Greeting from Fargo, ND land of the lost!

[westred]

   Just joined the Thrift Shopper Forum and wanted to say "Howdy" to all the other members.  Hopefully,l this will be a great place to share experiences and tips, as well as helping others with identification of something they hiae found that they might think is a "TREASURE"!  LOL!
  I am a VERY avid Thrift Store junkie after becoming permanently disabled 4 years ago from my job as an electronics engineering tech.  My little brother actually started me on this obsession or labor of love, depending on how you look at it, 12 years ago.  I was amazed at the real antiques and vintage items he was finding at Goodwill stores in Sioux Falls, SD.
  When I became disabled (I live with many chronic pain issues , due to a dysfunctional auto-immune system), I started getting serious about it and bought as many books on my favorite things to look for at Thrift Stores;  mainly Art Glass and Art Pottery.  My interests have widened since, but I still love to find Murano Art Glass, and Haeger or Royal Haeger and McCoy pottery.
  I started to supplement my income by selling on eBay, but recently eBay has made it hard to turn a dollar,  and so-called Thrift Stores around here are turning into Antique Stores and actually having appraisers come and look over stuff.  But , luckily, they still miss a lot!
  I hope to be able to help, as well as receive advise for and from members.  I am looking forward to meeting some of you fellow treasure hunters and shelf-shifters!

  Best Regards,

  TS

[akbjr]

Hi, TS, nice to get to know you a little bit! I too am recently retired on disability due to immune system chronic pain issues among other things, can identify....When I have energy, I like to go to a non-chain charity thrift shop that is about 4-5 blocks from my apartment & look for books especially, although I also like to collect unique coin banks. I don't have room for a lot of stuff although I do have piles of books....I like to trade my books at a large local independent used book store when I can occasionally get help from a friend. That doesn't happen often but this thrift store has books for 3 for $1.00 & one week a month they have them on sale for 10 for $1.00! I know the schedule of the volunteer "book lady", & can get there occasionally when she puts the "fresh" books out. I don't have a vehicle but I use a cart on wheels to tote them home in. I love looking for high value "trade paperbacks" & then look their used value up on amazon just for the fun of it...It's all a lot of fun. I have a friend who has been collecting "ugly" Christmas sweaters at half price from thrifts this past year hoping to sell them reasonablly cheaply on the net to make a small profit at Christmas time. She has about 100 sweaters. I can't wait to see how it works out.  I think it's a great idea...Anyway, welcome to this forum, it's great!

[westred]

  Thanks, AKBJR!!!   Can never have enough resources these days.  I saw this Site and Forum and it looked like a GREAT idea for a website!  Many Thrifties around these days!  Hope to TTYS!
  Your fellow Thrifty member in pain,

  TS alias westred

[akbjr]

Hi again, Westred, you mentioned Murano glass, that sounds familiar to me, is that a style or is it made in only one place? I know I've seen it before... NOT in thrift stores, that would be amazing, even I would grab that as I like what I have seen of it. I have seen Murano glass jewelry, do they make other items out of it? Maybe I should google it, it just sort of resonated in the back of my brain overnight....I live in Anchorage, Ak, & I think I've seen local artists work in Murano glass, would that make sense? I'm just not sure...Anyway, I am a bit of a book freak, yes, but I do have other interests too, books just really get my juices flowing! It's the thrill of the hunt, like with anything I guess. We all have something we collect. One really cool item I got at a yard sale a couple of years ago is a lamp made out of an older parking meter from Chicago, I think, it's cut to lamp size, the guy didn't have the key to it, so it's full of nickels & dimes, ( which definitely dates it).But it works great! I love it, it's just the coolest thing! Some day I'll get it to a locksmith to get it key'd....You just put a dime in it for 2 hours of light, a nickel for an hour of light, I think it's from the 60's or so. I got it for about $60.00. Not terribly cheap, but the guy had come way down from his original price, (it was the end of the day). I just fell in "like" with it, actually we did a barter for it, I had a small wooden trailer that I didin't need or use, he helped me carry it home, (we lived in the same neighborhood) & I had been planning to sell the trailer for about $60.00 so we did a straight trade, so perfect!  Anyway, it was all very cool. Well, it's easy to go on & on in this forum, so I'd better wind down, take care, barb

[valleythriftshopper]

I love art pottery, I don't find much of it, people are pretty wise to it around here, but I did get a nice custard color McCoy planter at one of the thrifts not long ago for a buck. 

Welcome to the site I would love to see some of your glass/pottery find!