Most of my decor items were stumbled upon. One of my most favorites is a vintage dress form on a stand...I happened to walk into an antiques mall after dinner while working out of town. I NEVER go to them, but there was nothing else to do and I hit on a gold mine that day. Found an old iron apartment building sign labled Karma Apartments. Got it for DD for $15! A giant pod from a tree in Kenya for DH for $1, some old glass doorknobs, about $10, and some other goodies that I can't quite recall now. But my dress form was marked $45, but the proprietor gave her to me for $30, since I'd picked up the other odd ball things. She resides in the library (outside our coat closet) and I use her to hang my purse and key card lanyard on. I felt kind of embarrassed loading all this stuff up into my work vehicle, and toting it around to my site visits the next day, but it was so worth it. Now I look for antique malls when I go out of town!

A friend bought an old painted step-back cupboard with glass doors on top and solid wood doors on bottom for $25. After she and her husband spent hours stripping/sanding it, they did a kitchen reno and had no room for it. She offered and I accepted it from her for the original price. When I moved into my current home, I had no place for it in a "conventional" location (eg kitchen or DR), so it displays and stores extra bath linens in the upstairs hallway. I think of my friend everytime I use it. On the other hand, she has a small carved oak chest I've never been able to talk her out of...

Not home decor but cooking, it makes me happy that I bought the salad spinner we've been using for 16 years for a quarter at a yard sale and the bright orange color is hip now.
The like new Cutco utensils for a quarter also 20 years ago, those are well made.

While walking my dogs, I spotted a really nice lamp on the sidewalk a few blocks from my home - much too nice, IMO,to be there & placed on a side street so no way to tell which house it came from. I finished the walk, came back with the car since it was heavy, & it was in the same spot. I proceeded to move it but fell & twisted my ankle when stepping off the curb but somehow managed to to not break the cut glass! Turns out, it was made by a very high end manufacturer, probably in the 40's-50's, who supplied the American embassies worldwide & was extremely expensive when new, according to Google.

Not kitchen related, but it's the time I bid on a huge Art Deco armoire on Ebay "just for fun" and ended up with the winning bid. WTH? What do you mean "Congratulations, you have won this item". The piece was $500 and shipping was $300. I was in total shock, didn't even have the necessary Paypal account (what's Paypal?)and had to scramble to set that up. Love the armoire though, it's one of my favorite pieces.

My then 11 y/o DD & I were wandering through a consignment shop one morning. We were heading down the stairs to the basement floor of it, when she stopped on the landing to primp in front of this huge mirror propped up there. Out of curiosity, she peeked behind the mirror and pulled out an old framed painting. The frame was hand-carved and gilded but in bad shape from years of neglect. The glass was missing. Instead of picture wire, it had a broken loop of crude baling wire to hang it. But, the original watercolor of San Isidro (Saint Isadore), the patron saint of farmers was charming. It's done in a primitive style, which is a common style of art found out here in New Mexico and I loved it!
Trying not to get my hopes up, I asked the owner how much he wanted for it. I got it for $50. He told me that a guy in his forties had brought his 80-something y/o grandfather in a few months before. The grandfather was moving in with this guy and his family and wanted to consign a lot of things he couldn't use anymore. The grandfather told the shop owner that the only thing he knew about the painting is that his mother had brought it to her marriage as a young woman. The shop owner had forgotten all about it.

Anyhoo, I took it to a local guy known in the art community here for being the best at restoring paintings and frames. He only charged me $45 to restore the frame, press the painting, and re-frame it with new glass, backing, wire,etc . . . and told me that it was worth close to $1,000!

It's hung in our dining room ever since. We all love it and the story of how DD found this special treasure for us.
Lynn

Here it is, San Isidro, Patron Saint of Farmers:
{{gwi:1404905}}

A gorgeous etched glass light fixture for $5, and didn't take it down when I sold my home. I've never stopped kicking myself! ;o)

In the late '90s my then-fiance and I went back to Tokyo to celebrate Thanksgiving (we were living in San Francisco, CA). We went to Kappabashi-dori (sort of like restaurant supplies alley) because I l-o-v-e that street, love its energy, its vibe, and everyone loves fake sushi as a gift! We went down a narrow alley off the dori, and I liked the noren (flag) hanging outside a teeny building. So up up up a narrow and steep flight of stairs just to explore: at the top of the stairs was this sumi-e of a sleeping kitten. God, the description makes it sound like utter crap, but I was enchanted by it. It was sooo expensive, partly because of the frame. Couldn't afford it, but I really liked it.

Flash forward to early-2003: I spent 2002 living in Nepal, and on my way back to the States I stopped in Tokyo for a week. (My partner had long since returned to the States, so it was just me and tomodachitashi [friends].) Back to Kappabashi-dori because I love it, and back to the wonky little building with the narrow, steep stair. And the kitten painting was still there, three or four years later. I nearly fell right down those stairs. I really did.

I bought it on the spot because that was plain bananas! I mean, how could it still be there? It was meant to come home with me. Divined to live with me! I love it still, I really do.

Great thread and great reading!

Aside from items that have been inherited, gifted or given, my favorite aquisition was that of our FR couch. I had eyed it many years ago at a Building 19. For those unfamiliar, it's a store that carries odd lots, manufacturer overstocks, items that may be slightly damaged, etc.

The couch was marked $1,200, alot of money for that time and that particular store, but it weighed a ton, had solid hardwood legs and all down cushions. Materials seemed to be ultra high end. I debated and debated some more and finally purchased it. Now how to get the thing home...walked around the store recruiting strong looking gentlemen, who very patiently helped me load that sucker into my car.

The couch has held up unbelievably, is so comfortable and is still one of my favorite pieces.

I found a cameo tile by Trenton Pottery in the garbage. Its mate was attached to a big chunk of wall and I sent someone back for it since I was on my way to work, but some lucky person grabbed the whole box of debris for the rest of the tiles.

I'm 4th generation western canadian (my kids are 5th) but originally from the Orangeville/Niagara area of Ontario where one branch of the family still lives.
Several years ago they were breaking up the furniture from the old family homestead and sent crates of it out here. My aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings were all looking through the stuff and nothing was of interest to me until I went to the very back of the room and hidden in the corner was this neat dresser with a mirror on it. The mirror was attached with the old wooden screws and I just fell in love with the craftsmanship and styling of it. Turns out it's dated from about 1860 (I know, I know not that old but it is for us Cdn. westerners) and now sits in our family room with all of my entertaining linens in it.

I am really enjoying this thread. Thanks for starting it and thanks to all who are sharing their stories.

Oh, I can relate to so many of these stories: treasures found on the curb, or almost overlooked in a shop (St. Isidro) or the amazing luck/fatedness of the kitten painting still being there four years later...

I wish I'd had the good luck of having what I thought was a low bid win for me on eBay! That's a score :)

I thought of another one.

I was in a framer's/print shop and she was moving her shop and going to be doing custom framing only.

She had a pile of Franklin Survey Maps from the 1930s and most of them were of wards that showed very little, blank industrial (then) parts of the city. I looked at every single one, and the very last one in the large pile showed the building I live in at the top center of the map. It's framed in my hallway.

Had seen Michael Aram's Thatch bowl on display in a Bloomingdale's in NJ years, and years ago. Thought it was kind of neat but certainly wasn't pining for it (I also thought the $200 (+/-) price tag ridiculously high, and we were years away from decorating and accessorizing anyway).

When we finally got a DR table, I got the idea in my head that that particular bowl (in the largest size), would be the perfect accessory for our walnut table. Of course, by this time, the bowl had since been discontinued by Bloomingdale's. The one store location didn't have it in stock, so I called another location. They didn't have it either, but apparently a store in Westchester NY had it in stock. We happened to be in Westchester attending a craft show, just minutes from the Bloomingdale's store, that weekend, so called over to the store to find out if they had the bowl in stock. I almost fell out of the car when the woman on the other end of the phone said, they "only had two left, they are on clearance for something like $37." OMG! I told the woman to hold both of them, we'd be there in minutes. I chose one of the two bowls, had a discount coupon and/or a credit from a return I had to make, and ended up with that ~$200 bowl for $32-$33!!! Not a bad day's shopping, huh?

I got a solid cherry, Eastlake-style glass fronted bookcase for free. I lived in the women's honors dorm (old victorian) and the university sold the house out from under us. They told us we could have any of the furniture in the basement or attic. I'd just gotten engaged...so the women I lived with decided I should take the bookcase. It was filthy--black, actually--but I got it home and cleaned it...et voila!

I've rearranged since the above pic was taken...that's it hiding behind the couch. It breaks down into component pieces. It had the original glass when I got it...but that did not survive my sons. Ah well.

As a former semi-professional yard-saler I have many acquisition stories:

~the old wooden dresser for $7 I bought for the 8 vintage glass knobs. This dresser is handmade and probably quite old but it was the knobs I wanted.

~my "Arte Vargas rooster" which I found at a yard sale marked $5 - grabbed it right away and paid full asking price - they were over $100 for that size and it appears from his website that he's now only producing the smaller size. I used to sell them in my store but never bought one for myself and as I collect art glass as well as rooster motifs it was a happy find.

~a cardboard box with years of dust had 7 glass fishing floats for $7. I have always loved glass fishing floats altho didn't have any at the time and I knew that was a very low price. It was the start of my collection.

~the old iron gate that DH found for free and put in the van before I even saw it knowing I liked that kind of thing altho he didn't really. It was in terrible shape but he took it apart and made a large wall hanging from it which I adore. It's truly one-of-a-kind and one of the favorite things I own.

There are many more but these are the ones that immediately come to mind - it's so much fun to find unique things one loves, especially at bargain prices.

For me, the most fun and gratifying is my bakers table. I bought it off craigslist for $250. It was in shambles when I got it. The people who I purchased it from had brought it down from their grandfathers farm in the midwest. They were probably around 60 and the wife remembered it being in her grandfathers garage. I wanted to re-finish it... how I wasn't yet sure, and before she would sell it to me she called her brother who still lived in the midwest. He made her put me on the phone with him so I can describe what i had done with other pieces and how I envisioned this piece going forward. It was a hoot and one of the favorite things in my kitchen. I use it daily and will for the rest of my life... or at least until they roll me outta here into assisted living. Then I hope to give it to one of my son's future family.
Here is what it looked like when I got it:

Great stories! Bumblebeez, I found my bright orange mandolin at a yard sale for ten cents. Wonder if it matches your spinner?

When my daughter was pregnant with our grandson, I found a changing table at the curb, the day after a local day care had a 'going out of business' yard sale. I asked if I could have it, and just managed to fit it in my van. I repainted it with left-over paints and made a new pad to match the quilt and layette that I was making. Totally free, and I still love it!

My sister and I frequent the same thrift store. More than once I've bought a single ceramic/pottery item on display, only to find out later that she'd bought the mate.

Oh, one more: In the same thrift store I bought a small Schramburg ceramic vase for 89 cents--found a similar one on ebay for $45.00.

That's lovely, remodelfla! You have a good eye for potential.

A few years ago I went to an antique mall in a nearby city and saw a black leather mid-century club chair, one of those chairs that sits low with really wide arms and chrome legs and overall is so big it practically needs its own zip code. I fell in love instantly but I knew I didn't need to spend that kind of money. I walked away from it but never stopped thinking about it.

A few weeks later two of my friends and I were back in that town again for a sidewalk sale. I decided to pop into the antique mall to look at the chair again. My friends browsed while I sat in the chair and tried to figure out what to do. I still couldn't afford it, but I really loved it. I rejoined my friends and told them I was going to go make the owner an offer on it and see if he would take it.

We walked up to the counter and I told the man what chair I was interested in and would he take X amount of money. He said, "Oh no! We just sold that chair and haven't even had time to put the "sold" tag on it." I was crushed. He was trying to console me, telling me he would let me know when another chair like that came in, etc and I was trying to explain to him that another chair like that wouldn't come in. They're hard to find, they don't come along that often. I was devastated and couldn't believe my bad timing. Then my friends turned to me and said, "Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday! We bought the chair for you." The owner had been in on the whole thing, of course.

I still tear up just thinking about it.

My friend says Don Draper would look right at home sitting in that chair. I say he's welcome to come over and sit in it anytime. ;)

Eek! I am so embarrassed: I forgot to Thank You, leafy02! What a fun thread, and I have loved reading everyone's stories and seeing the pictures.

A bit ago there was a thread about commenting on people's homes / decor, and this, your stories, are what make me so happy when in someone's home. I love that personal history.

So here's a picture of my neko-chan (kitten) -- it's the top left picture.

I have another I'd like to share; hope that's not too greedy! In the early '90s I lived in Hanoi, Viet Nam. It was the biggest shock of my occidental life and on my way into town from the airport I remember thinking "what in the hell have I done???" I and I alone had organized doing an MA jointly through the Uni in Hanoi and the Diplomatic Academy of Moscow, so I was kinda stuck ... and I ended up being in heaven. I fell in love so many times while there, once with one of the most beautiful (spiritually and physically) women, Phuong. She, her husband, her adorable little daughter and their immediate community fully, wholeheartedly embraced me. I know at first a part of it was the novelty of me, a curly-haired blonde caucasian young woman (I was in my early 20s when I moved there): Viet Nam was still a largely closed country (closed to non-Socialist nations, that is), with only Japan as the "western" nation having normalized relations.

Anyway, after my eighteen months it was time for me to leave and move onto Moscow (it was a s-l-o-w move as I backpacked my way there, staying throughout Asia and then finally, by train, getting to Moscow from Mongolia). Phuong gave me a ring she wore every single day, and cried as she put it on my finger. She'd come to look at me as her little sister, and she couldn't believe I was leaving. I was touched beyond belief but embarrassed to take this extraordinary possession: Viet Nam was disastrously poor and I know Phuong and her family were poor -- they ate, had a roof over their heads, but this ring represented a huge extravagance for her family (that they'd purchased it). Like we often see in SE Asia, the ring is 24K gold (soft!) with a pink tourmaline.

I still have the ring. I never returned to Viet Nam, and it's been twenty years. We've lost contact (since then I've lived in maybe eight, ten countries with umpteen moves), and I feel bad about that.

I found a charming old, little wooden stool-type thing with a red velvet top in a second hand shop. It turned out to be a camel saddle. I don't know exactly where it came from, but it seems like it had to be from somewhere exotic!

Unfortunately, I don't have it anymore and I don't remember what happened to it.

We were living in an apartment building in NYC, and elderly neighbors were having a sale in their apartment, as they were moving to assisted living. At the time I had a thing for Art Deco, and I was so lucky to snag an etched crystal bar set, complete with silver ice tongs and bucket. I don't remember what I paid, as this was about 27 years ago, but I still love it!

Here are some a pics of the bowl on our table:

The four 18th century coin silver tablespoons I found at Goodwill for 35 cents each.

I was looking for something to fill in a corner of the living room in a house where I used to live. A local consignment dealer suggested using a three-panel screen he had with a new covering, nail head detail and refinished frame. I thought it was an inspired idea, so I chose a taupe faux ostrich and paid him 50% down so he could get started redoing it. I came to pick it up on my birthday. When I got out my checkbook to write a check for the balance due, he told me that there wasn't any balance. He is a little older, so I thought maybe he had forgotten that I only paid 50% down. But no, it turned out that my best friend, to whom I had mentioned my project briefly, figured out who was doing the project and paid the other 50%. I was flabbergasted and so touched. I've never received such an unexpected, generous and thoughtful gift before or since. In my current house, I'm using the screen as my headboard. Flat, it's almost exactly the width of a queen bed. I think the screen is one of those versatile pieces that I will be able to use in many different ways over the years and I will always think of my friend when I see it.

I went to a yard sale in my home town quite a few years back.
The house although only from the 30's seemed quite spooky.
While the house itself was totally different, I realized that many of the finishes were exactly like my house, like an identical bathroom in a different color tile.
Down to the basement I go and start looking through a box of old negatives. Imagine my surprise when the photo envelopes had MY address on them. All family pictures, many of my house in the 40s & 50s. Turned out the house was the estate of the brother, and I had gotten my house from the estate of the sister. Both built around the same time which was why they were so alike. Developed a bunch of those negatives and have enjoyed them ever since.

In the 1970's we moved from Seattle to a teeny tiny town in NW Washington where I experience extreme culture shock. For example, I bought a perfect old Fiesta Ware pitcher, with lid in the blue color (maybe called mauve?), at a little local garage sale held by the Women's Christian Temperance Union (yes, they still exist) for 25 cents. WCTU? Who knew! I'd grown up with a similar pitcher in the 1950's, long discarded by my mother, so it was a sweet piece of nostalgia at an unbelievable price. And my long dead grandmother would likely have approved of the source.

Here is a link that might be useful: Woman's Christian Temperence Union

LOVE this thread and all the stories & lovely acquisitions

I'm a bit impartial to remodelfa's - I just gush over that Bakers table - I lust after it

One of my all time favs - is the set of 12 Worcester hand painted china plates that date back to 1860-1880's I was hawking & pining over them in a local consignment shop. I'd stop in, there they were - Owner wanted around $500 Long story short I got 12 plates for $200! ANd the platter for another $25

They make me happy, I like thinking about the history of them - from the maker, the hand painted work - and all the special meals that people enjoyed on them

I have been going to auctions and sales and generally junking for a lot of years....so I have many stories.

One time at an estate sale in a little house packed full of stuff in a little town about 15 miles away. There were boxes and boxes of linens...."fancy work" as they said. I dug my hand into one and pulled out a sampler,initialed and dated 1823! I shoved it back into the box and bought the whole box for $20. People gathered and started asking if I would sell this or that out of the box....and I sold about half the cloths and doilys.....shoving the $2 or so that people offered me into my pockets. finally I said...I'm not selling any more until I know what's in there.....and when I went to pay, I found that I had more than $20 in my pockets! So that box that was free, contained a lovely 1823 sampler, 12 matching tatted edge doilies....several lace 30 inch cloths that are great as toppers for a skirted table. I had the sampler framed and it now hangs on my bedroom wall.
Then there is the stack of assorted trays, silver plate and painted tin that I bought for $22.....a lot to pay for junk....but I knew about the 15 inch signed Tiffany Chippendale sterling tray in that stack!!
So my advice is go to a sale and know what's in what before you bid!! And know what's mended and what's a repro and what's original before you buy.\
Great thread!!
Linda C

OMG, I'm blown away by the scores you all have made!

I also want to say once again, RM, your life so far is one of the most fascinating ones I've ever heard. You continually blow me away with your stories. And, the one about your sumi-e is wonderful!

May I add one more???
About 16 years ago a really nice little consignment shop opened in a small town nearby. I'd gotten a number of great buys there before they closed, but this one is my favorite. A rustic turquoise bench made from an old shutter and an oxen yoke. I bought it for, what I thought was the too-high price of $90, but it was well made and would look great out on my front portal (covered porch). I was afraid to tell DH how much I'd paid for it, though. Anyhoo, two weeks later we were up in Taos for a long Fall weekend with friends. The wives and I went shopping one morning and there in a high-end furniture and accessory shop right on Taos Plaza I found the twin to my bench . . . for $900!!! I almost fell over I was so shocked. But, that's Taos for you, and Santa Fe, too. They charge what the market will bear. That afternoon I dragged DH back to see the bench himself. It seriously is not worth anywhere near that amount of money; I didn't think it was really worth $90, but we did bring it inside when we got home ;^D
It's been sitting in my foyer ever since. And I still really do love it.
Lynn

The infamous "Ebay mistake" purchase. It was love at first sight, but I honestly never intended to actually BUY it. My eyes got big as saucers when I got the message that I had won.

{{gwi:1828750}}

So many pieces were acquired with a story that it is hard to choose the best to share, lol...

My best "score" percentage-wise is not decor related, but I was at a garage sale with my, at the time, very young sons in a stroller. I saw a box of childrens trains and wood tracks. The box said 15 cents a piece. I asked how much he would take for the whole box and we agreed on $5. A few of the pieces were new in their boxes and were of Richard Scarry Busytown characters in Thomas type train cars. My sons were too little to play with the stuff yet and were not familiar with the Busytown characters, so I checked for them on ebay and was stunned to find out that each boxed Richard Scarry piece was worth between $45-$90! I think I had approx 7-8. I sold a few and still have 2 left. The track pieces and other assorted stuff was worth the $5 alone but the rare Busytown stuff was a real find and I almost let the kids play with them because I did not know what I had. I had looked to see if it was worth selling the new stuff to buy more of the used Thomas stuff that they were just starting to be aware of. Needless to say, this paid for a big bunch of used Thomas things with money left over.

I have picked up many antiques or vintage pieces over the years from people selling their houses or estate sales. I got my green chair recently for $60 in excellent condition (better IRL than the photo) that I posted here and that is a recent love. I think the color is fabulous and a lot of fun.

Several other great finds were when I was looking for chrome hardware and accessories for our kitchen and did an ebay search containing the word "chrome" in it. I saw a faucet (new in an open box) come up in the list, despite not trying to see faucets, and recognized the name Jado from the forums here. It was selling for $30 as a starting bid. For the heck of it I bid $35 and won it for the starting bid since no one else bid against me. It cost $35 to ship and yet retailed for close to $700! When I finally found my hardware, I got it from someone who was cleaning out a hardware store that was going out of business. He found a box with many paper envelopes, the original packaging, containing a full set of vintage chrome pulls that must have been misplaced somehow to be still in the store in 2007. I got it for a reasonable price, approx what they cost for the cheapest pulls at HD (I forget the exact cost) and was so thrilled. It turned out that because our kitchen is fairly big, I needed some more, so kept a search going on ebay. I found some used ones to complete how many I need as well as some knobs to coordinate. The second batch cost more per piece than the first, but the total package was still economical and exactly what I would hope to find. They make my cabs look retro and really help define the kitchen's look. I think with both lots, I spent approx $200 but also had a bunch of vintage copper hardware that came with the second group to give to dh's cousin for his new co-op to add some interest to his kitchen cabs.
I also scored a vintage chrome canister set and a vintage paper towel/plastic wrap/foil wall mount holder, both for great prices.

I can't even begin to say all the great steals I got on jewelry years ago when buying from ebay and selling locally and back on ebay. I hit a few clunkers, but good stuff more than outweighed the junk. One ring in particular was an amethyst one with a poor blurry photo of just the ring. I about passed out when it arrived and was the largest ring I have ever seen. The stone was on the verge of being too heavy to wear. I bought it for $50 and sold it for approx $900. The local places felt it was too big to sell and the cost of gold had not gone sky high yet at that point (2005 or so). I took a picture of the ring on my hand and also weighed and measured the dimensions for the listing and it sold like crazy. I wish I still had it because it was truly unique and would probably worth much more one day. I also loved the ring and earrings set that was grape clusters (sapphires) with 18k gold leaves. That also was larger and more spectacular in person than in the photos. I ended up selling it to a wine distributor for a tidy profit, but wish I had it back. It was a specially made set and I regret letting it go even more.... sigh.... She got it for well under retail even though I pocketed a couple of hundred in profit.

Love all the great stories & photos. I also love to haunt garage sales & thrift shops. Did it all the time when I made recycled garden art. So I was pretty good at finding nice cut glass & silver-plate for cheap.

One day MIL brought some pieces over she'd picked up at a yard sale. Most were run-of-the-mill pressed glass but one was a very lovely bowl. I turned it over and saw it was Waterford! She'd paid less than $2 for it, same pattern was on eBay for $150. Needless to say it didn't get turned into garden art.

I also collect glass floats and DH spotted one at Goodwill that is the size of a beachball-we immediately grabbed it and didn't care it was marked $75...those are very hard to find, and this one still had a bit if string and barnacles on it. Easily worth many times what we paid, but we'll never sell it

My list just got eaten. An abbreviated list, and my second try, includes:

- 4 original Mercer tiles for a couple of dollars each, at a town-wide flea market (my two favorites are the Wife of Bath and Prioress, from The Canterbury Tales series)

- several large Delft tiles, which I believe are true antiques

- an antique puppet from a junk shop, with painted wooden head and fez with tassel, and cloth robe. I think he was supposed to be a Moor or a Turk.

- two large and heavy dragons or mythical beasts, maybe Chinese, maybe Tibetan, from a thrift store. Each ~17" x ~13"; possibly brass although I have not tested; they wear body armor and helmets; have four feet, and with wings on the backs of each leg. They are currently guarding one of the living room's fireplaces.

- antique iron fence railings, from a "garage" sale of antique garden ornaments and objects that included enormous European fountains and statuary in the ~$1000 range and much, much higher, for $25. The ironworker who made and installed our stair railings also has collected old iron and other metal work for over 30 years and, even with a warehouse full of these things, said he'd never seen this particular pattern. It may well be 18th century.

- for a few dollars, my inkwell in the shape of a grotesque. To see what it looks like, simply google on "inkwell" and "grotesque," "devil," "satan," or whatever. Don't be scared...this guy's really cute. :)

--for next to nothing from a garage sale, an antique Japanese vase.

-- From eBay for about $400 or so, an artist loosely allied with and sometimes considered one of the Pennsylvania Impressionists. I had it authenticated by a dealer and expert on the school.

- Mentioned in another discussion, my 15th century Burgundian manuscript leaves, bought at what seemed great expense at the time from a now-defunct rare book dealer in the city - maybe $50 or so? hey! I was only in high school, and I didn't have much money, so this purchase was wildly extravagant.

- Stuffed into a bag on the last day of the Bryn Mawr book sale, when you paid $2 for however many books you could cram in: one of the first Teriade Verves, with cover and tipped in lithographs by Matisse. Also, on another occasion, an out of print book on Eugene Atget and other rare books. This was before they wised up and separated the really good stuff for sale in their book store.

I keep revisiting this thread--the stories are all so interesting.

I have a house full of antique, vintage and secondhand stuff, all good deals, or it wouldn't have come home with me.

At an auction I once bought a box of Christmas ornaments for my previously-decided limit of $8.00, bidding against only one other person. There were a few vintage glass bulbs in the top of the box, with many wrapped items in the bottom, so it was a grab bag. What I remember most was that the other bidder was so gracious, later telling me that she hoped I would enjoy using the ornaments. When I unpacked the ornaments at home, in the very bottom of the box I found several vintage glass figural ornaments, including a Santa, three birds with spun-glass tails, and an ear of corn. What a treasure!

Also included was a red flocked dove ornament, that reminded me of the wallpaper in my parents' room when I was growing up. I gave it to my mom. :)

I am amazed at all these finds, and a little jealous. I've had several friends take me along on their exploits, but I've never been tempted to buy anything. I just don't have a good eye, and I surely don't have the imagination or expertise you guys have to repair and refinish. I salute you.

Okay, I have to come out of lurkdom with my story. I'm a cooking forum regular. I used to post here occasionally, and lately came back to lurk pretty often.
When my kids were little, they loved an old map of fairyland that was under glass on a big oak table in the children's room at the public library. No one seemed to value it, and eventually they put computers on top of it. Then the basement children's library was closed permanently and used as a storeroom, and a new modern one was built upstairs. (Luckily my kids were teenagers by then, but they never forgot the map.) I couldn't even find out if the table was still there, and of course no one could tell me if I could buy it.
Years later, by the most wonderful chance, a school friend of mine was working there, and told me there was going to be a sale of old stuf from the storeroom at one of the branches. Not publicized. The next day.
I lined up early in the morning in the rain. I was first, with four hundred dollars in cash, hoping that would be enough. And while I was waiting I could see the library's assistant director inside looking over the table! I was screaming inside: unfair.
The doors opened and I ran to the table. The price on it was $66. They had treated it so badly in storage that one of its thick oak legs was broken, and that was why the assisstant director passed on it.
The best thing was that my son got to come home and find it waiting in the living room.
This is what I have:

Here is a link that might be useful: An Ancient Mappe of Fairyland

For some reason that link doesn't work now.
Try this one.

Here is a link that might be useful: [An Ancient Mappe of Fairyland](http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/h?ammem/gmd:@field(NUMBER+@band(g9930+ct001818)))

Cloudy, that is amazing! That map would have been my middle daughter's favorite thing ever, I can just imagine how thrilled your kids were to get to revisit it. Gorgeous!

Cloudy, I loved your story and the map! Thanks for sharing.

Oh, I wish I could see that map full screen, or at least a little bigger. I'm so happy you were able to get it.

Schoolhouse, if you click on the image you'll get to a page where you can zoom in and see detail, or you can download a big version. The map is 58 inches long, so there's a lot to see. I think mine is actually in better shape than the one in the Library of Congress.

cloudy, I was having a brain fart. I kept zooming OUT instead of in to enlarge it. Phffft. Still, it was running pretty slow and I couldn't see as much as I liked. I'm going to try again later. Thanks.

I typically don't find great deals, but while visiting a local thrift store, my eye was drawn to a large crystal vase - $5. Why I walked out without purchasing it, I'm not sure. For the remainder of the morning, I thought about that crystal vase. My sister was headed in that direction later & I asked her if she would pick it up for me. I didn't call the thrift shop immediately, but when I did, I asked the lady if she would hold the crystal vase. She told me someone had already purchased it. I was truly disappointed. I called my sister to tell her it had been sold already. My sister didn't say anything, but showed up with the vase late in the day! It is a beautiful flair cut glass vase (leaded crystal). It's 11 1/2" tall & stamped Atlantis. Does anyone have this crystal (I could never find this size vase just to see what it might have sold for.

This is one I've found that is 11.5 " from Atlantis.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.replacements.com/webquote/ATLSIR.htm?s1=GBASE&4487381&