“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” or so the saying goes. More often than not, the only difference is a gap in information. After all, that random painting adorning your wall could be a lot more valuable than you think.
Someone asked “What is the best “treasure” you’ve ever found at a thrift store, garage sale, flea market, etc?” and people detailed their lucky finds. From acts of kindness to folks getting rid of incredibly rare and valuable items, get comfortable and prepare for some FOMO as you scroll through. Upvote your favorites and comment your thoughts below.
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I was a broke single mom trying to furnish my first apartment. I went to a garage sale and saw an almost brand new recliner. I was admiring it knowing I couldn't afford it, just doing a little daydreaming. The woman holding the sale came over and asked if I liked it. I told her of course I loved it, but as I was a broke single mom, that wasn't happening. I thanked her for the daydream and turned to go. She asked me to wait and went inside to get her adult son. She told me that she would sell it to me for $1. I knew she could make some money so I declined, as I knew that wasn't fair to her. She then told me that she was in the middle of a divorce and he got half of everything she made at the sale. I left there with a recliner, a kitchen table, and a bookshelf, and I spent $3. Was the divorce story true? Or was she just helping me out? Don't know, but I've made sure to always help others once I was in a better spot.
My family went to the county fair , and my youngest son took along his favorite little toy… a stuffed duck with “feet” where he put his fingers and “walked along” on things, making happy quacking noises.
As is tradition, toys brought on outings get lost. He was sad, but at least it wasn’t his favorite lovey (a stuffed sea otter).
A YEAR later we stopped at a thrift store to look for school clothes. And he found the same toy hanging up. So of course it came home with us. Open opening the baggie he found his initials on the tag on the toy. Where I had put them a couple of years ago:
It was the same toy.
At a small thrift store, I found A floor-length, black velvet - **real** velvet, not velveteen - vintage Oscar de la Renta gown in perfect condition and miraculously in my size for $10. And as if that wasn't enough, a few minutes later found a brand-new pair of Yves Saint Laurent black satin pumps with original tags ($400) for a measly $2! I wasn't a designer glam gal and had no reason to own these as I had no need for them. I socialized in a much lower tax bracket. Two weeks later I was hired at a job that required me to host a celebrity packed fundraising gala where these thrift store finds served me very well.
I found my wedding dress at a charity yard sale. Our wedding (on a budget) was coming up in a year and I saw this dress at the yard sale. Never been worn - asked the lady how much it was. I was told to make an offer so I did - $20 as I wasn't sure if it would fit. Took it home and looked it up - it was worth over $1000 at a wedding boutique about 30 km from where I lived. It fit and I wore it for our wedding the next year. I then 'freecycled' it to a lady who was getting married but couldn't afford a nice dress.
While it seems like a cliche right out of a soap opera, the idea that someone might stumble upon long-lost art has some basis in reality. A classic example of this was when N.C. Wyeth's Ramona, purchased for a staggering $4 at a thrift store, ended up selling for $191,000. So next time you are poking around and see something that looks better than its price tag would suggest, perhaps do a little research.
Obviously, most stories like this don’t feature people making six figures for buying something that costs as much as a cheeseburger. That being said, valuable, vintage, and one-of-one items end up sold all the time.
Not a store, but i used to work for a junk removal company. Most clients were just rich people who didnt wanna deal with throwing out their stuff, so it wasnt uncommon to find things of value and keep them to resell or just have. I was on an estate clean out and pulling stuff out of the attic and found a box that i decided to open it just to see what was inside. I popped the lid and inside there was 17 small orange, very old, boxes with big blue letters said "Lionel". Model trains.
Box full of money.
I quietly put the box in the truck cab to investigate later. Once I got home I pulled the trains out and started researching them. 2 full sets from the 1930s, all new in box. The boxes showed their age but the trains looked like they had never been removed from the box. Most even still had their (deteriorated) packing materials around them. I turned to the model trains subreddit to learn more and was immediately swamped with people trying to buy them, and one person who was wildly honest with me and told me what they thought they were worth, and not to let someone try and swindle me out of my gold mine, mentioning he wished he could afford to buy them from me. I went to a local hobby shop to learn even more and confirmed their real monetary and historical value.....about $10,000 and considered to be museum quality, near mint condition. Exceedingly rare.
In the end I didn't get $10k. I contacted the redditor who had told me what they were really worth, while everyone else was offering a few hundred bucks, and offered to sell them to him. We agreed on $2000.
He and his aging father (likely passed by now) had bonded over their love of model trains since he was a kid and had a massive layout in their basement. Last I heard from him a couple years ago the trains are still running and well taken care of. I'm glad i gave them to someone who would truly appreciate them and enjoy them as they were intended instead of putting behind a glass case or looking at them as only an investment to make money off of
A local charitable thrift store, operated by volunteers on the grounds of a Catholic hospital, received a train set like that. When they learned the value, they called the owner, told her what they were worth and tried to give them back to her. She declined and told them to sell them and put the money to good use. I'm very cynical when it comes to humanity, especially organized religion, so I found the whole incident to be very heart warming. There are still a lot of very decent people out there.
I bought an unused 6 quart KitchenAid mixer with all the attachments at a garage sale for $20 (retails for $400). I then gave it to my sister as an early birthday present. She bakes cakes and cookies for parties has a side-gig and was hand mixing everything beforehand. She was ecstatic!
I used to work at a goodwill donation center and someone donated a live hand grenade and that was kind of cool beacuse not only did the entire shopping center had to evacuate and I got to see one of these bomb robots but I got to go home early and still got a full day's pay
Art is probably the most common “culprit,” because, often enough, the real value comes less from a person’s aesthetic considerations, but the pedigree of the painter. To compound the issue, a well-known painter's most famous works are almost never “lost,” so the ones sitting around in a garage sale or thrift store would already be more obscure.
A brand new, high quality suede coat for twenty bucks.
What made it a real treasure is that it's somehow my dream jacket, the one I've designed a hundred times in my head and thought I'd never have because leather goods are so expensive. It's the exact shade, weight, and shape that I pictured a thousand times, but it's also a design that isn't common for leather jackets. I always figured to get one cut like that, that fit me so well, I'd probably have to order it custom. I'd dreamed of that jacket long enough that I even knew it would cost me about $600 to have one made.
But then one day I was picking up some work pants at the thrift store and it was right there. I wasn't even looking at the coats, but someone had pulled it out and draped it over the rack. Not two months prior my car had been stolen with both my jackets inside so I didn't have a coat at all and wasn't sure how I'd be able to afford to buy one when it got cold again.
I have worn that coat every day, from September to May, ever since. It's one of my most prized possessions.
I love reading stories about the universe magically providing for those in need.
20 years ago, a yuppie couple bought a house in my neighborhood with everything in it after the elderly owner died. They had an estate sale to clear it out.
The elderly owner was one of the most important importers from China post WW2.
They sold everything for fractions of a penny of what they were worth.
I bought a large rosewood budded, a large porcelain Foo dog. 2 rosewood planet stands and a 4 panel screen with golden lacquer on one side and a beautiful and detailed mother of pearl 3D scene on the other for $600.
The screen alone is now worth 35K.
Not as impressive as some others, but the thing that comes to mind is a copy of "This is Knitting" for ten cents back in the late 90s. I learned how to make socks from that book and it still has a place in my heart because that was the tipping point towards a life- long hobby.
This is just part of the appeal of thrifting, besides the often excellent deals one can score. Unlike a supermarket, where you always have a decent idea of what you might find, thrift stores might stock the most unhinged, creepy, and weird items. They also tend to sell things you simply will not find in other stores because, to put it frankly, no one wants them.
Several years ago I was walking around the neighborhood, late Saturday afternoon. It was "garage sale" weekend, but I didn't look too closely at the sales because I was broke. I was just walking to get some exercise, clear my head, maybe cheer myself up.
When I was just a few blocks from returning home, I found a $20 bill on the sidewalk! I looked around but there was nobody. It wasn't even in front of a home with a sale going on.
Now I *was* cheered up, and I stopped in at the last garage sale with my $20. It was an older couple and they were already moving things inside, closing up shop.
I browsed around and just asked "you wouldn't have any vinyl records for sale, would you?"
They looked at one another, shrugged, and led me into the house. Upstairs, in what was clearly their son's old bedroom, they pulled a box of records out of the closet. I got the distinct feeling he had died; I didn't ask, but his room looked like a shrine to the late 1980s.
I paid $20 for the whole box, and carried it home.
That thing was an absolute goldmine of punk albums, including an original pressing of the Germs "GI" signed by Pat Smear, an original of Operation Ivy's "Energy", Green Day's "39/Smooth" and "Kerplunk" (plus a few other Lookout! records releases,) and more.
I sold the GI album alone for $600, and I regret it.
I remember rescuing a lot of 45" Vinyl RCA produced singles by David Bowie from being thrown out once.
I paid $1 for a necklace at a sidewalk sale on my way to work. I thought it was an amazing steal as it looked like cherry amber Bakelite. Then I got to work (vintage store) and the picker who sold us things said, "nice necklace, I'll give you three for it" which I thought meant three dollars, then he said, "OK $350" and I was of course surprised! Turns out it is actual cherry amber, not Bakelite, and worth more like $600.
a 110 year old copy of Little Women for $4.00.
I remember not wanting to go to a church flea market when I was like five. Came back with a massive Star Wars haul. Dozens of return of the jedi figures. The brown hover car from new hope. Icing on the cake was a broken millennium falcon that I played with daily. Six year old me was super happy.
This is going to seem silly but, I still love it.
So, my mom and I had been at the mall and I found this gorgeous rainbow scarf at The Gap. However, it was $50 and I wasn’t willing to spend that so, I didn’t buy it.
Cue about 2 months later and my mom and i were at the Goodwill. Lo and behold there is the scarf! It’s in PERFECT condition and was only $15.99. I, of course bought it.
I’ve had it 8 years now and it’s still in perfect condition and I wear it every time it’s cold. Granted, where I live that means about 3 months a year so, maybe that’s why it’s still in perfect condition.
Still my favorite find.
Some designer, I don't remember his name, sold hand crocheted silk vests for $1000 each. I wouldn't pay that, but I found one in a second hand store for $5. Still in my wardrobe. :)
$1000 cheetah print long winter coat a lady was going to donate as I was donating. It was my birthday, and she was so happy that it was going to me and that her mom, the original owner who just died would love to see it repurposed for a man !!! It’s my celebration pimp coat now.
And then a old school green Stanley thermos
I paid $1 for a box of books, one was: “A child’s history of the Confederacy”, by D. H. Hill. I graduated from NC State, and our library was the D.H. Hill Library. I took the book to the library the next time I was in Raleigh, and asked if they were interested in acquiring it. The Director of Acquisitions asked what I wanted for it. I said I was happy to donate it, just send me a contribution receipt. A few weeks later I got a nice letter thanking me for my contribution of $1,000!
I have a knack for picking up used books at thrift stores, garage sales, estate sales, wherever, but not just any old books. The books my fingers find are autographed. I have autographed books by:
Neil Gaiman
Tom Clancy
Elie Wiesel
Salman Rushdie
Connie Francis
Shaq (his basketball card, not a book)
Dave Barry
Isaac Asimov
Tom Wolfe
Some of these books I paid as little as a quarter for, and the most, I think, was $10.
How bout the one that got away? Several years go, apparently 2012, I saw an odd painting of an owl like creature. I looked at it for a moment, considered it, then walked on. A few weeks later it was on the news … It was a Picasso. It eventually sold for $7k.
Had a work colleague who had a garage sale. Her new husband added a bunch of his basement junk to the sale. A browser who was a prof at Harvard University told the husband that a framed sketch he had was done by Napoleon. He took it to the university and they authenticated it as a genuine Napoleon sketch. It was a nautical drawing done from the deck of a ship.
I found a painting at a garage sale I thought was beautiful but no idea of what it was but it just struck me. Paid $15 and it came in a gorgeous frame. Got it home and did some research through art people in our area. Found out it's worth almost $4K. Great score.
None of these are really valuable things but they’re all things I truly cherish nonetheless:
* a bowling ball for $5. I used to be on the bowling team but couldn’t afford my own ball so always had to use the house balls which suck. This ball is hot pink, came with the name “Ruth” but the weight and finger hole sizes are a perfect fit! I’ve bowled all my best games with Ruth.
* An immersion blender for $1. It has provided many years of delicious soups.
* A J Crew down jacket for $3. Fits perfectly, looks nice, super warm. I have worn it through like 8 or 9 cold Boston winters now.
The bowling ball reminds me of my teammate on our company bowling team. He found it at a yard sale and said it fit him perfectly........it was big, blue and had the name D I C K stamped on it. Every tournament he'd loudly announce he was going to play with his Big Blue D I C K.
Years ago, a woman posted a telescope ad on a bulletin board. Her dad was a snowbird and one year just called her up and said, "I'm not coming back this year, sell my house and everything in it." I went to check out the telescope during her garage sale, and she said she had researched everything about it, talked to him about it, and she wanted $300 for it. I don't remember exactly what I said, but I remember saying something that indicated I would go a little higher, but she said no, she would be happy with $300. It's an older model, but the telescope new would be about $2500, and it had a $700 eyepiece in the box.
I got a brand new London Fog coat for $12 at Salvation Army. It’s the lightest, warmest coat I’ve ever worn.
There’s a thrift store near me that doesn’t know what it has. They will sell you Armani, Gucci, Calvin Klein, Michael Kors for $4.99. It’s all authentic. It’s located in a very wealthy neighborhood and people donate crazy expensive clothes after just wearing it once. It’s crazy. My closet is jam packed with designer clothes from there. And shoes!
I was just looking at it and thinking about it last night.
A globe of the moon that we got in the early 80s in a Cincinnati flea market. It's metal, dented here and there, but I've always cherished it. I think I lost the accompanying booklet that had information about the missions and landings, but the moon still sits on my bookshelf, high up where nothing can get to it.
My greatest regret in life is not buying the taxidermy frogs playing basket ball with one doing a slam dunk. I regret not buying it nearly every time I go to the thrift shop hoping I'll see it again. Truly heartbreaking.
Damn... "I" regret you not buying that because you could have posted a picture...
1. Dorothy Thorpe lucite pretzel lamp at a Goodwill for $12.99, worth about $1,200.00
2. Pierre Cardin brass swoosh table lamp at another goodwill for $14.99, worth about $1,400.00
3. Nils Landberg for Orrefors tulip vase at yet another Goodwill for $5.99. Sold for $800.
4. Murano glass white swirl mushroom lamp for $16.95, also worth about $1,200.00.
5. John Lewis art Glass two moon vase for $7.95, worth about $400.00.
Tons of signed art Glass from Orrefors, Murano, and numerous other glass artists.
Where did you find all these items. I am envious. I probably wouldn't recognize there worth.
A complete set of Advanced Dungeon and Dragons 1E rule books for $20.
Dude... That's like finding the Holy Grail of TTRPGs and basically free at that price compared to their actual worth... This guy is jealous
A 1930s archtop acoustic guitar that sounds like the devil. For 85 dollars.
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I dislike people who know what something is worth and get it for cheap at a sale because the current owner doesn't know the worth. It's just scammy. No issues if the seller knows and still sells cheap, or if the buyer didn't know but found out later. I had to sell my old Barbie dolls when I was a kid, because we couldn't afford to pay the bills and every buck was welcome, and it turned out one was an original, expensive, Barbie that could've paid all the bills, and some a*****e let me sell it to him for 1 dollar. Turned out he knew very well what he bought. He even checked all the other Barbies, but wasn't interested, because they were either fake or not the expensive kind.
Mr Auntriarch bought two knitting machines at auction for £48. He couldn't get on with the fancy computerised one, so he put it on eBay and got £1,600. He bought me a new coat out of the profit, and himself a proper office chair.
*curls up on the chair for a proper nap*
Load More Replies... I dislike people who know what something is worth and get it for cheap at a sale because the current owner doesn't know the worth. It's just scammy. No issues if the seller knows and still sells cheap, or if the buyer didn't know but found out later. I had to sell my old Barbie dolls when I was a kid, because we couldn't afford to pay the bills and every buck was welcome, and it turned out one was an original, expensive, Barbie that could've paid all the bills, and some a*****e let me sell it to him for 1 dollar. Turned out he knew very well what he bought. He even checked all the other Barbies, but wasn't interested, because they were either fake or not the expensive kind.
Mr Auntriarch bought two knitting machines at auction for £48. He couldn't get on with the fancy computerised one, so he put it on eBay and got £1,600. He bought me a new coat out of the profit, and himself a proper office chair.
*curls up on the chair for a proper nap*
Load More Replies... 