Thrift shop shopping WDUBT

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A rollerball pen.

1899687-cbbf56a5d7b86569c80416af51875e22.jpg
 
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Here's my latest effort, I offered them $50 AUD


It's on the wall in with Wing Commander Biggles the budgie! Cox with a name like that who could appreciate it more?
That’s really cool
 
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Found this for $10. I am not well versed in Seiko watches but I did some research. I believe it is a
Seiko 5 Gene Kranz. I am however finding it difficult to verify the serial number/date. Cool little watch nonetheless! 😎


 
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Bought this yesterday from a thrift shop that is heavily involved in homing the down and out, ie City Mission.

Made and sold for the New Zealand and South Sea Exhibition of 1925/26 ( an international World Fair Exhibition)
And as such signed by the artist who hand painted it Francis Xavier Abraham who was the art director of the company in the 1920's.



Signed pieces with the labelling of the fair event are quite rare and as such attract a premium with this sort of provenance even though similar ( the same ) plates will attract less of a premium.
The company folded in about 1937 and is quite well known with comparisons being drawn to other highly sort after manufacturers such as Moorcroft etc.

https://www.thepotteries.org/allpotters/501.htm

Anyway for a 100 year old bowl it is in perfect condition with a highly lustrous glaze and heavily saturated colours and looks far better than my photos.
Edited:
 
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My wife has been a charity shop prowler for decades. It is a rare week when she does not come home with nice quality things (including watches) at silly prices. That encompasses Danish silver jewellery (eg Georg Jensen), Japanese and Chinese ceramics, silver and other nice objects, European silver trays sold as silver plate which are actually .800 fine (80% silver), paintings, and even fine small pieces of furniture - like recently a superb bedside table retailing for $900 that she bought for $25.

I guess a lot of it comes from deceased estates, when executors just want to clear a house.

She has been doing this for fifty years, so she can quickly distinguish the 1% good stuff amongst 99% ordinary discards. One of her great buys was a ladies compact from the 1950s. It was sold as a gold plated compact but she noticed tiny gold hallmarks - a $38 buy was worth over $1200 in scrap value.

The only downside is that our house is full of stuff....
Picked up a nice silver ring Brutalist piece the other day for a dollar.
Made in Finland by Karl Laine, an iconic 70's peice probably made around 1974.

 
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Found this for $10. I am not well versed in Seiko watches but I did some research. I believe it is a
Seiko 5 Gene Kranz. I am however finding it difficult to verify the serial number/date. Cool little watch nonetheless! 😎



This is Gene Kranz ref 6119-8460. Date is December 1970 Looks like it’s had quite a life. Does it run? Dial looks decent. Gene’s watch had the silver dial.
This is what it looked like
 
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It runs great and has become my daily driver however the date wheel is stuck. This is what it looks like now after some polywatch.
 
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Came across one of these today, haven't seen one in years. The first time I saw one of these was way back in about 1968 when I was hauled in front of the Headmistress ( a Nun ) of my primary school, apparently it's not normal for 7 / 8 year olds to take live ammunition to school, sigh, who knew??
Anyway sitting on her windowsill was one of these, endlessly spinning away in the sunlight, have wanted one ever since, so fast forward 57 years and I finally own one, hooray!

** Edit** for those who must know, a Crookes Radiometer or a " light mill"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crookes_radiometer

Edited:
 
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Mrs. C loves silver and silver plate. Over the years she has frequently bought sterling silver items for (usually) $5.00 or less! One purchase was a heavy sterling silver Tiffany baby cup engraved for a baby born in 1927, and given by her godmother. The price was $5.00. Bonnie told the staff what it was, and that was worth a whole lot more than $5.00. She was told that was the price, and she should buy it before someone else did. Same goes with a large serving spoon in her sterling pattern. Someone had been digging in a garden with it! Price? $2.00! Again, Mrs. C told them it was worth a whole lot more. They told her to take it or leave it for someone else! She bought it! I repaired the damage. At another sale, she bought two solid karat gold bangles for $2.00 each! She also bought a heavy Birmingham marked sterling cream pitcher for $5.00! Men are buyers (damn the price, I want it!), but women are shoppers!
 
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Came across one of these today, haven't seen one in years. The first time I saw one of these was way back in about 1968 when I was hauled in front of the Headmistress ( a Nun ) of my primary school, apparently it's not normal for 7 / 8 year olds to take live ammunition to school, sigh, who knew??
Anyway sitting on her windowsill was one of these, endlessly spinning away in the sunlight, have wanted one ever since, so fast forward 57 years and I finally own one, hooray!

** Edit** for those who must know, a Crookes Radiometer or a " light mill"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crookes_radiometer

Great! My grandmother and grandfather had one of those. Haven’t seen one in 25 years I think.
 
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Came across this today in Burton on trent for Two English pounds , signed by the Author .
 
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My wife brought these two antique desk seals home for me recently - $25 each. I collect crested fob and desk seals (researching a family crest or full armorial is a nice little pastime on rainy days), and the workmanship in carved stone intaglios is often superb. Unfortunately in recent years other people have picked up on collecting them too, so prices have risen greatly.

These two have no intaglios but for $25 how could I not be pleased to add them to the collection. The figure of Melpomene has a monogram and the filigree one is blank.

 
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My wife brought these two antique desk seals home for me recently - $25 each. I collect crested fob and desk seals (researching a family crest or full armorial is a nice little pastime on rainy days), and the workmanship in carved stone intaglios is often superb. Unfortunately in recent years other people have picked up on collecting them too, so prices have risen greatly.

These two have no intaglios but for $25 how could I not be pleased to add them to the collection. The figure of Melpomene has a monogram and the filigree one is blank.

I've seen these on a few occasions appear in thrift shops, usually they have no idea what they are.
Very cool items and as you say can spend a lot of time trying to disern who their past owner was however here in NZ being a somewhat more newly settled country they are probably rarer here than in Europe.
I would be interested in putting my family crest on one but with the the now almost extinct from of communication of letter writing it seems a bit pointless.
 
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Someone in town has a serious collection! These boxes are empty

 
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I've seen these on a few occasions appear in thrift shops, usually they have no idea what they are.
Very cool items and as you say can spend a lot of time trying to disern who their past owner was however here in NZ being a somewhat more newly settled country they are probably rarer here than in Europe.
I would be interested in putting my family crest on one but with the the now almost extinct from of communication of letter writing it seems a bit pointless.
My wife found this in a small local auction in Sydney. The scarab seal is that of Ramesses II (according to a university specialist in ancient Egypt), which makes it over 3200 years old.

The silver mount is from early 1800s, almost certainly French. There was massive interest in Egypt following Napoleon's invasion in 1798. It became fashionable in Europe to own plundered Egyptian items.

My wife's sharp eye shows how just about anything can be found where you least expect it.

 
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My wife found this in a small local auction in Sydney. The scarab seal is that of Ramesses II (according to a university specialist in ancient Egypt), which makes it over 3200 years old.

The silver mount is from early 1800s, almost certainly French. There was massive interest in Egypt following Napoleon's invasion in 1798. It became fashionable in Europe to own plundered Egyptian items.

My wife's sharp eye shows how just about anything can be found where you least expect it.

Wow! What a find.