The official thrift/discount store bragging thread



ilikethelights said:

Art sells you guys say... who wants to buy my original Insane Clown Posse painting I found at Goodwill? I'll start the bidding at $100k

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ATLjon said:

Great find! I think that's a mixed medium work -- the "paint" is a 3:1 mixture of Faygo and rohypnol (I forget what the binding agent is). Do the lick test to make sure it's an original; if you pass out, you've struck GOLD!

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I was going to try and say something witty, but I can't top this, haha. Too funny!



mikeH said:

We'll all be glancing over there now.
Here are the basic points to remember (this from a conversation once with an art professor and an art historian I go to church with):
1. anything that is not original is not going to be worth much, so skip over the prints. They would both rather decorate their homes with originals that have no monetary value by unknowns than with high quality prints of the masters.
2. Most of the original stuff you find will be pretty obviously junk, amateur, high school art class work, somebody's grandma.
3. Occasionally you'll find something that isn't eliminated by these two criteria. At that point, you're on your own. The iphone won't even help you on really old stuff, because signing the painting wasn't SOP until I think the 19th century. You'll just have to decide if you want to risk it.

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Some lithographs and prints--even posters--can be worth money, but the larger point is, buy it if you like it, and don't worry about what it might be worth. If you have a good eye/taste, the rest will take care of itself, if you don't have a good eye, you'll at least have something you like.

I always check the art section (and especially so today). Finds have been rarer as the years pass and Internet advances. Original art-wise, my personal bests are a charcoal drawing of barren branches with fruit on them (it's somewhat disturbing--a friend speculates it was done by a schizophrenic) and an oil painting of fishermen that borders on abstract. Hard to describe, but they're the only ones in the world, I like them and they draw attention from others. While I know nothing about art, that's good enough for me.

Heart - BREAKER today. Nipped out to the GW after a quick run to the DMV. A couple of Thomas Pink shirts in various states of repair but at justifiable prices. The two things to note were: 1. (Older) E. Zegna tux, peak lapels, Super 120s fabric. ORPHAN. Tore $hit up looking for the trousers. Nowhere to be found -- not even in the "fairer sex" aisle. Ended up being late for a meeting, with no reward. 2. Picked up a pair of Gravati brown oxfords. 11M. Says handmade in Italy. Shoes need a LOT of love, but I don't see anything too major that won't buff out. HOWEVER: They may have been resoled, and the front end of the heel pad, where it meets the insole, is curling up. I'm going to see if my cobbler can fix the latter, and expect the former kills their value (to the extent I'm not inclined to keep them, which I haven't decided yet since they are my size). Feel free to PM me with interest.



OliT said:

/Hans

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Looking good Hans. Haven't I seen you in a movie before?



All in good fun. If you haven't seen A Christmas Story, go rent it now!

Found a "grail" (tongue in cheek, obviously) item in Des Moines. I've actually been stalking this coat at Dillards, but that one is a HSM for much more. Very nice jacket - needs a touch of work as the seam is pulling (not torn) on the back of the right arm (about 2 inches or so.) Hopefully it can be fixed. 42L

Nordstrom Jacket - Loro Piana Camelhair - 42L



catside said:

Agree. Nettletons are AE quality if not Alden IMHO.

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The good stuff is better.



Brianpore said:

7-7.5D/E

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(In the voice of DeForest Kelly) He a thrifter Brian, not a miracle worker!

But, uh, 10.5E?



GHo said:

Looking good Hans. Haven't I seen you in a movie before?

All in good fun. If you haven't seen A Christmas Story, go rent it now!

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That's brutal!!!



OliT said:

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Mercuryman76 said:

That's brutal!!!

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Wish I could find one of these at Goodwill



GHo said:

Looking good Hans. Haven't I seen you in a movie before?

All in good fun. If you haven't seen A Christmas Story, go rent it now!

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Gosh darnit! I didn't think anyone would catch on this quickly.



mexicutioner said:

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Brianpore said:

+1

I'm going to rock these either way, but can someone confirm they are actually pants (slacks) and not the bottom half of a suit?

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AFAIK, most makers (Isaia included) don't put their label in suit trousers, so I'd assume those are not orphans.

Here's a bit of a find (at least in my opinion) that I made recently. It's still a bit tight, but I'm losing weight, so I'll give it a few more weeks.
Finding it was very exciting, as it was sitting eight feet up on a mannequin. I reached up, touched the fabric and had to look at the tag. Seeing "Corneliani" made me happy. It ran me up $20 at the goodwill.

The jacket is in awesome-tastic condition (so awesome in fact, that it came with the Corneliani booklet and extra buttons in one of the pockets:


Seeing as the tag indicates a drop, it probably is a suit jacket in all fairness. Still, with the pattern, I think I can pull it off as an SC. Anyone disagree?

ATLjon said:

This was the only tag:



I left behind a pair of Burberry London khakis -- a very recent tag -- and large.

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I went back to pick up the Burberry khakis (no size tag; still need to measure, but they seem big), and I picked up another pair of HF pants from the same donor.

The tags on the HFs are:

(khaki)
MFG# 6809 16

MDL J832S 36 REG


(the ones seen above)

MFG# 2855 4
MDL H832S 36 REG


Any help identifying these?