Found my first thrift store silver in a couple years. Only 53g but I’ll take it. I barely go anymore but I decided to pull in on the way home from an auction house pickup. They had some overpriced sets of Silverplate in their respective wooden cases. Opened them all up and low and behold in the last one this was laying on top sticking out like a sore thumb. Since it didn’t match the set I took it out asked how much and brought it home for $1. On the way out I saw some guitar cases on the other side of the store and noticed one was a Martin. No guitar and the case was beat up but it still ought to bring $100-$200 on a $15 investment. I’ve only stopped at Savers the last couple years and leave empty handed usually. This was a Salvation Army and a nice change of pace. The Savers shelves I’ve seen are picked totally bare lately. Nothing you could make more than $5 on if you were lucky. The only things worth having are priced way beyond their retail value on a good day. Nice to go home with something this time. Ain’t much to look at but $1 silver is fun.
Terry is correct. Alvin Sterling Francis I. I was more excited about the raw material than the object itself but it is a sharp pattern which along with the shine is why it stood out.
The Martin guitar case is probably the best buy, especially if vintage As long as it's functioning. I kind of prefer the beat up a bit look with cases, so do many Is it a dreadnought size ?
The problem being theres 3000 other people who went thru that store looking for silver. I used to find it all the time,but its been grim for a while. When I pick up a piece and see the tag has been scratched to show the mark,I know theres probably not going to be a find.The Pickers had been thru !
I also run into a lot of tags pushed to the side or torn so people can read what is under the tag. Can anyone explain to me why the thrifts put their tag stickers directly on top of anything written underneath? Not just silver marks, but dishware makers, etc. What is the logic on their end? Seems like an item might sell better if a buyer could see it's a certain maker, etc.
the folks working at the thrifts....who place the tags.......... well, I've seen em...and they look like robots doing a routine ......like putting heads on a doll in a factory line..... don't expect any more from them....... I you were slapping $4.75 tags on an assortment of different items all day long.....every day......you wouldn't know if you were covering up Gorham sterling, Tiffany, or made in China.......... and after about 4 hours of that.......you wouldn't care either. ( when I say you....I don't mean you personally...)
I totally agree, pricing that never ending stuff must be mind numbing work. But at my Goodwill it appears they are instructed to place the sticker right on top of anything written, any maker's stamp on pottery, silverplate, etc. You'll have 100 different dinner plates with 10" of wide open space and all will have the sticker right over the small maker's mark on each one. Maybe they cover it for some reason, but definitely results in a number of pulled back tags if someone wants to check the maker. One of the woman who stocks the GW shelves is constantly complaining about it. English is a second language, and she will pull me over and with a few words to get her point across, she will complain and discretely point to someone who scratched off a tag. (Little does she know I occasionally have been known to gently lift a tag, but I always carefully carefully pull the tag so I can return it pretty much the way it started.)
Same here. I try to put them back together, preferably elsewhere on the piece, but it doesn't always work. It beats them putting the sticker on paint on the front; they've done that to a few oil paintings and hand-painted pieces. ARGGH! Or directly onto an old leather box. Talk about ways to ruin leather! When someone complains, I carefully point out that collectors absolutely require the name to be legible and covering it is guarenteed to result in a damaged sticker.
here we have a problem with folks pulling a 2.95 sticker and putting it on a 12.95 item..... that's when the stickers went glue crazy !
Been known to happen here. They also remove prices in hopes of getting a better one. Of course with the Ill Will, the $2.95 sticker was the proper one to begin with rather than the $12.95. They're just trying to get 4x what the item is really worth. The charity thrift I was in today is guilty of that too. They had some "estate" jewelry that's been in the case off and on for over a year. Occasionally a piece sells. One today was picked out by a lady who thought $150 instead of the $300 price tag sounded good. When I left, the necklace was at the counter; she'd abandoned it. They say it's priced below retail, but apparently not low enough. I've told them more than once that the stuff would sell at 2xmetal weight, plus a smidge. "We don't care about what resellers would pay." (talk about ways to limit your sales!)
I don't shop much at thrift stores these days... but as a photo collector, I'd appreciate if any shops, including so-called "antique" shops, would avoid putting paper stickers onto paper items such as photographs! Not even on the back. Removal of the sticker will almost always tear the paper on card mounts and the photos themselves. Sheesh!
Even the “high end” auction house I buy from often puts like three stickers on every item they sell. Books, paper, leather. They aren’t as stupid about it as some places but it’s amazing what they do put stickers on. I can’t even tell you how many items over $100 I’ve bought and had some slight damage on once I peel the stickers off. Estate sales are even worse. There is one lady who’s awesome and she buys these special stickers from Japan that peel off much easier. They are obv more expensive but I cannot believe at least the auction house doesn’t use them. I’ve damaged endless things taking stickers off and spend probably an hour a week cleaning sticker residue off of stuff before I can take pictures. I HATE stickers. Everyone has go inventory and price stuff but it would be nice to see some attention paid to what type of sticker is being used and where it’s being put.
The estate sale dealers I like use good old blue painter's tape. Cheaper than fancy labels and doesn't damage finishes as easily as regular stickers. I've taken stickers off of what was previously perfectly fine old leather boxes. You guessed it - sticker damage. I can't even use the oil-based removers to get them off of leather; it stains and leaves just as bad a mess. You have to wonder what blithering idiot decided to damage their goods.
They finally wised up, or realized customers would NOT stop peeling labels if they were put over the markings. Warnings or not. Cover up critical information, label moving happens. This of course implies the store gets anything with a label worth moving. Mine? Yeah, well.