10 Fascinating Things Shoppers Found At The Thrift Store
What do people love more than a good mystery? Thrifting, of course. When you combine mystery and thrifting, you raise the stakes. These thrift store shoppers found a few mysterious items along with some memorable items.
1. A Purple Heart Medal
Finding a Purple Heart medal at a thrift store opens a Pandora’s Box of questions with a side of patriotic sentiment. Whose is this? How did it get here? Why is it here?
One thrifter with a conscience tracked down the soldier’s family, who had since passed away. The veteran had served at the Battle of Guadalcanal in World War II. Mystery solved, and thank you for your service.
2. Rare-y Potter
Hold your hat for this story, Dumbledore. One day, an employee at a shop that sold donated books came across a copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It was one of the original Potter prints, worth about $1,000 in the employee’s estimation.
The shop’s owner asked J.K. Rowling (who did not live far away from the shop) to sign the copy, and she graciously agreed, bumping the book’s value further.
3. Hidden Treasure
What do you do when you purchase a $50 dresser only to find $1,500 in various envelopes taped hidden throughout the drawers?
Forget what those viral feel-good social media stories say. Keep the money and don’t say a word. $1,500 in hand is better than some remote potential that the internet will praise your good deed and start a GoFundMe in your name.
4. A Relic of the Past
One history buff was elated to find a tool once used to remove the fat from the inside of animal hides. Immediately, the shopper time-traveled to a tannery of the distant past, then suddenly re-awoke in the Goodwill.
Then, they put the item down and ambled over to the tie-dyed T-shirt section to find what they were really looking for.
5. A Dali
One lucky shopper swears they found a real-deal Salvador Dali painting at a thrift store. They, and everyone else, first assumed that the $20 was a mere print. However, after standing and examining the painting further, they figured, “Why not take a shot and see if this bad boy is real?”
Sure enough, an appraiser offered the newly-discovered Dali fan $2,000, which they rejected in favor of keeping the painting among their other valuables. They Salv-adored the painting.
6. Too Many Speculums in the Kitchen
One probing shopper was perusing the kitchen-centric thrift aisle only to find a speculum. That’s not where that goes! But wait, that’s not where that goes, either!
7. A Bottle Corker
One thrifter with an eye for the old-fashioned came across a wooden device about ten inches long and two inches wide. It looked like some sort of plunger device with various rods and holes.
The store owner approached, explaining that it was a bottle corker. By soaking the corks and using the device to insert them in filled bottles, you could operate your own winery, distillery, or bootlegging operation.
8. The Face Book
Not the social network, you see. One shopper teleported back to the pre-internet age when they stumbled upon The Face Book, a physical book documenting the wonders of facial plastic surgery.
It’s real. The poster provided pictures. Let’s hope that author (and Nip/Tuck fan) got his fair cut from Zuckerberg.
9. Precious Silver
One estate-sale browser found a Tiffany & Co. silver bowl valued at $500 by the seller. After research, the buyer discovered that the bowl’s date of origin was 1891. Better yet, the bowl received an online appraisal of $1,500.
If you take a blind leap hoping to strike it rich on a thrift-store item, consider the metal section.
10. A Coca-Cola Belt Buckle
One shopper lived an episode of American Pickers when they discovered an old, tarnished belt buckle with the Coca-Cola logo on it. After cleaning the buckle up and discovering the image of a bikini-clad woman holding a Coke bottle and a “Tiffany” inscription on the back, the sudden soft-drink enthusiast knew they had something special.
The buyer flipped the belt buckle for $600 after discovering that the belt accessory was rare.
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