under control--do need room to walk in the house, apparently...

and I love that art pitcher, andiesenji--I love pottery but know more about American pottery than the European stuff--it was a super find.

jan asked

"By the way, can Magnalite be used over a flame on the stovetop, like if I wanted to brown something in it then put it in the oven?"

my pan is the anodised (dark) aluminum on the bottom and seems fine used on the stove--the older shiny everywhere ML would be fine, too, I think--it's so sturdy, it would be impossible to damage it--even if it got blackened you could soak and scrub it, I'm sure.

Zoe

[CaliPoutine]

Does anyone here sell on ebay? I do, I confess--it's a way to keep my collecting under control--do need room to walk in the house, apparently...

Here are a few of our latest finds. To be honest, my spouse found almost all of these. It all started so innocently. Our town has a bi-annual rummage sale and everything is so ridiculously cheap. We went looking for wine-glasses for our large wedding reception. It was cheaper to buy the glasses than rent them and we didnt care that they didnt match. I bought 3 of those old-fashioned metal ice cube trays. ( the type with the lever). I paid 10 cents each, and then went looking around on ebay. They were selling for ridiculous amounts of money. I decided to list them and they sold for $26.00( for the set). So, I confess, a lot of what we find( collectibles, some kitchen items, etc) goes up on ebay. It's made for a nice little side business. My spouse, she is kinda obsessed.( but there could be worse obsessions). She/We go out every Saturday in the summer and she'll go to thrift shops during the week. She's already mapped out all the thrift stores on the way to our hotel for our next weekend trip.

These items I've kept for myself.

Robin paid 1.00 for this, I use it for spices only. She was sick of her coffee tasting like cloves.

I love this. I think she paid 50 cents at a yard sale. It's made in Ontario, the spreader is cherry wood and its brand new. The tag says it's for pate, but since we don't eat red meat, we'll probably use it for a cheese ball.

Once I found one of these french jars, I was hooked. I've found these at different places, I think the largest one was 50 cents. I love them. I store spices, bits of dried fruit, etc in them.

Edited June 9, 2006 by CaliPoutine (log)

[andiesenji]

All Magnalite can be used on stovetop or in the oven.

I have had the giant one, the biggest they ever made, since the late 60s and I often use it too cook very large turkeys rapidly, starting them on the stovetop on two burners, on a rack with a couple of cups of water. The lid seals so tightly that the turkey effectively steams. I have cooked a 35 pound turkey in about 5 hours. 4 on the stovetop, one in the oven to brown, uncovered.

This has the advantage of allowing the oven to be used for other stuff when preparing a meal for a large group.

The breast meat is very juicy and flavorful under a crisp skin which browns nicely in the final hour of roasting in the oven.

[snowangel]

Geez. On my very rare excurions, all I find is junk. Maybe I should make a more regular habit of stopping at sales and thrift stores! I pass them all the time.

[CaliPoutine]

some of today's haul.

A brand new Pampered chef wonder cup( good for peanut butter, corn syrup, etc)

1 dollar

and an angel food cutter. The handle looks to be bakelite.

50 cents

[zoe b]

and an angel food cutter. The handle looks to be bakelite.

so that's what that is--I see that thing all the time--not with such a nice handle, though--does it work? I could use a proper cutter for angel food--we tend to start just ripping chunks off because a serrated knife doesn't really do a very good job.

Maybe I should make a more regular habit of stopping at sales and thrift stores! I pass them all the time.

yeah, you have to go often--and it's better to not have anything in mind--because you'll never see it if you are lookin for it!

[Anna N]

Very little today - a 10 inch quiche dish and "Under the Tuscan Sun" but the price was right -- $1.50 total.

[M.X.Hassett]

I recently passed a box on the curb with a sign saying "Please take me" i took it of course and it contained a dozen wonderful Champ. Coups, a food mill with 4 different plates, 3 1950's water pitchers and various crystal serviing bowls one with a great bass base. Weird what people throw away.

[racheld]

and an angel food cutter.  The handle looks to be bakelite. 

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According to my dear Home-Ec teacher Mrs. Baxter, from back in the dark ages of my youth, it's a "Cake-Breakah."

And we had a super-trip this week, to a Thrift Store in Columbus---we always stop in when Chris has a service call over there. There's a red/black hand-painted art deco plate of Ilsa and Rick, with "Cafe Americain" inscribed; a set of eight tiny dessert forks, in a shiny-but-not-brassy-scented brass; six pilsners, fifty cents each; a Bilston & Battersea QEII Golden Anniversary cup, well-gilded and festooned--3.99.

My best find: four Homer Laughlin Fiesta cups, just hanging there with all the melmac and Furio. I always do a thorough eye-squinting scan of the cup area, looking at every handle on the long prongs, and there was one perfectly-round little handle. I removed all the ones in front and retrieved my prize, then (prickly-skin, grabbit quick) saw that the prong to the left held THREE all in a row. 49c each, like all the other grody old mugs.

I forgot: Also a wide, footed planter/vase---McCoy, in that lovely slick perfectly-glazed maroon/eggplant shade they do so well. 1.99, I think.

[SuzySushi]

I recently passed a box on the curb with a sign saying "Please take me" i took it of course and it contained a dozen wonderful Champ. Coups, a food mill with 4 different plates, 3 1950's water pitchers and various crystal serviing bowls one with a great bass base. Weird what people throw away.

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On that note, this joke just came in via email. It sounds pretty close to the truth to me:

A man bought a new fridge for his house. To get rid of his old fridge, he put it in his front yard and hung a sign on it saying: "Free to good home. You want it, you take it." For three days the fridge sat there without even one person looking twice at it. He eventually decided that people were too un-trusting of this deal. It looked too good to be true, so he changed the sign to read: "Fridge for sale $50." The next day someone stole it.

[andiesenji]

On that note, this joke just came in via email. It sounds pretty close to the truth to me:

A man bought a new fridge for his house. To get rid of his old fridge, he put it in his front yard and hung a sign on it saying: "Free to good home. You want it, you take it." For three days the fridge sat there without even one person looking twice at it. He eventually decided that people were too un-trusting of this deal. It looked too good to be true, so he changed the sign to read: "Fridge for sale $50." The next day someone stole it.

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[Anna N]

The haul this week was slim but cheap! One almost new Braun coffee/spice grinder - the blade type - $2 and a new pizza pan for 5 cents - the kind that is perforated. I plan on using it on the outdoor grill. (And shhhhhhhh - a non-food item - a lovely mirror ($1) for my second bathroom which is just being put together.)