It's Either Really Ugly, Or Worth a Lot of Money

I have a friend/neighbor who I call my "mentor".  He's a big-time yard-saler and really knows his antiques.  He's the kind of guy who arrives at the flea market at 5:30 a.m. with a headlamp and wellies.  It he sleeps in until 6:00, he won't go because all the good stuff is gone.  He once told me that when he spots a hideous piece, he takes a second look figuring it's either really ugly, or it's worth a lot of money.

These words of wisdom were with me on Thursday when I made a quick tour of the Salvation Army in North Providence.  I was empty handed when I spotted these (in my humble opinion) ugly slippers.  As soon as my eye passed them, I thought--they may be really ugly, but they could be worth a lot of money.  And they looked to be in good shape.  So I picked one up for closer examination.  Never heard of the brand "Stubbs and Wootton", but right beneath the brand name I see "Palm Beach".  Things are looking up.  And the shoes are new!  Not a sign of wear on either one.  But the price on the bottom says $12.99.  A bit much for me.  I punch  the brand name into my eBay Droid app and see several pairs selling for upwards of $100.  Then I look inside the shoes and find a yellow tag.  It's half price on all yellow tags, so I leave the Salvation Army with my pair of shoes for $6.50.

Once home, I google Stubbs and Wootton.  There's my exact pair of shoes "Osiris Blue" for $395!  I have a new appreciation for these ugly shoes.  And thank you mentor!

The Lord Has Appeared

 I just had to share these!  Found them this morning at the Salvation Army for 99 cents each.  In case you can't tell from the photos, they are vintage (probably from the 50s) Paint By Numbers.  Not in the best shape, but in my humble opinion, that just adds to their fabulosity.

Meat on the Bone

Baking seemed to be the theme of this weekend's ThrHaul.  I found a bag of plastic cookie cutters at Saver's for $3.19 and there were quite a few collectibles inside including the Wilton Batman set shown above.  A similar set recently sold for $30. The Wilton clowns shown below were also in the bag.

I also scooped up a vintage Wilton 3-D Wedding Bell cake pan for $3.19.  Already flipped it for $19.95. 

As I perused the aisles of Saver's I kept thinking of an episode of American Pickers I just watched. If you haven't seen the show, you should check it out. It's on the History Channel, but I also watch it on Hulu.  Anyway, in this particular episode Mike was looking through a bunch of stuff and commenting that he couldn't pay the prices because he's a "picker" and he needs to have "meat on the bone" so that he can sell his pick and still make some coin.  So this was my mantra as I thrifted last weekend "meat on the bone." And it helped me pass by a nice L.L. Bean coat for $9.99 and a beautiful pair of girl's cowboy boots from Nordstrom for $14.99.  Not sure if there was enough margin for me to make a buck.  I'm fairly confident, however, that there was enough meat on the Nanette Lepore dress I paid $4.99 for.  It goes to auction on Sunday.  Will keep you posted...