Last week Goodwill opened a thrift store in Grand Forks so Arlene and I decided to be at the front of the line when they opened for the first time. It ended up being a real disappointment and a waste of time. Our total purchases were two books and four Wade figurines (Arlene decided to start collecting these so they are off-limits as far as eBay in concerned).

Overall, I thought their inventory had a long way to go to catch up with the other thrift shops in town. Apparently most people didn’t feel that way though, because I went back two days later and well over 50% of the items in the store were new since we were there. This trip was much more successful and I bought several items, all of which will launch later this evening on eBay and end next Monday evening.

The highlights of what I came home with are:

• A 1925 Norse American Centennial Medal which they had in a box of trinkets priced at .25 each. They apparently thought it was some kind of medallion. This medal was made in thin and thick variations with the thin variety being much rarer. This one is the thin variety and should bring somewhere between $100 to $150 or possibly much more.
• A Vitamix model Mark 20 blender that I paid $12 for. This should bring at least $50 - maybe more.
• A cute unidentified creamer & sugar with great looking red lobsters on them. Strangely, there are quite a few lobster item collectors and I’m hoping two or three of them take a liking to these. I paid $6.
• The Library Of Choice Literature - in 8 volumes. These were on the shelves with all the other books. The set is complete and with their book prices set at $1 per hardback, I have an $8 investment in them. Hopefully I’ll make a few dollars but they could just as easily be a dud
• Twenty pieces of Peruvian sterling silver flatware. I paid $20 for these pretty much based on a gut feeling.
• Six glasses of what originally an eight glass set of souvenir glasses from the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair. I paid $12 which I may end up regretting.
• Early Ted Williams and Roy Campanella baseball cards in pretty bad condition. I have no money in these as I found them inside one the “Let’s Start Cooking” book when I got home. Due to their condition, I’ll be happy to get an opening bid of $9.99 for each.
• Two 1950’s booklets dealing with “girl problems”. I paid .65 each for them. Actually, there’s a pretty good market for vintage sanitary napkins and accessories on eBay (just goes to show there are collectors for just about anything and you never know what you will find at a thrift shop) and it will be fun to see if these sell or end up as conversation starters at a garage sale next summer.

I also bought several other books and miscellaneous things and all in all, it cost me a total of $61.30 to walk out of the store with everything that will be listed this week.

Popularity: 6% [?]