Thrifted snake necklace that sort of reminds me of The Never Ending Story -one of my favorite childhood movies.
Thrifting this week began on Tuesday when I went to a private appointment. It was my first real appointment where I met someone at their home. I was a little nervous so I made it a late afternoon time and dragged my husband with me. The person that contacted me had some costume jewelry to sell. In the end I bought all the jewelry for a bulk price. It was a very successful trip in the end. The seller was pleased to have it all gone and I was pleased to have so much inventory. I'm just loving working with jewelry. My great grandfather was a jewelry and owned a jewelry store in the Bay Area so maybe there is a little bit jeweler in my blood.
Large Book/DVD purchase from an estate sale on Friday
There was only one estate sale in our area on Friday and I didn't see anything that caught my eye. When I looked on Craigslist for the North Bay, I saw a fabulous ad for a sale in San Rafael. I got up extra early and drove down to Marin County. I was the first to arrive which of course left me rereading the ad in case I had the wrong day/wrong house/wrong year. The owner then came outside and I was able to double check that the sale was indeed on that day.
It was a downsizing sale rather than a true estate sale. Once we were let in the door at 10:00 am I could tell immediately that I would have loved to have had a proper conversation with him. He was a movie and comic book buff. Not only did he have hundreds of movies but he had books on movies, large action figures as well as a collection of records. I bought 4 huge bags worth of books & DVDs as well as this little Mid Century Modern teak dustpan and brush.
Teak Dustpan & Brush for a Table
The sale was run by Fine Estate Sales and after a small discussion with the owner of the estate sale company I learned that they have a blog with lots of information for ReSellers.
I drove home from the sale relieved to finally have some book inventory.
Tiki Paper Place Mats - forgot to add these to Little Shop-if interested please make an offer. There must be at least 25 of these paper mats.
When I woke Saturday and had a look at the paper and Craigslist I noticed that Novato seemed to be where everything was happening. It boasted a school rummage sale and 3 estate sales. Santa Rosa didn't have anything that seemed very interesting so I once again got in the car and headed south. Since gas is nearly up to $4.00 a gallon, I've doubled my effort to write down my mileage.
The rummage sale wasn't anything of interest so I quickly left and headed to an estate sale. While I was waiting for the sale to open a woman approached me and asked if I used to live on Bainbridge Island. Can you believe that? She not only lived on BI but she had shopped at my moving sale. She had remembered me enough to recognize me in Novato. She had moved to San Rafael. What a small world we live in.
The sale was family run and the family was a little stressed. One person kept saying really high prices. For example she told a woman $20 on a small box of hair curlers. Seriously? I made sure to avoid her for any of my prices. I found those retro place-mats at this sale. They were new in their original plastic. They appear to be meant for a restaurant. They remind me of Trader Vic's.
I completely & utterly heart gummed labels. I have no idea why......
After spending all morning in Novato I headed back to Sonoma County and stopped at an Estate Sale in Petaluma. I found this fabulous picnic basket for $5.00.
And it came fully loaded. Plates, silverware, cups, a little tent for food, 2 retro tablecloths, tablecloth clasps to keep it on the table and straws. All for $5.00. Our last little picnic set which was thrifted for the same price but modern was somehow left behind at a hotel. I was so pleased to replace it with a vintage set.
Here are some items available for you in my Little Shop.
Little Shop Prices are based on price I paid, the shipping cost and work involved to take photos, list the item and ship. I do try to keep Little Shop prices low overall unless it's a large item or somewhat rare. If prices are higher than others, it's usually because of the price I paid for an item was higher than usual.
I'm now deleting items once they have sold to make easier shopping when you scroll down the page. If you do try to link to an item and the page is blank, this means it has sold. I've also added a little bit of information about Personal Shopping Services on the top post at Little Shop.
I hope that you enjoy this week's selection.
Russian Tablecloth is available here.
Vintage Brooch is available here.
Vintage Thread - 3 Available here
Mod Rhinestone Owl Necklase is waiting for you here.
(partially from my own collection) Waldorf Book Set is available here.
Did you go thrifting this weekend?
Thrift Share Monday celebrates the Art of Thrifting. As a community of readers and bloggers we are able to connect through the process of buying second hand, selling and sharing.
We Thrift - We Share
Here are some guidelines if you would like to join Thrift Share:
- Your Thrift Share Monday blog post should include your thrifted finds from the weekend.
- Create a blog post with photos of your items.
- Link your Thrift Share Monday post back to Apron Thrift Girl.
- Link to your Thrift Share Monday post on Apron Thrift Girl using inlinkz below.
- If you participate with Thrift Share Monday regularly, please add this button to your side bar so that we can build our Thrift Share Community.
Don't forget to visit Her Library Adventures for Flea Market Finds.
Love the Neverending Story as well - good times, I remember that movie along with Goonies and Dark Crystal from when I was a kid too.
Wish I knew more about jewelry. Have been trying to look for it more at thrifts and estates, but I rarely recognize anything and don't have a good eye for that kind of stuff (typical guy I guess). Also seems very competitive where we live. That owl necklace is really cool though!
Posted by: A La Modern | March 06, 2011 at 10:41 PM
I love the tikki mats! My sister in law (Hub David works at O'Reilly) loves those things! Email me and let me know your price or trade!
Great Haul, Selena! Wrote to Ala Modern...don't your remember that spiky gazelle thing in our yard? I was always petrified a kid would impale themselves on it! I bought mine in India.
A
Posted by: amy zimmer | March 06, 2011 at 11:19 PM
You may believe these four proverbs:
Whom the gods destroy, they first make mad.
Life is a leaf of paper white, thereon each of us may write his word or two.
On earth there is nothing great but man; in the man there is nothing great but mind.
Everything ought to be beautiful in a human being: face, and dress, and soul, and ideas.
Posted by: Discount Coach Bags | March 06, 2011 at 11:25 PM
I have to avoid coming to visit until our sale season starts. You make me so anxious to get out there looking and bargaining.
If you really want to make a connection with the movie buff downsizer, write a thank you note. You have the address, tell him how you enjoyed his sale, and mention that you would be interested if he has more to sell but not enough to do another house sale. done politely I am sure it would be proper. Hand write it and I am sure he'll be flattered.
Posted by: dogsmom | March 07, 2011 at 05:35 AM
Congrats in your finds this weekend...I'm jealous since the garage sales around here are wanna-be estate sales but usually consist of "product" that should have gone in the landfill years ago.
I'm not a professional reseller by any means. Professional thrift BUYER is another story but we won't talk about that closet. :) If you're still taking questions, I am curious as to how you decide whether to sell a set/group of items together or individually? Example: Before Christmas, I picked up a set of the Cat's Meow town shapes. They didn't work as I'd hoped in my village and have gently landed in my small to-resell pile. Do you find better success with selling individual pieces where people may want to fill holes in their collections or is easier/cheaper/less headache to go for the white whale? And really, I'm thinking any multi-item set here...hard to find dishes, etc.
Thanks so much for sharing your finds and processes. Even if it does incur drooling from some of us! LOL
Posted by: Shannon | March 07, 2011 at 07:14 AM
Adorable finds as usual! I love the Auryn-like necklace and the picnic basket! (You can order a replica here http://amzn.to/gY4PMA tempting!)
If the deal doesn't go through with Amy on the tiki mats, I'd love to buy them! I'm a freak with authentic vintage tiki merchandise.
Posted by: Van | March 07, 2011 at 07:47 AM
We got lucky with week with our local Friends of the Library. Bill volunteers there, and prior to one of their sales, they let him take a couple of boxes of whatever he wanted. SCORE! The rest of the sales this weekend were pretty spotty. Hope it starts to pick up as the weather gets better.
Posted by: Jeanie | March 07, 2011 at 07:56 AM
I have actually written a thrift share monday blog post of some buttons and things I have thrifted the last few weeks. :o)
the books and dvds look like a great score... I wish I could go thrifting with you again some time. I miss estate sales in California... and there is no such think as yard sales here...such a shame.
Posted by: Apryl | March 07, 2011 at 08:19 AM
What a great week you had! Thanks for sharing the estate sale website. Looks great!
Posted by: Angela | March 07, 2011 at 08:50 AM
That necklace does bare a resemblance to the symbol on the cover of the Never Ending Story.
Wow, you scored a lot of great finds this weekend!
Posted by: Jackie_Let's Go Thrifting! | March 07, 2011 at 11:14 AM
love, love, love thrift share mondays. It's a great way to start the week.
Posted by: Spymay 2000 | March 07, 2011 at 11:58 AM
great stuff, selena. my great thrifting story of the weekend was finding a mother-of-the-bride dress for a friend at a thrift shop - only $8 and she'll look like a million bucks!
Posted by: angelika | March 07, 2011 at 02:24 PM
Are you selling that MCM dustpan and brush? I think I'm in love...
Posted by: Dalyn Luedtke | March 07, 2011 at 03:14 PM
Hi Selena! I wanted to stop by and say that I've been following your blog for a couple of weeks now and I just LOVE it! I'm actually reading all your posts. It's a great resource as I've just started reselling. Also, I linked up earlier today and I'm trying to put your button on my sidebar, however, I can't find a code. Can you help me with that? Thanks!
Posted by: Adrienne | March 07, 2011 at 07:58 PM